The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories

by Horacio Quiroga, George D. Schade (Introduction), Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator)

Tales of horror, madness, and death, tales of fantasy and morality: these are the works of South American master storyteller Horacio Quiroga. Author of some 200 pieces of fiction that have been compared to the works of Poe, Kipling, and Jack London, Quiroga experienced a life that surpassed in morbidity and horror many of the inventions of his fevered mind. As a young man, he suffered his father's accidental death and the suicide of his beloved stepfather. As a teenager, he shot and accidentally killed one of his closest friends. Seemingly cursed in love, he lost his first wife to suicide by poison. In the end, Quiroga himself downed cyanide to end his own life when he learned he was suffering from an incurable cancer.

In life Quiroga was obsessed with death, a legacy of the violence he had experienced. His stories are infused with death, too, but they span a wide range of short fiction genres: jungle tale, Gothic horror story, morality tale, psychological study. Many of his stories are set in the steaming jungle of the Misiones district of northern Argentina, where he spent much of his life, but his tales possess a universality that elevates them far above the work of a regional writer.

The first representative collection of his work in English, The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories provides a valuable overview of the scope of Quiroga's fiction and the versatility and skill that have made him a classic Latin American writer.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Gothic, Magical Realism, Latin American

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 10, 1909

About the author

Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza was an Uruguayan novelist, poet, and (above all) short story writer.

He wrote stories which, in their jungle settings, use the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental illness and hallucinatory states. His influence can be seen in the Latin American magic realism of Gabriel García Márquez and the postmodern surrealism of Julio Cortázar.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horacio_...

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Decapitated Chicken is a dozen of downbeat stories demonstrating a lot of originality.
The Feather Pillow is a horror tale in classical tradition… Sunstroke is about a pack of dogs witnessing the presence of death…
Highly modernistic extravaganza The Pursued is open to many interpretations… I understood it as a portrayal of an inner world of a man suffering schizoid splitting of personality…

We sat for a while without speaking, but the flies of excitement were constantly buzzing through my brain. Although I felt serious, a convulsive smile kept rising to my lips. When we had sat down, I had bitten my lips trying to adopt a normal expression, but this overwhelming tic kept breaking through. My ideas rushed headlong in an unending procession, piling onto one another with undreamed-of velocity; each idea represented an uncontrollable impulse to create ridiculous and, especially, unexpected situations; I had a mad desire to undertake each one, then stop suddenly, and begin another: to poke my forked fingers in Díaz Vélez’s eyes, to pull my hair and yell just for the hell of it, and all just to do something absurd – especially to Díaz Vélez.

The title story – the darkest in the collection – is about four idiot brothers and their little sister… In Drifting the main character is bitten by a deadly snake… A Slap in the Face is a story of cruel vengeance… Juan Darién is a sad fable of a tiger cub turned into a kind boy by magic and wickedness of man…
The exotic parable Anaconda is a focus of the book… Deep in the jungle there is an empire of snakes… And man intrudes into their realm…

The following day, Lanceolada’s first preoccupation was the danger that, with the arrival of Man, would filter down upon the whole Family. Man and Devastation have been synonymous from Time Immemorial throughout the entire Kingdom of the Animals. For the Vipers, the poisonous snakes, particularly, the disaster was personified in two horrors: the searching machete that cut into the very belly of the jungle and the fire that suddenly annihilated the woods and, with it, the hidden lairs.

Even snakes have their own special niche in the temple of nature.

[The Artisan Geek]

23/4/21
Did a video review on this one :)
------------------VIDEO REVIEW------------------


7/7/20
This ended up being quite a mixed bag of stories. The majority of them I enjoyed thoroughly -- they were short and gruesome/thrilling -- whilst a few others felt a bit lacklustre. Nevertheless, there were some real bangers in here such as The Feather Pillow, The Pursued, The Dead Man and Juan Darién. One of my favourites The Son, left me jaw dropped in shock at the end of the book. Quiroga has a talent of tapping into fears such as the disintegration of the mind and the fine line between life and death that at times had me reeling. Also, as someone who isn't a fan of venomous and bloodsucking creatures I was frequently left with a strong sense of unease lol.

I know a new edition of Cuentos de amor de locura y de muerte will be coming out later this year and even though my Spanish is far from great, I think it would be worth a try :)

1/7/20
Wow! A Uruguayan horror classic!! The selection of horror literature at most book stores always seem so limited -- especially when it comes to classics. Therefore I was so elated to find out about Quiroga a couple of months ago. Very excited to his work :)

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[Mark Porton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If a short story starts with “All day long the four idiot sons of the couple Mazzini-Ferraz sat on a bench in the patio. Their tongues protruded from between their lips; their eyes were dull; their mouths hung open as they turned their heads.”…………you know you might be in for an unsettling treat.

Yes, this one is more horrific than The Feather Pillow the other short story I just read and reviewed (3-stars) by Quiroga, which was horrible enough. Here's the review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

But The Decapitated Chicken is next level unsettling, and as horrific as it gets.

I’ll leave it at that – if you want to know a little more about Horatio Quiroga, the author – check out my review of his The Feather Pillow.

This one is better.

Shudder.

5 stars

This dark wonder can be found here: https://shortstoryproject.com/stories...

[Enrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como un chupito de tequila: breve y contundente. Lo inicias y terminas en un momento. Ves como la angustia va creciendo a medida que se acerca el final. Dices: “no será” “creo que al final no...” “no sé yo…”, y al final es que...
Bueno no me enrollo, pero tiene todo lo que necesita un buen relato breve, una pequeña preparación y puesta en escena, y sin apenas transición una finalización con un tanto brutal, dejando al lector ahíto (siempre quise decir esta palabra, ahíto…) a su suerte.

[selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

horacio quiroga podría escribir el cuervo pero edgar allan poe nunca podría escribir la gallina degollada

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de lo corto del relato, es atrapante y además, toca varios temas importante dándoles un giro macabro y oscuro.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's of little wonder that horacio quiroga's short stories are so full of death, as his own life was marked by considerable mortal tragedy (the accidental death of his father, his inadvertent shooting of a close friend, the suicide of his first wife, and, later, his own self-induced cyanide poisoning). the uruguayan writer, active throughout the early decades of the last century, is best known for his short stories, and is often credited with inspiring the works of both cortázar and garcía márquez. quiroga's stories, many of which are set in the jungle (where he lived for much of his life), range from the macabre to the tragic. despite the darkness and foreboding that permeates so much of his writing, reflected is a prodigious imagination. each of the dozen stories included in this collection are worthwhile, but "the feather pillow," "the decapitated chicken," "juan darién," "anaconda," and "the son" stand out most remarkably.

it was ten o'clock at night and suffocatingly hot. haze hung heavy over the jungle, and not a breath of air was stirring. the carbon black sky was split intermittently from horizon to horizon by silent lightning flashes, but the hissing rainstorm to the south was still far away...

[Alex Gracia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soy Horacio Quiroga al que la gallina degolla (8). Desgarrante, simplemente demoledor. Hace unos momentos veía un video de José Luis Trueba y Oscar de la Borbolla hablando de los cuentos que más los habían impactado, José Luis menciono y narro el argumento de La gallina degollada de Horacio Quiroga, me causo un shock que al momento tuve que pausar el video y buscar el cuento para leerlo. La gallina degollada es un cuento corto de terror, no uno paranormal, tenso ni misterioso, si no uno crudo y tajante, directo a la yugular, literal. Antes de comentar un poco sobre el, recomendaría que si piensas leerlo te detengas aquí y reanudes esta reseña después de haberlo hecho, ya que es casi imposible hablar del cuento sin hacer spoiler y leerlo no te tomara más de 10 min.

El cuento inicia con la descripción de los "idiotas y bestiales" hijos de un matrimonio, una tradicional pareja de recién casados que busco dar el siguiente paso teniendo un hijo. Quiroga introduce cada premisa para formar un argumento contundente y lleno de sentido, no hay cabos sueltos, si algo esta en la lectura es porque se va a utilizar. Como por el ejemplo el uso de los diálogos en la historia, estos son para ejemplificar el descontento entre la pareja, que al no poder engendrar un hijo saludable comienzan a culparse y a pelear, después de estas peleas viene la reconciliación (Nos peleamos, nos arreglamos(8)) y con ello un nuevo hijo, cada uno de estos (4) después de un par de años presentaba la perdida de todo conocimiento y razón, causando descontento y un mayor resentimiento en la pareja. Al pasar los años el rencor entre el matrimonio aumentaba junto con el descuido de los hijos, y es aquí donde el autor introduce el punto de inflexión, el nacimiento de una pequeña saludable qué aumento el desprecio de los padres por los embrutecidos infantes y el temor de que esta terminara como ellos. Una hija sobreprotegida llena de amor y cuatro hijos desprotegidos llenos de baba, son los protagonistas de las últimas dos páginas de nuestro cuento. Los jóvenes embrutecidos ven un acto cotidiano en la cocina, la sirvienta degollando a una gallina lentamente para preservar la frescura de la carne, se apagan unos ojos y se encienden otros. Los hijos al recibir la primera oportunidad de replicar lo visto accionan, observan el cuello de su hermana de cuatro años con atención y el resto se lo pueden imaginar.

