(It's) All about the Mother: Scarred Memories and Amnesic Bodies in Rosa Montero's La hija del caníbal

Rosa Montero's novel La hija del canibal (1997) presents the female body as a metaphor for a scarred, traumatized and amnesic Spanish culture that struggles to come to terms with its painful past and uncertain future. More specifically, Montero treats the maternal body not only as a locus of shame and suffering, marked by lack and repression, but also as a site of anxiety—even monstrosity—, ambivalence and innovation. Most explorations of La hija del canibal astutely address the strained relationship that exists between the father and daughter referenced in the title. Nevertheless, this article examines the problematic nature of the mother-daughter relationship and its intersections with the traumatic memories and the scarred body of the protagonist. As we shall see, it is the mother's ageing body and fate that disturb the daughter, who in her middle age finds it difficult to distinguish her own aging physique, professional and sentimental blunders, and life-experiences from those of her progenito...