My father’s head Delia Murillo

Original Language: Español

Year of publication: 2022

Valoración: Recommended

According to the Population and Housing Census 2020 of INEGI (1), about 29 % of households in Mexico are directed by a woman. According to various surveys (for example, the National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (2), ENADID, or the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (3), ENOE), between 70 % and 80 % of single -parent homes in Mexico are headed by women. This means that, within single -parent homes, the vast majority are “households without a father.” The reasons are diverse: abandonment of home, divorce, migration work, death. However, from the point of view of a child, perhaps that does not matter much, it simply has no father (in Mexico, the expression “not having a mother” means being a scoundrel, referring to the fact that you did not have who would discipline you properly).

In “The Labyrinth of Soledad”, Octavio Paz theorizes about the origins of the lack of a paternity well founded in Mexicans, relating it to the history of the conquest and miscegenation, which generates in the Mexican a sensation of symbolic orphanage that is projected in individual and social life. This is a clear exaggeration, but, just as soap operas, this type of speeches serve Mexicans to stir in the sludge of the absence of paternal affection.

The magna work of Mexican literature, Pedro Páramo, could not have been conceived without the aforementioned conditions. As well as a long corpus of orphanhood literature, in general, and the lack of the father, in particular. Here is “my father’s head.”

Now, what is the novel about here? At the risk of sounding redundant, he tries a woman who is looking for her father. Literally and metaphorically. Using self -fiction, Murillo tells us his personal “rulfian” trip to his father’s hunt. He tells us his motivations, obsessions, frustrations, traumas, complexes, etc., while making his own reflections on his half orphanhood, dealing with various related issues, such as machismo, violence, abandonment, etc.

It might seem that everything is already said about it and that, based on the mentioned statistics, it is such a little exceptional problem that one more story would not make any difference. However, this trip is narrated from total vulnerability and honesty, exposing the accumulated wounds over 40 years.

What can sometimes dislodge a bit is the exaggerated hyperbolization of the image of the lost father, as if humans, in most occasions, we did not act moved by the most trivial motivations. In addition, for times, the reflections that Murillo makes on various issues, both philosophical and politicians, can become a bit superficial and naive. However, these deficiencies do not overshadow the emotional force or honesty of the narrative, if they make it more human. A recommended novel to immerse yourself in the intimacy of a vital search.

1. National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). (2020). Population and Housing Census 2020. INEGI.

2. National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). (2018). National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID) 2018. INEGI.

3. National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). (2021A). National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE). INEGI.