My Clavicle

Marta Sanz

“Marta Sanz’s language is like a body. She talks to you like nobody else can.” —ABC

On an international flight to a conference, the author Marta Sanz notices a tiny bump beneath her skin, just below her clavicle, near her breast bone. So begins an inquiry that is at turns satirical detective story, philosophical inquiry, memoir, and pure poetry.

In Spanish, the title is Clavícula, which refers to the collarbone, but also makes a direct pun on the word clavé or key. In the aftermath of Marta’s discovery we realize that something fundamental has changed for her, and that whatever has happened, however elusive, it is something very real. At the same time, the mystery reflects in everything the author encounters, but especially the bodies of women, and especially women of a certain age.

My Clavicle is a masterpiece of auto fiction from one of Spain’s most celebrated contemporary voices–the narration of the episodes fracturing like the author’s body into a deeply moving series of vignettes that never lose their tension: imperfect, obsessive, and often hilarious.

The difficulty of giving a name to Marta’s pain, of even locating a precise place for it, provokes a number of reflections: about the edge that separates the body from scientific definitions and imagination; about the function of poetry; about our intolerance for psychological gray areas; about anxiety as a pathology of late stage capitalism; and, in the face of constantly dispiriting headlines, the perversion of a public health system. Ultimately, Marta’s attempts to define something impossible are channeled through her strange and roving pain, manifesting in curiosity, humor, and love.

Praise for My Clavicle

"For a novel about an obsession with mortality, this witty tale brims with vitality." —Publishers Weekly

“A joyful representation of life.” —Rafael Chirbes

“She has found the best way to be a political writer: her language is like a body. She talks to you like nobody else can.” —ABC

“A literary experiment that is very different from what we’re used to today in Spain... Sanz is one of the greatest.” —Sara Mesa

“One of the most harsh, beautiful, brutal and impious books that I have read in a long time.” —Leila Guerriero, El País

“A literary exercise in auto-fiction that also studies the mood of a family and a wider social environment.” —Íñigo Urrutia, Diario Vasco

“Marta Sanz exposes her most intimate self to share her experiences during her years of anxiety and ravages. A tale that lifts the lid with admirable lucidity.” —J. M Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC Cultural