Review: The Carnivorous Lamb by Agustín Gómez Arcos

Review of the book “The Carnivorous Lamb” by Agustín Gómez Arcos.

«The Carnivorous Lamb» by Agustín Gómez Arcos, published in 1975 and recently republished by Cabaret Voltaire. This work caused great controversy at the time due to its fierce criticism of Francoism and post-war Spanish society, as well as its stark portrayal of homosexuality and incest. This book is a play that takes place in a context of oppression and political repression in Spain in the 1970s.

The novel narrates the life of a young man named Juan from birth to the age of 25, in the bosom of a bourgeois Andalusian family marked by the traumas of the civil war. Juan is a different, rebellious and misunderstood being, who desperately seeks love and freedom in a hostile and oppressive world. His only ally is his mother, with whom he maintains an unhealthy and obsessive relationship that prevents him from maturing and relating to others.

Gómez Arcos uses a direct and provocative style to tell this story of love and hate, which mixes realism with symbolism and surrealism. The author does not limit himself to describing the events but interprets them from the point of view of the protagonist, who expresses his feelings and ideas with his own, original voice. The result is an intense and emotional novel that shows us the contradictions and miseries of a turbulent era.

The play is about a group of characters who find themselves in an asylum and who are subjected to an authoritarian and oppressive regime. The director of the asylum is a sinister character who uses violence and torture to maintain control over the inmates. One of the characters, a man named Fando, becomes the leader of the inmates and begins to organize a resistance against the director.

The play is full of symbolism and metaphors that reflect the political and social reality of Spain at the time. For example, the title of the play refers to the lamb as a symbol of submission and passivity, and at the same time as a carnivorous animal that can be ferocious and violent. This symbolism reflects the duality of the main character, Fando, who despite his weak and submissive appearance, has a strong desire to fight against oppression and injustice.

The play also reflects the situation of political repression that was taking place in Spain in those years, with characters such as the director of the mental asylum who represent the figure of the oppressor. In addition, the play criticizes Spanish society at the time, which remained passive in the face of oppression and political violence.

Gómez Arcos’s prose is intense and evocative, with raw and direct language that conveys the brutality and cruelty of the situation.

“El cordero carnívoro” is a masterpiece of contemporary Spanish literature that deserves to be read and vindicated for its artistic and social value. It is also a brave and lucid testimony of a writer who had to go into exile in order to freely express his vision of the world.