Contemporary Short Stories from Central America
299 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Mar 1994
ISBN:9780292740341
Contemporary Short Stories from Central America
Edited by Enrique Jaramillo Levi and Leland H. Chambers
University of Texas Press
This volume collects some of the best short fiction from the six Spanish-speaking countries of Central America—Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Selected from stories written between 1963 and 1988, it is a broad representation of active Central American writers.
Many of the stories are quite sophisticated and utilize elements of the absurd or techniques of magical realism. Some stories deal with war—the unending struggle against dictators and military power that engrosses Central Americans. Others explore the realm of the writer's imagination. Some of the writers included are Augusto Monterroso (Guatemala), Carmen Naranjo and Samuel Rovinski (Costa Rica), Rosa María Britton and Jaime García Saucedo (Panama), and Alfonso Quijada Urías (El Salvador).
Enrique Jaramillo Levi is an editor at the Editorial Universitaria of the Universidad de Panamá. Leland H. Chambers is emeritus professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Denver.
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Guatemala
- Arturo Arias. Toward Patzun. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- José Bamoya Garcia. Tránsito. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Franz Galich. The Rat Catcher. Pamela Carmell, trans.
- Dante Liano. An Indolence of Feelings. Sylvia Schulter, trans.
- Augusto Monterroso. The Circumstantial or the Ephemeral. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Honduras
- Eduardo Bähr. Tarzan of the Apes. Clark M. Zlotchew, trans.
- Edilberto Borjas. The Last Act. Clark M. Zlotchew, trans.
- Roberto Castillo. The Attack of the Man-Eating Paper. Clark M. Zlotchew, trans.
- Julio Escoto. Reality before Noon. Clark M. Zlotc. Sabina Lask-Spinac, trans.hew, trans.
- Jorge Luis Oviedo. The Final Flight of the Mischievous Bird. Sabina Lask-Spinac, trans.
- Roberto Quesada. The Author. Sabina Lask-Spinac, trans.
- Pompeyo del Valle. The Forbidden Street. Sabina Lask-Spinac, trans.
- El Salvador
- José Roberto Cea. The Absent One Inside. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- David Escobar Galindo. Restless. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Jorge Kattán Zablah. The Raccoons. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Hugo Lindo. That Confounded Year ... !. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Ricardo Lindo. Cards. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- José María Méndez. The Circle. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Alfonso Quijada Urías. To Tell the Story. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Napoleón Rodríguez Ruiz. The Suicide of Chamiabak. Elizabeth Gamble Miller, trans.
- Nicaragua
- Mario Cajina-Vega. Gloria Lara. Don D. Wilson, trans.
- Lizandro Chávez Alfaro. Pregnant City. Don D. Wilson, trans.
- Pablo Antonio Cuadra. August. Lynne Beyer, trans.
- Horacio Peña. The House. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Sergio Ramírez. On the Stench of Corpses. Don D. Wilson, trans.
- Mario Santos. In the Midst of the Downpour They Took Away My Cousin. Don D. Wilson, trans.
- Fernando Silva. Francisco. Lynne Beyer, trans.
- Costa Rica
- Luis Bolaños Ugalde. Rite. Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- Alfonso Chase. The Path of the Wind. Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- José Ricardo Chaves. Burned Soldiers. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Carlos Cortés. Funeral Rites in Summer. Pamela Carmell, trans.
- Fabián Dobles. The Trunk. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Carmen Naranjo. Floral Caper. Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- Julieta Pinto. Disobedience. Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- Uriel Quesada. Behind the Door. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Marco Retana. The Back Rooms. 107 Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- Samuel Rovinski. Metaphors. 112 Charles Philip Thomas, trans.
- Victoria Urbano. The Face. Sylvia Schulter, trans.
- Panama
- Lucas Bárcena. The Sweetheart of the Spirits. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Ricardo J. Bermúdez. The Horse in the Glassware Shop. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Rosa Maria Britton. Love Is Spelled with a "G". Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Enrique Chuez. The Woman. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Claudio de Castro. The Chameleon. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Ernesto Endara. Family Photograph. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Jaime García Saucedo. Gloria Wouldn't Wait. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Enrique Jaramillo Levi. Duplications. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Raúl Leis. Señor Noboa. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Bertalicia Peralta. The Village Virgin. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Dimas Lidio Pitty. Our Boss. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Pedro Rivera. Games. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Jorge Turner. Carnival. Leland H. Chambers, trans.
- Notes on the Authors
- Notes on the Translators
- Permissions Acknowledgments
