The Widow's Peak / The Widow Speaks: Carmen's Idle Talk in Miguel Delibes's Cinco horas con Mario

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A widow's peak is "a point formed by hair growing down in the middle of a forehead: formerly supposed to foretell early widowhood" ( Webster's 1527). Carmen Sotillo, the protagonist of Miguel Delibes's ninth novel, Cinco horas con Mario , was left a widow with five children when her husband unexpectedly died, presumably of a heart attack, at age 49. Carmen is widowed at an early age. Though in the novel there is no mention of widow's peaks, this widow speaks. I would argue that Carmen's discourse consists of what Heidegger terms "idle talk" (Gerede), the language of inauthenticity.
Original languageAmerican English
JournalCincinnati Romance Review
Volume15
StatePublished - 1996

EGS Disciplines

  • Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Widow's Peak / The Widow Speaks: Carmen's Idle Talk in Miguel Delibes's Cinco horas con Mario'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this