Un cuento que definitivamente no olvidare, esos son los buenos, los que mellan. Lectura breve, impactante y completa, merece a mi parecer su calificación perfecta y su obvia recomendación.

[Sandra Uv · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

Me ha encantado. Brutal y oscuro.

[Federico DN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cluck cluck!

Mazzini and Ferraz have been married for a long time and work very hard to provide for all their children, but fate hasn’t been kind to them when a serious outbreak of meningitis leaves their four sons frail and mentally impaired. Yet fortune seems to smile them again when their last and fifth daughter is spared the disease and grows lively and healthy.

This was just PERFECT! Or almost! One of the best and shortest horror stories I’ve ever read in my life, deserving a special place among my best of short literature shelf. The horrifying ending scene one shocking image I haven’t been able to erase from my mind since the day I read it, already decades now.

I’m not a fan of Quiroga tbh, over time this author has given me enough duds to be wary of ever picking one of his books again; but this story, along with “El almohadón de plumas” , are two unforgettable short horror masterpieces I’ll always vouch and be grateful for; and can’t recommend them enough.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1909] [25p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recommendable]
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★★★★★ La gallina degollada. [4.5]
★★★★★ El almohadón de plumas. [4.5]
★★★☆☆ Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte. <--
★★☆☆☆ El Yaciyateré y otros Cuentos.
★★☆☆☆ El Vampiro y otros Cuentos.
★☆☆☆☆ Los desterrados - El regreso de Anaconda.

-----------------------------------------------

¡Clo Cló!

Mazzini y Ferraz han estado casados durante mucho tiempo y trabajan muy duro para mantener a todos sus hijos, pero el destino no ha sido amable con ellos cuando un grave brote de meningitis deja a sus cuatro hijos frágiles y con discapacidad mental. Sin embargo, la suerte parece sonreírles de nuevo cuando su quinta y última hija se salva de la enfermedad y crece vivaz y saludable.

¡Esto fue simplemente PERFECTO! ¡O casi! Una de las mejores y más cortas historias de terror que he leído jamás en mi vida, mereciendo un lugar especial en mi estantería de lo mejor de literatura corta. La horrible escena final, una imagen escalofriante que no he podido borrar de mi mente desde el día que la leí, siendo décadas ya.

Para ser honestos, no soy fan de Quiroga, con el tiempo este autor me ha dado suficientes debacles como para tener precaución de volver a tomar alguno de sus libros; pero esta historia, junto con “El almohadón de plumas” , son dos cortas e inolvidables obras maestras del terror por las que siempre daré fe y estaré agradecido; y no puedo recomendarlas lo suficiente.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1909] [25p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recomendable]
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[ʟ ɪ ʙ ɴ ɪ · Rating 5 out of 5]

._. Que oscuro me ha parecido el final, me imaginé toda una película de terror. Me encantó xD

[Saurabh Kadam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best collection of short stories I have read till now. Stories comprise of the creatures and human personas. I personally like all stories. It is like reading Ficciones but in a horror versions.

[Lady An ☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

La lectura no ha sido fácil, posee muchas palabras conjugadas en español del 1800, por lo cual debí detenerme y afianzarlas. Sobre la historia, tuve como una reminiscencia a Frankenstein, y terminé temblando del horror al final del cuento.. Horrorizada de lo que éste hombre escribía! :O

[Carolina]

"𝐒𝐢 𝐚ú𝐧 𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐬 ú𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐣𝐨𝐬, 𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢 𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐨
𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬. 𝐒𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐨 𝐥𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐚, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐳 𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐢, 𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨, 𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐚 𝐥𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐨".

[Nancy Vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

La gallina degollada, es un cuento corto que se lee con facilidad, una obra aterradora, especialmente por su impactante final. Quiroga refleja en esta historia una triste realidad familiar, el desprecio que a veces se experimenta hacia los hijos que nacen con alguna discapacidad, y cómo esto afecta profundamente a los padres, quienes, en lugar de sentirse plenos con ellos, se hunden en el descontento. Cuando finalmente tienen un hijo sano, es evidente la diferencia en el amor y atención que le prodigan, mientras que a los otros hijos, con deficiencias, los deshumanizan y descuidan emocionalmente.

