Looking death in the 'I': Rosa Montero's 'La función Delta' as autothanatography

Abstract

The cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker claims that death denial is the fundamental motive of human behaviour, and that this denial occurs through heroic and symbolic immortality projects. Drawing on Becker’s theory, this article considers how the protagonist of Rosa Montero’s second novel, La funcion Delta (1981), deals with her own approaching death through the writing process. On the one hand, Lucia takes up the pen in order to repress her awareness of her ineluctable departure. Conversely, writing helps her to come to terms with her imminent end. When she tries to deny her awareness of death in order to curb anxiety, Lucia also negates consciousness of life, and represses the physical and relational aspects of her being. It is only when she comes to terms with her mortality that she can open herself up to alterity and appreciate her life, her body and other people. When she accepts herself as a mortal, corporeal, relational being, her writing becomes more fluid and her awareness of life more intense...