Loss, death, procreation and writing in the metafictive narrative of Rosa Montero

This work argues the purpose of writing for the female protagonists in Montero's Crónica del desamor, La hija del caníbal, La función Delta, Historia del Rey Transparente and La loca de la casa. This project attempts to uncover the connection between writing as a creative process and all its implications, such as its healing qualities for the protagonists. Finally, this study applies the feminist theories of Hélène Cixous, among others, to further connect women's personal and societal need to write. The first chapter of this paper includes a brief look at the author's life and her many accomplishments, as well as her role in women's narrative of post-Franco Spain. This chapter gives special attention to several commonalities of the women writers of the time, such as the use of metafiction, the form of writing fiction within a fiction, which Montero employs in all five novels. The second chapter encompasses the use of writing in order to confront loss. All the protagonists suffer from various losses, such as the loss of youth, love and innocence. Chapter three discusses the structure of the protagonists' writing within the scope of the novel as a metafiction. In the fourth chapter, I expand on the theme of death and how each protagonist uses writing to face their worries about dying, and how some of the protagonists employ writing to actually transcend death. Cixous' theory encourages women's writing through the body; in correlation with this theory, this chapter concentrates on the connection of the ability to procreate through writing. Finally, the conclusion illustrates how Montero actually portrays a positive outlook on life through the protagonists