Este contraste entre el cariño hacia el hijo sano y el abandono hacia los demás genera una serie de interpretaciones sobre las consecuencias de estas acciones. El desprecio y la negligencia de los padres terminan por replicarse en los propios hijos, quienes, sin comprender el impacto de sus actos, reproducen esa violencia que han presenciado. En el trágico desenlace, los niños cometen el acto más violento, reflejando inconscientemente el rechazo que ellos mismos sufrieron.

Este cuento es una poderosa metáfora del abandono emocional y físico, que muestra cómo la indiferencia puede llevar a los más vulnerables a la destrucción. Es sin duda, una historia profundamente conmovedora, que nos revela la fragilidad de la familia cuando la empatía y el amor no están presentes.

[msoolmiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mi sola se me ocurre leer esto justo antes de dormir

[dianne b. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 100 year old stories - as relevant as anything written this week. Guess humans don't change much. Quiroga writes magical realism so well that I was often completely surprised by turns and twists. The line between realism and hallucination can be quite curious. Some stories are quite sad, others terrifying, but never gratuitous. His writing clearly affected Cortazar, Borges and other writers that followed.
The illustrations are among the finest i've ever seen. Pen and ink drawings by Ed Lindlof at the start of each story are evocative, fantastic, supernatural.

“...the husband and wife grew bitter. Until this time each had taken his own share of responsibility for the misery their children caused, but hopelessness for the redemption of the four animals born to them finally created that imperious necessity to blame others that is the specific patrimony of inferior hearts.”

[MiiriAm · Rating 5 out of 5]

No esperaba nada de Quiroga y vaya que me sorprendió, leer su biografía fue igual o más interesante que el libro y me aportó mucho a conocer sus motivaciones.
La gallina degollada es un relato desgarrador, cruel y bastante grotesco, una historia tan corta que logra impresionar. Lo interesante es que al compartir la lectura con otras personas nos llevó a imaginarnos diversos escenarios y eso nutrió el proceso.

Quiero leer más de Horacio, ya lo siento compa.

[Brend · Rating 4 out of 5]

You're not a true horror fan if you didn't read this in 6th grade and left traumatized

[Michael Esparza · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

A horrid work done by such a prestigious translator more than 3 decades ago which was reprinted as a second "edition" only to include a few pages of introduction.
By way of example, Quiroga's "Dead Man" (El hombre muerto) is murdered in the narrative and the typical landscape of Misiones that the author (who was a photographer) wanted to convey is absolutely lost to the reader in English, which is a pity. And if we consider "Sunstroke" (La insolación), where Quiroga depicts in dialogues a typical rural English-Argentinian community, a master-servant relationship (very much part of the social panorama of the time), master strokes used to characterise that are absent in the version rendered.
We, in Argentina and in the Spanish-speaking community, love his fantastic and original short stories for they are appealing, well constructed (after Poe, his acknowledged mentor) and rich whereas foreign readers trying to learn about this renowned writer may be lost as to what is there to praise about him or his writing, so poor is the translation work done.
Unfortunately, these short stories are the only versions used by all the antologies of Latin American short stories I consulted so far. It's a real shame.

[Daniel Polansky]

Short fiction by an Uruguayan/Argentinian Kipling/Poe. Creepy! Weird! You can see the influence on Borges here, certainly, although it’s less polished if arguably rawer. There are a couple of short ones about men dying that are really excellent, and a long one called Anaconda which is a fabulous exercise in anthropomorphic violence, a sub-genre in which I daresay I know a little bit here and there. Also, what a great title.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fan de estas historias, llena de locura y sangre.

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un cuento en apariencia sencillo pero que encierra mucho más.

[loren. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solo Horacio Quiroga podría...

[Hugo Pineda O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perturbador, magistral, inclasificable.

[Roy =^, ,^= · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 | ★★★★½

Tan pocas páginas, pero tan hermosa y atrapante prosa.

[Pola · Rating 4 out of 5]

va durísimo el libro este wow,,, siempre lo recordaré por haberlo escuchado con el altavoz andando por budapest

[Lenasaurio · Rating 5 out of 5]

relato escuchado a todo volumen con mis 3 amiguitos más neurodivergentes por las calles de budapest... fantástica experiencia inmersiva

[eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAFUKKKKKKKK