Debra A. Castillo

Mayra Santos-Febres

Sirena Selena vestida de pena ("Syren Selena, dressed in sorrow" might be a fair translation) tells the story of Leocadio, formerly a drug addicted child -owner of an extraordinary bolero singing voice- rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico and transformed by his rescuer ?Martha Divine? into Sirena Selena, a mesmerizing trans vestite singer-entertainer, both characters setting their respective hopes in making a fortune to escape a haphazard life. The main character represents the enigma of seduction, beautiful and monstrous, in an opposition between Truth and Reality. To her rescuer the child must "become who she really is", because the only way she will be able to harmonize his/her interior and exterior self is by being reborn as the diva.Ironically truth and harmony stem from the bifurcated nature of a mythical figure -half human, half monster- unstoppable in its seduction. The tragic aspect arises from Sirena Selena's awareness that his/her attraction resides equally in the awesome perfection of her presence and in the knowledge that it is merely a performance. The fluent and musical Spanish prose of Sirena Selena constitutes a rare reading pleasure, both for the casual reader as well as the literary critique, who will find in the identity creating "protectress" a twin soul in the process of concealing desires under layers of quotes and counter-quotes. In this edition the foreword by prof. Debra A. Castillo discloses these clever mechanisms, while her footnotes help readers to enjoy this intelligent and intrinsically poetic text.

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