Citation

Bettaglio M. Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispanicos 2018; 42(2): 401-425.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018)

DOI

10.18192/rceh.v42i2.3140

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Alicia Giménez Bartlett's Secreta Penélope (2003) and Claudia Piñeiro's Elena sabe (2007) explore the circumstances surrounding the suicides of people who were dear to the books' protagonists: Sara, an old friend of the narrator in the first case; and Rita, the daughter of the main character, in the second. Following Margaret Higonnet's theorization of suicide, this essay analyzes the sinister and castrating aspects of motherhood and the discursive forces that underlie its representation and mystification. Moreover, it shows how the self-inflicted deaths of Sara and Rita - the victims, respectively, of maternal abnegation and her mother's degenerative disease - expose a social malaise within the family as an institution. © 2018 Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispanicos. All rights reserved.

Language: es

Keywords

Suicide; Abortion; Motherhood; Alicia Giménez Bartlett; Claudia Piñeiro