Journal of Romance Studies

‘A vida pós-dor’: love and loss in Maria Gabriela Llansol

Journal of Romance Studies (2011), 11, (3), 77–89.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.11.3.77
Language
English
Pages
13

Abstract

Maria Gabriela Llansol’s writing weaves together her life and those of her figures (not characters), drawn from history and fiction, in a intricate dialogue that questions the nature of literature itself. Her ‘organic’, overlapping works seem to defy the sense of an ending, even when they deal explicitly with death. This article uses Freud’s notion of ‘mourning-work’ to discuss three of Llansol’s texts in which the narrator expresses her experience of the loss of beings who were particularly close to her: her dog, a beloved friend, and, most painful of all, her husband. The grieving process is subsumed into the writing process and the deceased are resuscitated through language.

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Williams, Claire