Certificate of Absence

Originally published in 1981 as En breve cárcel, Certificate of Absence is the first novel of the Argentinian scholar-critic Sylvia Molloy. Innovative in its treatment of women's relationships and in its assertion of woman's right to author her own text, the novel has won wide approval in Latin America and the United States. The novel centers around a woman writing in a small room. As she writes, remembering a past relationship and anticipating a future one, the room becomes a repository for nostalgia, violence, and desire, a space in which writing and remembering become life-sustaining ceremonies. The narrator reflects on the power of love to both shelter and destroy. She meditates on the act of writing, specifically on writing as a woman, in a voice that goes against the grain of established, canonical voices. Latin American male writers are prone to self-portrayal in their texts. Certifcate of Absence is one of the few novels by Latin American women that successfully use this technique to open new windows on women's experiences.

Author: Sylvia Molloy
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 09/01/1989
Pages: 131
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.56w x 0.46d
ISBN: 9780292711242

About the Author
Sylvia Molloy is professor of Spanish at Yale University. Daniel Balderston is associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University.