Tracing the forms of secret: Silvina Ocampo, Maria Luisa Bombal, Marta Brunet

This article examines texts authored by Silvina Ocampo, Maria Luisa Bombal, and Marta Brunet between 1939 and 1962 that share in common the central theme of secrecy: a family secret, a detective story, a doppelganger, a revelation of sex/gender, and a confession, among others. The article analyzes the ways in which these secrets are approached through both technical devices and narrative and aesthetic choices, and how all of these are pushed to their limits or ultimately fall short in expressing the unspeakable. The three authors in question knew the waters of literary opinion, tracing their edges in order to peer into the void of secrecy.