The Penguin Book of Latin American Short Stories

The Penguin Books of Short Stories

by Thomas Colchie (Editor), Horacio Quiroga (Contributor), Julio Cortázar (Contributor)

The twenty-six stories in this collection offer a vast array of imagination, comedy and South and Central American magic as created by its finest writers. Reflecting both the countries from which they originate and the languages in which they were first written, they throw open a window on to the ’dreaming world’ of Latin America and reveal the sensibility within.

Editor Thomas Colchie has brought together a selection of well-known and less familiar writers from Brazil, the Caribbean, Mexico, the River Plate and Chile. Along with the increasingly familiar voices of Manuel Puig, Isabel Allende, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luís Borges are many writers never previously published in English. Together they convey the powerful mysticism and the cruel realism of this richly diverse continent.

Contents:
One. The River Plate
- The dead man by Horacio Quiroga
- Axolotl by Julio Cortázar
- Waiting for Polidoro by Armonía Somers
- The circular ruins by Jorge Luis Borges
- The dog will have its day by Juan Carlos Onetti
- The idol by Adolfo Bioy Casares
- Relative humidity 95% by Manuel Puig
Two. Chile
- Toad mouth by Isabel Allende
Three. Brazil
- The miracle of the birds by Jorge Amado
- The ex-magician from the Minhota Tavern by Murilo Rubião
- Love by Clarice Lispector
- The psychiatrist by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
- The plagues by Moacyr Scliar
- The third bank of the river by João Guimarães Rosa
- It was a different day when they killed the pig by João Ubaldo Ribeiro
- The corset by Lygia Fagundes Telles
- Lonelyhearts by Rubem Fonseca
- Twice with Helena by Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes
Four. Mexico
- The doll queen by Carlos Fuentes
- Luvina by Juan Rulfo
Five. The Caribbean
- The gift by Rosario Ferré
- Bestial among the flowers by Reinaldo Arenas
- Story-bound by Ana Lydia Vega
- The last voyage of the ghost ship by Gabriel García Márquez
- The phantom of the Essoldo by Guillermo Cabrera Infante
- Journey back to the source by Alejo Carpentier

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Latin American, Anthologies

430 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 1992

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

This was great or maybe it wasn't...

I mean I remember O Alienista reasonably clearly and a story by that Ukranian woman in Brazil who wrote in Portuguese, maybe she wasn't Ukranian just of Ukranian decent, what's her name, Clarice Lispector I cheated, I looked it up anyhow I remember the broken eggs and the yoke ousing out of a string bag, or maybe I don't and something else happened all together...
There was also a story by that Argentine, the one who described the Falkands War as two bald men fighting over a comb, I think it involved the non-existence of the central character who was trying to create an apprentice from nothing, or something. There was a story by a Mexican, who had been in his country's diplomatic service it involved the Phantom of the Opera and crossing Gloucester Road in South Kensington, and this I imagine only sticks in my mind because I too have crossed the mighty Gloucester Road unscathed.

I guess there were many more stories written by people so famous that I can't remember them, and certainly there were stories from other countries, one from Peru involving a man who was seduced by his Professor's wife and who now searches for the resultant son who it appears was insufficiently respectful to the honour of the national army and who as a result is no longer in enjoyment of any kind of liberty at all.

There was a story with the delightfully tautological title "It was a different day when they killed the Pig", and another one which involved getting into a knife fight over your half sister with your half brother - best of course to keep things in the family.

And there were some other stories, the collection has both stories from the nineteenth and twentith centuries and travels about Latin America going as far as Cuba, I bought it at the same time as the Penguin History of Latin America if the one illuminates the other I wouldn't want to impose my habit of socio-Historical reading, but there is no need to be prescriptive, I might consider it theoretically possibly to enjoy a story without awareness of its context.

But anyway this ringing, resounding endorsement stands without doubt for the enjoyable, playful parable O Alienista.

[Tom Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection that I found in a second hand bookstore in Fremantle, Western Australia. It had a powerful effect on me and I love to delve into it from time to time and re-read The Psychiatrist or some of the magic realist stuff. A perfect introduction to Latin American literature, it includes some stories in their first translation into English.

[Alex Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains the following absolute must-reads:
- Axolotl by Julio Cortazar
- The Corset by Lygia Fagundes
- Bestial Among the Flowers by Reinaldo Arenas (I have no idea what's going on in this story but wow it made me feel something)

And also the following good stories:
- The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges
- The Plagues by Moacyr Scliar
- Twice with Helena by Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes
- The Doll Queen by Carlos Fuentes
- Luvina by Juan Rulfo
- The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

As well as 17 other stories ranging from meh to tedious.

[Cielo]

Read: Bestial ; Haunted Ship ; one with time going backwards

[Philip Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Axolotl by Julio Cortazar. Also particularly liked Twice with Helena by Paulo Emilio Salles Gomes and The Plagues by Moacyr Scliar.

Some others more miss than hit for me.