excerpt of LA CEREMONIA DE LA CONFUSION F. ARRABAL   (...) "When she came home I showed her the painting My commented anatomy and explained it to her: My whole body is in the centre of the painting. The two columns on each side are divided in seven images that represent the fourteen symbols of my anatomy. My head symbolises a battleship in a cage, my brain a beehive in which there is a man's head wearing a top hat, my eyes are a sun and a world-chest, and my ears half a head floating in which the words 'mens, intellectus, ratio' are inscribed. A dragon with seven wolf's heads and a sceptre stands at my feet. The dragon has wings. There is an opening in my body that runs from my neck to my genitalia passing through the hips, like a gigantic ulcer that exposes my heart, my bowels and other organs. My chest is represented by the Colossus of Thebes that has my name inscribed, my genitalia by the crenellated terrace of a castle with a large egg floating above it, my liver by a telephone with a foetus in the receiver, my bowels by a bull's head and a chalice with three vipers, and, surprising as it may be, my heart is symbolised by an enchained heart with a bowler hat. I'm in a medieval room, with a columned archway. A landscape with gothic churches can be seen in the background. The floor is tiled, the tiles have geometrical designs. My feet are represented by a centaur and an animal half-cat, half-fish, my hands by the earth that lies by a man hung by his feet, my legs by a chess knight in the middle of a field, my arms by two fingers traversed by an arrow and my bellybutton by a scale that has eyes and watches on either scale. On my face is a beard necklace and I pretend I'm indifferent to the fourteen symbols. I have a stern pose and my right hand is close to the mouth, as if it were holding a pipe." (...) "As he did my portrait my body was gradually covered by captions. The word desire appeared in the ring finger of the right hand, the words Destiny and death in the soles of my feet. It might be that I was the only one who could see them: they were drawn in a way that could blend with the natural lines in the skin. (....) I entertained myself observing the captions: a huge fire traversed my chest, my heart was adorned with the word water, and each of the ribs bore an inscription: LINE, ADULATION, SEVEN, etc." (...) the red banner with the dragon centre that I carry along when I travel to escape curses. (...) "I went up to the terrace of the Natural Sciences Museum, that looked over the whole city with its telescope. I saw two more details that had escaped me: there were immense telephones with foetuses on the roofs, and countless caged bicycles laid on the sidewalks." (...) "They sat me down and handed me three cards that were next to me: 'the Star', 'the Hangman' the Emperor)), they looked at my cards over my shoulder and laughed." (...) "The giantess remained still lying on top of the monument. Her body covered the whole extension of the pedestal. Pilgrims would come with offerings and children tried to climb to feel her skirt. The giantess seemed to smile. The monument was placed in the middle of the plaza that was bare, with no trees or benches." (...) "I looked at the giantess. New possibilities arose: despite her immobility and her petrified aspect, she seemed to be flesh and bones. Unless it was a projected image, a mirage. (...) It could be said that she looked at me with a certain irony. Even though she turned her head to me, ever so slightly, I could clearly read two words in her eyes: love and chance. But they quickly vanished." (...) "I lifted my head and was dumbfounded, enthralled. The giantess had sat on the pedestal and was looking at me, she was dressed in a queen's costume and smiling. (...) I started climbing her (...) At my feet, in the eye of the giantess, a door opened, steps guided me to the inside of the body" (...) "My biography. a) Birth. I was born in a spacious room, and somewhat grimy. My father insisted on saying that I had come to this world through my mother's head."