Contemporary Latin American Short Stories

by Pat McNees

Book Overview

Striking in its imagery, its history, and its breathtaking scope, Latin American fiction has finally come into its own throughout the world. Collected in this brilliant volume are thirty-five of the finest writeres of this century, including: Jorge Louis Borges, Carlos Fuentes, Garbriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado, Octavio Paz, and many more. "Exhilarating. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449912264
• ISBN13: 9780449912263
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

No Longer Contemporary, but Still Worthwhile

This anthology was one of the first collections for the region published in the wake of the Latin American "boom" of the 1960s, when Borges shared the International Publishers Prize, works by Fuentes, Vargas Llosa, Cortázar, Garcia Marquez and others gained world attention, and Asturias won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was published in 1974 and contained 33 short stories and 2 excerpts from novels, by 35 writers. The authors were from 14 Latin American countries and Puerto Rico, with Argentina, Brazil and Mexico best represented. The anthology contained work from roughly the 1890s to 1970, with a particular focus on the 1950s and 60s. There didn't seem to be anything from the 1920s. The oldest writers were Machado de Assis, Darío, Lugones and Quiroga, the youngest was Mexico's José Agustín (1944-). Others included the writers of the "boom," influential precursors (Borges, Asturias, Carpentier, Bombal, Onetti), Borges' collaborator Bioy Casares, and Guimarães Rosa, Paz, Arreola, Rulfo, Donoso and Lispector. Not included were writers from the 19th century such as Argentina's Esteban Echeverria and Peru's Ricardo Palma, or writers from the 20th century such as Brazil's Mario de Andrade, Costa Rica's Carmen Lyra, Cuba's Virgilio Pinera or Guatemala's Augusto Monterroso. The anthology also contained an informative introduction, detailed biographies providing contexts for each author, and a list of recommended anthologies and novels from the region. The introduction briefly covered the development of modern Latin American lit from its beginnings in the 19th century, mentioning the early importance of Europe and particularly France for literary models. Literary movements discussed included the region's first, modernismo, dating to the late 19th century. Influenced partly by French symbolism, its writers avoided political struggle, experimented with language and technique and began to win an international audience. Other writers, the early regionalists, focused on the life, language and traditions of the rural poor and the struggle to survive in a hostile environment, and were relatively untouched by foreign models. Stimulated by Zola's naturalism and the revolutions in Russia and Mexico, a literature of social protest developed, advocating social change and becoming increasingly didactic. Regionalist writing and novels of social protest dominated Latin American fiction during the 1920s and 30s. An opposing trend came from authors like Borges, who called for writing that went beyond a regional focus and who eventually developed a style that freed fiction from the documentation of reality. From the 1920s and 30s, writers including Asturias, Carpentier and Bombal were influenced by French surrealism, which idealized the indigenous cultures and the primitive. From the 1940s, there was increasing experimentation to convey the fragmentation of human experience through stream of consciousness, shifting time sequences and points of view, partly aff

Latin American short story collection

An adequate, though by no means exhaustive, anthology of Latin American stories translated into English. The "contemporary" label is not entirely adequate: the stories start from the late 19th century and continue only until the 1970's. There is a real need to update with more current selections. Also inadequate are the critical commentaries that accompany the stories, since much is taken from articles that are thirty years old. It would be useful to include in new editions the date of publication for each story, and the original title in Spanish or Portuguese. It is also worth noting that of the 34 stories, only two are written by women.