The fraternal ties serve as the first reference to the contradictory spirit of the human being. Sibling love is soon interspersed with disputes over identity and egos. Of course, in the long run, the search for that identity ends up intermingling between those who share a direct origin of genes and a possible common home until they reach adulthood.
The mysteries of this personal relationship between mammals of the same breast open the way for a plot between reality and fiction, the one presented in this book Duelo, by the Latin American author Edward Halfon.
It is clear that, with this title, we also face the tragedy of loss in the book, but the grief is not only limited to a possible disappearance of the one with whom we share so many years towards maturity. Grief can also be understood as the loss of space, the concession due to the newly arrived brother. Shared love, shared toys,
Perhaps this book is one of the first to address the issue of fraternity in tremendous depth. From Cain and Abel to any brother who has just arrived in this world. From siblings who are always well-matched to those who are obfuscated by a conflict that has never been overcome and that suffocates the love that really underlies this human relationship.
The most paradoxical of all is that, in the end, one brother shapes the identity of the other. The balance between temperaments and personalities achieves the magical effect of compensation. The compensated elements can more easily carry weights and advance between that unstable balance that is living. For this reason, when a brother is lost, the grief supposes the loss of oneself, of that existence forged in compensation, between memories of a home, of an education, of a joint learning.
You can buy the book Mourning, Eduardo Halfon's new work, here: