Una 'vampira' en la selva: la mujer indígena en La Nieve del Almirante

One of the secondary characters in Álvaro Mutis’ La Nieve del Almirante (1986), the first novel about Maqroll, is an indigenous woman –mysterious and almost animal– who approaches the protagonist and nearly rapes him. Her description, the act, and its effects recall, on the one hand, local models already noted by critics; on the other, they show traits that evoke the European Gothic imaginary, particularly the female vampire. By comparing these features with La Morte amoureuse (Gautier 1836), Carmilla (Le Fanu 1872), and Dracula (Stoker 1897), the paper highlights a deep affinity and a possible ‘tropicalization’, in Mutis’ manner, of this iconic femme fatale.