The Dream of My Return

Born in 1957 in Honduras to a Honduran mother and a Salvadoran father, Castellanos Moya has written nine novels (e.g., Senselessness) that typically reflect the political instability of Central America. Although the author rejects the label "political writer," Erasmo Aragon, his journalist protagonist here, has fled El Salvador for the relative safety of Mexico and is obsessed with politics. Erasmo's excruciating stomach pain brings him to consult Dr. Chente Alvarado, a fellow Salvadoran who proposes hypnosis to help him. Meanwhile, hoping to end his tempestuous relationship with Eva, Erasmo plans to leave Mexico to start a magazine back in San Salvador. When Dr. Chente himself returns to San Salvador for the funeral of his mother, Erasmo begins to doubt the wisdom of his decision, fearing that the leftist doctor might be attacked by goons at the airport or that he might betray the confidences from their sessions together to the authorities. Did the doctor really abandon his ideals when he married an oligarch, and did he really collaborate with the CIA in the Sixties?