It is indisputable that the novelist's work has undergone a steady maturing process over the years but always based on a similar set of concerns. From a strictly literary point of view, the two most outstanding aspects of L'ombra de l'eunuc are the same as those found in the author's previous books: his technique with the figure of the narrator and his mastery of literary resources in building and structuring the action. These two aspects were important for his other novels, but they have now become the essence of the book, what gives it real meaning. Let's look first at the figure of the narrator. Cabré already has a history, particularly in Senyoria, of dispensing with the conventional narrator and creating a story that is able to integrate each character's point of view, thoughts and even language without needing to give them an explicit voice. In L'ombra de l'eunuc the rope is tightened a little further. It not only combines direct and indirect styles but also mixes the first and third person. As a result, the role of the narrator and the perspective of a point of view both disappear. What remains is the narrative (I was going to say the story) which is able to integrate everything, like this hypothetical narrator into which everything is jumbled up. This is actually a risky strategy which often places the text at the limits of grammaticality and comes close to the aesthetics of dissonance, but it works because the idea is complemented with meticulous attention to language, one of the book's great strengths, which helps to give a natural feel to a register that without sound knowledge of the craft could so easily have resulted in mere artifice.
Working with the narrator, giving priority to the narrative rather than to a point of view and integrating a diverse mix of other things leads us to one of the book's major issues: the attempt to integrate the whole thing into history, thus constructing a kind of 'total novel'. It is surely no coincidence that the story begins with "after a long time of everything" and ends with "a deep nostalgia for everything". In between these two explicit references to 'everything' is history. This aspect takes us straight to the second issue for discussion: how the action is constructed. From the real time narrative of the two characters' dinner, the story takes a look into the past. This act of looking back in time is the novel's central theme, and is a multi-faceted view with the ability to integrate all the many elements that make it up: the protagonist's life, family history, etc. The various facets take shape through the parallel and interrelated actions of Miquel Gensana and his uncle Maurici. The well balanced structure gradually brings Maurici in and avoids falling into an excessively double plot. The various movements of the Alban Berg concerto are present in the background; this level of structuring might appear superimposed, but in fact is not -we gradually discover its significance- and justifies the almost melodic repetitions that are more like reprised musical themes.
Extract from the Preface to L’ombra de l’eunuc (The eunuch's shadow) ‘Biblioteca Jaume Cabré’ edition. Proa Barcelona 1998