As a worthy writer Benjam(')in Jarnes has not received the recog-nition he deserves. His being a participant in a controversial and turbulent period in Spanish history (1888-1949) has unjustly cast a negative shadow over his work, particularly his novels. Literary criticism has, until recently, conferred upon Jarnes a minor position as a novelist and disregarded his works. His novels, therefore, are either out of print or scattered throughout Spanish America and Spain Lately, however, noted critics have viewed Jarnes's writings in a more positive light. Nevertheless, no researcher has yet developed a comprehensive study of his poetics. This dissertation undertakes such a study concentrating on the following Jarnesian novels: El convidado de papel, Lo rojo y lo azul, Teor(')ia del zumbel, La novia del viento, Locura y muerte de nadie, El profesor inutil, and Orlando el pac(')ifico Using current studies concerning structuralist poetics, this disser-tation finds that by examining Jarnes's novels outside their historical context a new understanding can be achieved, one that places his work ahead of its time. The non-representational aspects of reality in Jarnes's novels serve to exemplify his departure from tradition and his quest for new forms of expression. His vision of a multi-facted reality and his interpretation of the Jungian archetype, together with other devices, contribute to give form to the new reality he seeks This new vision finds expression in a spatial narrative that, in many instances, is disassociated from conventions. Language in his novels surpasses literalness through the use of poetic techniques, particu-larly metaphor, with which he presents an aesthetic view of the world. To reinforce his tendency to de-novelize, he incorporates intertextu-ality, dehumanization, and animation as integral components of the total language framework of the novel This study also examines the author's view of the function of the novelist in society. According to him, literature should not be subordinated to socio-political considerations. The conclusion proposes that the concept of harmony, which along with a pervasive intellectualism, serves as a leitmotif in Jarnes's work, provides the normative principles and guiding forces in his novels