The South & Bene

The South and Bene are poignant and haunting first-person narratives, each delving into the consciousness of a young girl in the context of post-civil war Spain. In The South, the adult narrator's visit to her childhood home and to the grave of her father, who committed suicide, evokes memories that constitute both a confession and a struggle to come to terms with the tragic death. The circular structure of the narrative leaves the reader with a painful sense of loss, yet Adriana's promise to abandon forever her childhood home may allow her finally to come to terms with the past and begin a new life.

Bene exudes an aura of the suprenatural. The memories of this narrative revolve around the family maid, Bene, a gypsy with a terrible secret. Intense emotions and Gothic elements characterize this novella, but the limitations of the child'd consciousness result in a haunting ambiguity. Is Bene the embodiment of evil or a victim of prejudice? Suggestions of diabolic possession and incest create an eerie atmosphere in which the line between fantasy and reality is blurred.