El desconocido

This short novel, published in 1977, tells the story of a teenager, lonely and traumatized after suffering a rape, who begins in a boarding school -where he is abandoned by his father-, and continues with his attempts to survive in the streets of the city, rejected by his family, in a situation of extreme poverty. Forced by necessity and after trying his luck in different and exhausting jobs, advised by a friend, he becomes an inexperienced prostitute who sells his youth to foreign tourists as the only way to cover basic needs or pay for studies with which he hopes to improve his situation. Disturbing and not very accommodating novel, although easy and enjoyable to read due to its direct style, short sentences and lively dialogues, it was the first work of Mexican letters in which its protagonist is a hustler, although in this case, and unlike others characters that would follow him, he does not enjoy prostitution. An almost autobiographical novel -according to the author's own admission-, a landmark in literature on gender-divergent themes written in Spanish, it is today, together with the rest of the work of this singular author, Raúl Rodríguez Cetina, not only forgotten, but practically unknown. in your own country. Private Friendships now rescues it for Spanish readers.