SOURCE: Millington, M. I. “Objects and Objections: Onetti's ‘Tan Triste como Ella’.” Neophilologus 75, no. 2 (April 1991): 207-21.

In the following essay, Millington attempts to decipher the meaning of “Tan triste como ella” and discovers the “implications” of finding such a meaning.

1. Introduction

‘Tan triste como ella’¹ is a dense and difficult story. It is particularly tricky to negotiate in view of the fact that there is little interpreting carried out within the story itself. The writing of ‘Tan triste’ places a stress on reference to objects and physical movement as if it were simply ‘raw material’, simply registered as being or happening. I propose to confront this difficulty of reading explicitly, and, after a summary, to begin with an examination of certain of the story's recurrent objects. This will allow me, on the one hand, to make an initial opening in the story, and, on the other, to begin...