Otilia's body

the long version

Winner of Mexico's prestigious Xavier Villaurrutia prize in 1986, Otilia Rauda is here translated into English for the first time as Otilia's Body. Widely considered Sergio Galindo's best work, the novel unfolds the drama of a sexually liberated woman's obsession with an outlaw lover, played against the backdrop of events in Mexican history from 1910 to 1940 as they affected conservative, provincial society in the state of Veracruz. Galindo and his contemporaries initiated "intimist" fiction in Mexico, and Otilia's Body is noteworthy for its penetratingly described characters who transcend the limits of time and place to become universally recognizable. Otilia's tragedy comes not from the constricted life she leads in a provincial Mexican town but from fate itself. All the admirable characters in Otilia's Body defy social convention in some way, and the tapestry of their lives produces tragic ironies that make Galindo's people unforgettable.