The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories

by Carlos Fuentes (Editor), Julio Ortega (Editor)

Overview

In The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories, Julio Ortega and Carlos Fuentes present the most compelling short fiction from Mexico to Chile. Surreal, poetic, naturalistic, urbane, peasant-born: All styles intersect and play, often within a single piece. There is "The Handsomest Drown Man in the World," the García Márquez fable of a village overcome by the power of human beauty; "The Aleph," Borges' classic tale of a man who discovers, in a colleague's cellar, the Universe. Here is the haunting shades of Juan Rulfo, the astonishing anxiety puzzles of Julio Cortázar, the disquieted domesticity of Clarice Lispector. Provocative, powerful, immensely engaging, The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories showcases the ingenuity, diversity, and continuing excellence of a vast and vivid literary tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780679775515
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/05/2000
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	284,538
Product dimensions:	5.16(w) x 7.94(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Carlos Fuentes is the author of more than a dozen novels. He lives in Mexico and London. Julio Ortega is a professor of Hispanic Studies at Brown University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
The Storyteller Carlos Fuentes
Introduction Julio Ortega

Jorge Luis Borges: The Aleph
Filisberto Hernández: The Balcony
João Guimarães Rosa: The Third Bank of the River
Virgi Lio Piñera: The One Who Came to Save Me
Juan Carlos Onetti: Hell Most Feared
Juan Rulfo: Luvina
Julio Cortázar: Blow-Up
Clarice Lispector: Love
José Donoso: Ana María
Gabriel García Márquez: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
Salvador Garmendia: The Melancholic Pedestrian
Julio Ramón Ribeyro: The Wardrobe, the Old Man and Death
Inés Arredondo: Subterranean River
Antonio Benítez Rojo: The Scissors
Alejandro Rossi: Orion’s Glow
Luis Loayza: A New Man
Sergio Pitol Bukhara: Nocturne
Luis Rafael Sánchez: Getting Even
Nélida Piñón: House of Passion
Luisa Valenzuela: Panther Eyes
José Emilio Pacheco: The Queen
Alfredo Bryce Echenique: A Brief Reappearance by Florence, This Autumn
José Balza: The Stroke of Midnight
Moacyr Scliar: Van Gogh’s Ear
Antonio Skármeta: The Cyclist of San Cristóbal Hill
Mario Levrero: Notes From Buenos Aires
Policarpo Varón: The Feast
Rodolfo Hinostroza: The Benefactor
Sergio Ramírez: The Centerfielder
María Luisa Puga: Naturally
Hernán Lara Zavala: Mirror Images
Angeles Mastretta: from Big-Eyed Women
Fernando Ampuero: Taxi Driver, Minus Robert De Niro
Senel Paz: Don’t Tell Her You Love Her
Alberto Ruy Sánchez: Voices of the Water
Antonio López Ortega: from Naturalezas Menores
Juan Villoro: Coyote
Rodrigo Fresán: National Sovereignty
Pablo Soler Frost: Clamour

Author Biographies
Copyright Acknowledgements

Editorial Reviews

"Each and every [story in] this collection is a treasure." —The Guardian

"Latin American fiction is where serious debate can be found and, at its best, makes the contemporary English equivalent seem frivolous and lacking in courage." —The Times (London)

From the Publisher

From the legendary Jorge Luis Borges and the unique Filisberto Hern ndez to such contemporaries as Angeles Mastretta, Rodrigo Fres n, Antonio L pez Ortega, and Gabriel Garc a M rquez, Latin American short story writers have developed a style without limits, defying categorization or a neatly defined history. With these 39 selections (all previously published and all by different authors), editors Fuentes (The Years with Laura D az) and Ortega (Hispanic studies, Brown Univ.) offer a collection dating from the 1950s to the present. The authors, from 11 Latin American nations (Mexico is represented by 11), include 28 who are living and six women. Their work is at times powerful, engaging, and unsettling, and all are examples of a literary tradition unbound by nation, ethnicity, gender, or generation. Most of the contributors work in other genres, so this volume will introduce many of them as short story authors. Recommended for all collections with an emphasis on Latin America or contemporary literature.--Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., AL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A solid collection of 39 stories covering an approximate half-century's worth of fiction variously illustrative of the conflicting principles (cited in Fuentes's prefatory essay"The Storyteller") of"immediate effect" espoused by Argentinean Julio Cortázar and"interrelated narrative constellations" as practiced by his countryman Jorge Luis Borges. These great exemplars, Gabriel García Márquez, and João Guimarães Rosa are all represented by often-anthologized tales—but there are numerous choice surprises here (including the Dostoevskyan"Hell Most feared," by Uruguay's underrated Juan Carlos Onetti, Argentinean Nelida Pinon's hair-raising"House of Passion," and—an interesting closing story—Mexican Pablo Soler Frost's parabolic, and quite Borgesian,"Clamour"). There are relatively few overtly political stories (Colombian Policarpo Varon's"The Feast" is notable); in fact, many of the best pieces here offer imaginative treatments of familiar family conflicts (especially Brazilian Moacyr Scliar's terse, brilliant"Van Gogh's Ear" and Mexican Sergio Pitol's richly imagined"Bukhara Nocturne"). Oddly, there's nothing from such modern masters as Mario Benedetti and Augusto Monterroso—not to mention Mario Vargas llosa, and Carlos Fuentes himself. Still, a very satisfying selection—and, at $14, a tremendous bargain.

Kirkus Reviews