The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories

By Carlos Fuentes

Book 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 Garc a M rquez 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 Cort zar, 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067977551X
• ISBN13: 9780679775515
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Good taste of Latin American lit

This book is really helpful for getting a review of prominent Latin American writers. The only thing that would make this book better, would be more extensive biographies of the writers.

Here comes the sun

The perfect door to get inside some amazing latin american authors is this anthology of short stories. Here you will find how we are, how we think, how we feel. Please... dont forget to read "Subterranean River" written by Inés Arredondo. "I want to find something smooth, something harmonious, into which my soul can glide. Not these peaks, these useless wounds, this falling and getting up again; higher, lower, crooked, almost still, making you dizzy"

must have

"The vintage book of Latin American Stories" is a must have. Ever story in this book deserves individual praise. There are a couple of stories that stand out above the others.One of these stories is "The Aleph" by Jorge Luis Borges. In this story, Borges tackles the concept of "the Aleph" which is perceived as everything that exists as well as everything that does not. It opens the mind to the perception of human knowledge and the concept of knowing "everything."Another great story in this book is "Blow up" by Julio Cortazar. His style of writing captivates the mind even when the story is about a photograph. But the story is not just about the photograph but also about the emotions and actions in and behind the photograph.Although these two stories alone are worth more than the value asked for book, another story that deserves to be mentioned is "Luvina" by Juan Rulfo. The descriptive qualities shown by the author are extraordinary. The way the town of Luvina is described actually reconstructs the town in the readers mind. Whether that is good or not is an open question. The rest of the short stories are just as valuable as the mentioned. The book is a really must have.

Most certainly 'vintage'

These stories are a good start in learning about the Latin American story-telling tradition.