Canción de tumba: the narrator and the body violations

Abstract

“Canción de tumba” is an autobiographical novel in which the author assumes the role of narrator and main character of the narrative. The novel has in its background such a richness of motifs: the final agony of the author’s mother, who finds herself in a hospital bed, as suggested in the title. “Canción de tumba” resembles the coming-of-age story (Bildungsroman), rapidly alternating plot strands with different relationships to the time of events, from episodes occurred in the author’s childhood to his most diverse experiences in adult life, but mainly, reporting the prostitution of his mother, the sexual abuse he suffered, committed by her mother’s clients, and the resulting violations of her body, also, the constant physical violence he witnessed throughout his journey.