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From one of MexicoâEUR(TM)s most important writers, a memoir about three generations of men who are driven to escape the confines of their traditional lives and roles. In 1958, Carlos Monge McKey sneaks out of his home in the middle of the night to fake his own death. He does not return for four years. A decade later, his son, Carlos Monge Sánchez, deserts his family too, joining a guerrilla army of Mexican revolutionaries. Their stories are unspooled by grandson and son Emiliano, a writer, who also escapes reality, by creating fictions to run away from the truth. What Goes Unsaid is an extraordinary memoir that delves into the fractured relationships between fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons; that disinters the ugly notions of masculinity and machismo that all men carry with them âEUR" especially in a patriarchal culture like Mexico. It is the story of three men, who âEUR" each in his own way âEUR" flee their homes and families in an attempt to free themselves.
About the author
Emiliano Monge is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Mexican author. He was selected as one of the most significant Latin American writers by the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2009, and in 2015 was chosen by Conaculta, the Hay Festival, and the British Council as one of twenty essential Mexican writers. In 2018, he was included on a list of the most important Latin American writers under thirty-nine by the Hay Festival. He is a regular columnist for the newspaper El País and has written for many other magazines and publications. He is also a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores Artísticos (National Scheme of Artistic Creators) in Mexico.
Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer, and editor. He has translated numerous French and Hispanic authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas, and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has earned him the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and he was twice awarded both the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán. Most recently, his translation of Animalia by Jean-Baptiste del Amo won the 2020 Republic of Consciousness Prize. He has edited two major anthologies, Found in Translation: 100 of the finest short stories ever translated (2018) and QUEER: LGBT writing from ancient times to yesterday (2021).
Summary
From one of Mexico’s most important writers, a memoir about three generations of men who are driven to escape the confines of their traditional lives and roles.
In 1958, Carlos Monge McKey sneaks out of his home in the middle of the night to fake his own death. He does not return for four years.
A decade later, his son, Carlos Monge Sánchez, deserts his family too, joining a guerrilla army of Mexican revolutionaries.
Their stories are unspooled by grandson and son Emiliano, a writer, who also escapes reality, by creating fictions to run away from the truth.
What Goes Unsaid is an extraordinary memoir that delves into the fractured relationships between fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons; that disinters the ugly notions of masculinity and machismo that all men carry with them — especially in a patriarchal culture like Mexico. It is the story of three men, who — each in his own way — flee their homes and families in an attempt to free themselves.
Additional text
‘Emiliano Monge’s greatest achievement in What Goes Unsaid, is definitely the form. It’s also a great story and, above all, a great story consists in how it is told. It’s also a great story and, above all, it can be destroyed in the way it is told … Emiliano Monge’s novel is able to translate that inexplicable pain. Through some streaks, passages, and the very stories with which the author knits the history. Somehow he is able to tell the pain that we have all felt, or that we are still feeling, without being aware of it and, at the same time, he does not tell everything, all while allowing the reader to actually feel the pain in his or herself.’
