Cuentos selectos

by Juan Carlos Onetti

156 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Juan Carlos Onetti (July 1, 1909, Montevideo – May 30, 1994, Madrid) was an Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories.

A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time. 500 copies of the book were printed, most of them left to rot at the only bookstore that sold it, Barreiro (the book was not reprinted until the 60's, with an introduction and preliminary study by Ángel Rama). Aged 30, Onetti was already working as editing secretary of the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha. He had lived for some years in Buenos Aires, where he published short stories and wrote cinema critiques for the local media, and met and befriended the notorious novelist and journalist, Roberto Arlt ("El juguete rabioso", "Los siete locos", "Los lanzallamas").

He went on to become one of Latin America's most distinguished writers, earning Uruguay's National Prize in literature in 1962. In 1974, he and some of his colleagues were imprisoned by the military dictatorship. Their crime: as members of the jury, they had chosen Nelson Marra's short story El guardaespaldas (i.e. "The bodyguard") as the winner of Marcha's annual literary contest. Due to a series of misunderstandings (and the need to fill some space in the following day's edition), El guardaespaldas was published in Marcha, although it had been widely agreed among them that they shouldn't and wouldn't do so, knowing this would be the perfect excuse for the military to intervene Marcha, considering the subject of the story (the interior monologue of a top-rank military officer who recounts his murders and atrocious behavior, much as it was happening with the functioning regime).

Onetti left his native country (and his much-loved city of Montevideo) after being imprisoned for 6 months in Colonia Etchepare, a mental institution. A long list of world-famous writers -including Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Mario Benedetti - signed open letters addressed to the military government of Uruguay, which was unaware of the talented (and completely harmless) writer it had imprisoned and humiliated.

As soon as he was released, Onetti fled to Spain with his wife, violin player Dorotea Mühr. There he continued his career as a writer, being awarded the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Cervantes. He remained in Madrid until his death in 1994. He is interred in the Cementerio de la Almudena in Madrid.

Reviews

[Jaqueline Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hace años leí un cuento suyo titulado: Bienvenido, Bob. Este cuento viene incluido en este libro, y sigue siendo el mejor cuento que ha escrito Onetti en su vida, y mi favorito. De los demás, hombres siempre frustrados, en el borde de la locura o soledad extrema, la verdad no me han hecho conectar, aún así, el de: El Posible Baldi, Un sueño realizado, El infierno tan temido, rescataron el libro.

[Temucano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Escritor de prosa elegante, sugerente, que sin tanto explicar va moldeando sentimientos de manera perfecta, dando una carga emocional tangible a cada página. No obstante, tuve problemas con las motivaciones, las tramas ocultas se descubren anodinas, sin mayor espacio en el mundo de hoy, por lo que tanta elegancia queda en la forma pero no así en el fondo, quitándole algo de placer a la lectura.

Igual hubo excepciones, como el genial relato "Un sueño realizado", precursor en el juego de realidades construidas, y en menor medida "Matías el telegrafista", singular enlace entre tierras lejanas.

[Gauchoholandes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book in Uruguay because Onetti is reputed to be one of the country's most preeminent authors. A selection of his short stories about human relationships, all rather dark - yes, lust but no(t much) happiness being celebrated here. Not my cup of tea, but it might well just be the inadequacy of my Spanish.

[Mario André · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 estrellas no por la calidad del contenido, pero no me enganche. Tal vez en otro momento

[Brian Bonilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onetti es sin duda un autor complejo, una experiencia de lectura más allá de lo que se tiene por conocido, un reto al lector y sobre todo, un mundo lleno de tantas cosas en las que pensar que resulta insuficiente cualquier interpretación generada. Los cuentos escogidos en este volumen abarcan la inútil búsqueda de sentido, el sufrimiento prolongado, la desafortunada existencia de los sentimientos y el afán por mantener vivo el recuerdo de lo que somos; aunque solo con decir que es Onetti debería ser suficiente.
Con lo anterior debo resaltar algunos de los relatos que llegaron a envolverme de tal manera que tuve que devorarlos por completo: “El Posible Baldi”, “Un sueño realizado”, “Bienvenido, Bob”, “El infierno tan temido” (mi gran favorito) y “El gato”. Sin embargo, la razón por la que solo le doy 4 estrellas se debe (en mi caso) a la falta de conexión con los demás cuentos que no son malos sino por el contrario y a mi parecer, textos a un nivel distinto.

[Mateo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Casual Desarraigo