The Fourth World

A brief introduction from the translator places this bizarre, often difficult, yet compelling novel in the company of the Chilean Eltit's other work about marginalization. Twins, a nameless sister and a brother named Maria Chipia, narrate their lives. He begins the story, going back to their conception when their brutish father forced himself on their ill mother. In utero, the two compete for space and the competition continues after birth with the twins often hiding their development from each other. She is the first to speak, so he learns to walk first. But from the first pleasurable sloshings in the womb, the two also share a highly erotic relationship. Adolescence brings envy, as she begins to menstruate and ``embarked on a separate journey of uneasiness that I would never experience.'' With its heavy-handed symbolism, the second half of the novel--narrated by the twin sister, now pregnant with her brother's child--is much less satisfying. ``We are fiercely prepared for extinction,'' insists the twin sister. The family's obsession is with the ``sudaca'' child and the act the engendered it. Although Gerdes explains that ``sudaca'' is ``used by Spaniards to denigrate Latin Americans,'' the decision to leave this word in the original Spanish makes it hard for English-speaking readers to feel its full sting. Despite some rocky translation problems and a loss of energy in its latter section, this demands attention. (Oct.)