Death in Spring

By Mercè Rodoreda

Book Overview

Considered by many to be the grand achievement of her later period, Death in Spring is one of Merc Rodoreda's most complex and beautifully constructed works. The novel tells the story of the bizarre and destructive customs of a nameless townburying the dead in trees after filling their mouths with cement to prevent their soul from escaping, or sending a man to swim in the river that courses underneath the town to discover if they will be washed away by a floodthrough the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy who must come to terms with the rhyme and reason of this ritual violence, and with his wild, child-like, and teenage stepmother, who becomes his playmate. It is through these rituals, and the developing relationships between the boy and the townspeople, that Rodoreda portrays a fully-articulated, though quite disturbing, society. The horrific rituals, however, stand in stark contrast to the novel's stunningly poetic language and lush descriptions. Written over a period of twenty yearsafter Rodoreda was forced into exile following the Spanish Civil War Death in Spring is musical and rhythmic, and truly the work of a writer at the height of her powers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934824119
• ISBN13: 9781934824115
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Open Letter
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.7" x 8.5"