Winning the Game and Other Stories (Volume 1)

by Rubem Fonseca, Clifford E. Landers (Translator)

In these seventeen stories by one of Brazil's foremost living authors, Fonseca introduces readers―with unsurpassed candor and keenness of observation―to a kaleidoscopic, often disturbing world. A hunchback sets his lascivious sights on seducing a beautiful woman. A wealthy businessman hires a ghost writer, with unexpected results. A family of modern-day urban cannibals celebrates a bizarre rite of passage. A man roams the nocturnal streets of Rio de Janeiro in search of meaning. A male ex-police reporter writes an advice column under a female pseudonym. A prosperous entrepreneur picks up a beautiful girl in his Mercedes only to discover his costly mistake. A loser elaborates a lethal plan to become, in his mind, a winner.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2013

About the author

He is an important brazilian writer (novelist, short story writer and screenwriter), born in Juiz de Fora, state of Minas Gerais, but he lived for most of his life in Rio de Janeiro. In 1952, he started his career in the police and became a policy commissioner. Even though, he refuses to do interviews and is a very reclusive person, much like Thomas Pynchon, who is a personal friend of Fonseca.
His writing is pretty dark and gritty, filled with violence and sexual content, and it usually happens in a very urban setting. He says that a writer should have the courage to show what most people are afraid to say. His work is considered groundbreaking in Brazilian literature, up until then mostly focused on rural settings and usually treating cities with a very biased point-of-view. Almost all Brazilian contemporary writers acknowledge Fonseca's importance, and quite a few authors from the newer generation, such as Patrícia Melo or Luis Ruffato, say that he's a huge influence.
He started his career with short stories, and they are usually considered to be the best part of his work. His first popular novel was "A Grande Arte" (High Art), but "Agosto" is usually considered to be his best work.
In 2003, he won the Camões Prize - considered to be the most important award in the Portuguese language - and the Juan Rulfo Prize - award for Latin American and the Caribbean literature.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Rio de Janeiro, setting for the author's fiction

Winning the Game and Other Stories - outstanding collection of seventeen sizzling yarns penned by one of the giants of Brazilian literature - Rubem Fonseca.

There are two stories featuring the great Mandrake, an offbeat, intellectual lawyer who likes playing detective when he's not playing chess with luscious, beautiful women who instantly fall in love with him. There's also a intriguing novella with the provocative title, The Art of Walking in the Streets of Rio de Janeiro. Again, more than a dozen fictional gut-wrenchers. Here's a few words on several of their number -

MANDRAKE
"I was white and had fianchettoed my bishop. Berta was mounting a strong center pawn position." This is how the tale opens, with Mandrake's brief yet tantalizing observation while lounging in his plush Rio penthouse. The intrigue lies on two fronts: he employs the less common chess vocabulary to depict the diagonal movement of his bishop and informs us that his opponent is Berta — a woman we will quickly discover to be gorgeous, curvaceous (imagine a perfectly sculpted yoga teacher), and, oh, so possessive. Mandrake must swing into action when he learns of a murder connected with one of the city's wealthiest and most influential business and political leaders. And this old man has a alluring, beautiful daughter, a blonde Mandrake meets and it's love at first sight. Oh, Mandrake! You're such a romantic.

GUARDIAN ANGEL
The main character, a man, is hired to protect a wealthy owner of a vast estate, a woman so frightened she can't be left alone for more than a few minutes. But he's also working for her sister who's out for her blood. A memorable tale with a bundle of twists along with a corpse or two.

MARTA
One of my favorites in the collection, a tale that starts off with an exchange between a man who refers to himself as an incorrigible romantic and a woman calling herself Louise Brooks since she looks a bit like the famous film star by that name. They meet in his apartment. And here's where the fun begins. Louise spikes the incorrigible romantic's drink as a first step in cleaning him out. However, since Rubem Fonseca spent time as a police officer and city detective as a young man, he isn't about to let Louise work her deviousness as planned. Wow! What an ending.

PASSION
The narrator, a gent I'll call Afonso, is an unpublished writer who once had the ambition to be one of the great Brazilian novelists. Although he didn't love her, not even close, Afonso married Nelly for her money. And Nelly was ugly - drooping breasts, flaccid ass, large belly. Afonso suggested she submit to plastic surgery. Nelly replied bitingly, "You think I'm some kind of Botoxed social butterfly? I'm a professional, a famous lawyer, respected, who makes a living by working." Ouch! Afonso, the unemployed failed writer feels the sting. But when Afonso meets Michele, the girl of his dreams, one thing becomes clear: Nelly the famous, flaccid ass must be done away with. Afonso consults his friend, a doctor who devises a surefire plan. How will it turn out? Rubem Fonseca must have had a blast inserting a number of dramatic twists.

WINNING THE GAME
The tale begins: "When I'm not reading some book I get from the public library I watch one of those TV programs that show the life of the rich, their mansions, the cars, the horses, the yachts, the jewels, the paintings, the rare furniture, the silverware, the wine cellar, the servants. It's impressive how well served the rich are." Rubem Fonseca incorporates much social and cultural commentary, including (no surprise) the bitter resentment the poor have for those with gobs of money.


Rubem Fonseca, 1925-2020

[Chris Merola]

Very propulsive, twisty tales rendered well through a lively translation. A lot of crime, sex, sexism, double crosses, triple crosses, and a strong tendency towards in medias res, like you walked into a bar and caught someone spinning a yarn when they were already halfway done.

The two most interesting pieces were 1. a brief series of four events in the night of a numb and overworked police officer, and 2. a man writing for a woman's magazine (that's entirely run by men using female pen names, which fakes letters from readers) investigates an actual series of letters from a cross dresser who keeps writing in.

The rest ranged in effectiveness for me, as I was often pulled out by how similarly sexist, horny, and greedy all the protagonists were. Small time crime isn't my favorite genre, I find it hard to care about the same schpiel re: unsentimental hitmans and untrustworthy sex workers and unsuspecting rich targets with just a few elements rearranged here and there. There are genuinely surprising things to be found in these stories, this just isn't my genre.