represents in the process of Ifa [writing] divination (GATES, 1988: p.37).The idea that each person possesses his/her Esu invites us to think of how different people, from different cultures, can get together. Gates argues, Esu is the sum of the parts, as well as that which connects to parts (GATES, 1988: p. 37). Besides, as Esu is the messenger and the god of communication he unites the past, the present, and the unborn. Esu represents these stages, and makes their simultaneous existence possible (GATES, 1988: p.37).Esu is the mediator of texts, that is, he develops intercultural mediation. Gates (1988) summarizes Esus intercultural and intertextual mediating capacity with the idea that Esu rules understanding of truth, a relationship that yields an individuals meaning. Esus role in the critical process is to make that process possible: Esu is the process of interpretation (GATES, 1988: p. 39). From this perspective, He becomes the collective mouth, that which can speak for the gods and for the human being as well, that which can get the different united. Esu is the mouth that speaks for all and to all, whose words make togetherness to appear, not separation, develop communion not disunion, create understanding, not misunderstanding, among things that are different. Working in this fashion, Esu does not turn himself into the cessation of textual, discursive, and cultural differences. On the contrary, he becomes the process by means of which the differences can speak to each other, without fearing that one of them will have the others under its control.THE COURSE.This course on creative writing is organized to relate the elements of the short stories problem and protagonist, complication and antagonist, resolution and helper with the metaphors for Ariel, Caliban and Esu.Theoretical BackgroundThis includes the reading and classroom discussion of several texts about short stories, short-story genres, and the metaphors.Writing Tasks They include tasks for the reading and discussion of the texts together with the tasks for the production of three different texts: a paper covering the theoretical texts (2000 words); a short story (2000 words), which relates the elements of the short story to the three metaphors; an essay, which associates the paper with the short story.Evaluation1. Individual Reading, and teacher-student classroom discussion: 10%.2. Trio-group writing of the paper: 25%3. Trio-group writing of the short story: 25% 4. Individual writing of the essay: 40%The Texts 1. Stalking the True Short Story, by Jon Franklin.2. The Philosophy of the Plot, by James N. Frey.3. The Plot Thicken, by Monica Wood.4. Creating four-Dimensional Characters, by Stephanie Kay Bendel.5. The Tempest, by William Shakespeare.6. Ariel, by Jose Enrique Rodo7. Caliban, by Roberto Fernandes Retamar.8. Esu, by Henry Louis Gates.REFERENCESFRANKLIN, j. Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by a two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner. New York: A Plume Book, 1986.GATES, H. L. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1988.LEDDER, M., HEFFRON, J. The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing. Cincinnatti: Writers Digest Books, 2002.RETAMAR, R. F. Caliban and Other Essays. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.RODO, J. E. Ariel. Austin: University of Texas Press,