Lo que queda de los muertos

Abstract

The first book published by Políbio Alves was “O que resta dos mortos” (What remains of the dead), which had its first edition released in 1983 by the publisher União (João Pessoa, Paraíba). In 1998, the book entitled “Lo que queda de los muertos” (The Fall of the Dead) was released in Cuba by the publisher Arte y Literatura in 1998 (Havana, Cuba), translated into Spanish by the translator Aurora Fibla. A book of short stories that reveals a modern writer with a vision focused on the historical-social scenario. In its narrative, it brings the places where Políbio Alves walked as a child, such as the Sanhauá River, the mangrove swamp, the outskirts of João Pessoa, and his childhood. It portrays some characters from his daily life at that time, his mother, himself, the women in the brothels, among others. In this work, he explores the customs of the time, from his own perspective, a kind of self-writing, since, in many of his stories, the author is present, not as the main character, but as a narrator-observer, describing everything that is happening.