What Goes Unsaid:
a memoir of fathers who never were
Translated by Frank Wynne
Overview
From one of Mexico’s most important writers, a memoir about three generations of men who are driven to escape the confines of their traditional lives and roles.
In 1958, Carlos Monge McKey sneaks out of his home in the middle of the night to fake his own death. He does not return for four years.
A decade later, his son, Carlos Monge Sánchez, deserts his family too, joining a guerrilla army of Mexican revolutionaries.
Their stories are unspooled by grandson and son Emiliano, a writer, who also escapes reality, by creating fictions to run away from the truth.
What Goes Unsaid is an extraordinary memoir that delves into the fractured relationships between fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons; that disinters the ugly notions of masculinity and machismo that all men carry with them — especially in a patriarchal culture like Mexico. It is the story of three men, who — each in his own way — flee their homes and families in an attempt to free themselves.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Hardback
- 210mm x 148mm
- 368 pages
- 9781912854424
- GBP£14.99
- 12 May 2022
Praise
‘In this extraordinary book … [Emiliano Monge] is chasing lost fathers, family myths, conflicting stories, and figures who appear and don't appear on a family tree … he pursues these lost histories unconventionally and with verve … First person, third person, diaries; lacerating self-analysis, funny asides, brutally violent description, historical detail of revolutions and uprisings, brushes with narcos, and political entanglements; this book uses style and perspective and focus-shifts in a way that's dizzying, ambitious, confusing, shocking — and ultimately thrilling.’
‘Abundant narrative richness … riveting.’
About the Author
Emiliano Monge is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Mexican author. He was selected as one of the most significant Latin American writers by the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2009, and in 2015 was chosen by Conaculta, the Hay Festival, and the British Council as one of twenty essential Mexican writers. In 2018, he was included on a list of the most important Latin American writers under thirty-nine by the Hay Festival. He is a regular columnist for the newspaper El País and has written for many other magazines and publications. He is also a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores Artísticos (National Scheme of Artistic Creators) in Mexico.
Translator
Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer, and editor. He has translated numerous French and Hispanic authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas, and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has earned him the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and he was twice awarded both the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán. Most recently, his translation of Animalia by Jean-Baptiste del Amo won the 2020 Republic of Consciousness Prize. He has edited two major anthologies, Found in Translation: 100 of the finest short stories ever translated (2018) and QUEER: LGBT writing from ancient times to yesterday (2021).
