Short Stories in Spanish: New Penguin Parallel Text

by John R. King (Editor), Soledad Puértolas, Julio Ramón Ribeyro

A dual-language edition of contemporary stories from throughout the Hispanic world, perfect for learners of either language
 
This volume of ten short stories, with parallel translations, offers students of Spanish at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature, without having constantly to refer back to a dictionary.
 
Richly diverse in themes and styles, the stories are by both new and well-established writers and range from the sharp insights of Gabriel García Márquez’s “María dos Prazeres” and the teasing, deceptive simplicity of Javier Marías’s “On the Honeymoon” to Isabel Allende’s powerful evocation of the oral traditions of the Amerindian and the philosophical speculation of Laura Freixas’s “Absurd Ending.”
 
Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.

Genres: Spanish Literature, Short Stories, Fiction, Language, Spain, Cultural, Unfinished

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John R. King was born and grew up in Reading, UK. He read Modern Languages at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He has taught Spanish and French at Eton College, Windsor, since 1975, was formerly the college's Head of Spanish and has been a Housemaster there since 1989. He has an interest in everything Hispanic, including literature, history, architecture, and ceramics.

Reviews

[Lise Amalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have done it! Only took me two months, but I have read a book in Spanish!

[Abeer Abdullah]

Double language texts are really great for language learners, this was a wonderful and varied collection though some of these stories were so hard to get through and others were just so incredible and uplifting. Its very difficult to part with a book you've been reading for a while, both because I aways wonder if I've experienced it well enough and just how I'll keep it alive inside of me always. The bizarre thing is I feel this about most books I read and then some even triggers a memory of a part in a book I've that comes to help me live with, understand and process this bizarre existence.

[Sarah Blatt-Herold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m trying to read more in Spanish and I loved these stories except for the last one, “Syllabus.” The plot is straightforward but the story was challenging for me to understand in Spanish because of the linguistic and stylistic complexity. I had to read it first in English and then try again in Spanish. Overall a good collection and highly recommended!

[Natascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denna bok väckte verkligen igen mitt intresse för noveller. Kan på 5-10 sidor skapa en så intressant berättelse med massa spännande aspekter som väcker mycke tankar. Gilla helt ok konceptet med spanska på en sida och engelska på andra.

[Bergþór Másson · Rating 5 out of 5]

las eina smásögu á dag 10 daga í röð - smásögurnar verða erfiðari eftir því sem líður á bókina og ég skildi ekki mikið í síðustu tvemur en þetta var mjög gott dæmi bara, tel mig hafa lært frekar mikla spænsku á þessu, sérstaklega í byrjun

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short stories are both fun, interesting, sobering and challenging. My methodology was to read the stories first in English, and then read the same story in Spanish. It helped me with sentence structure and verb tenses which are not easy to figure out. A delightful exercised!

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

no me fueron exactamente buenos…

[Matt Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In hopes of moving my Spanish understanding forward beyond Duolingo and occasional conversations, I was excited to try this book that my spouse found for me. The stories are certainly literary, and they stretched my vocabulary extensively. I would prefer that the notes appear as footnotes rather than endnotes, but having each page side by side was great. Most of the stories are slice-of-life tales, with a tinge of sentiment and/or absurdism. I would recommend this book for intermediate to advanced learners, especially literature lovers.

[CJRbigmanting · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book Is shit

[Kristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gode ord og bokstaver i denne.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A parallel text of short stories by Spanish speaking authors. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others which started off hard and become more increasingly complex in language through the book. The parallel text helped but these were challenging reads for me in Spanish. Hence it took me a long time to read as I kept putting it off because it was too difficult - but I stuck in there.

[J Rising · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will have to revisit these when my Spanish improves. "Walmai", "Absurd Ending" and "Las Amigas" are great. Its a decent collection. Sometimes the stories get a bit too self-indulgent.

[Cleo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is pretty self-explanatory. It's a great book for Spanish students, offering the Spanish on the left and the English on the right. At a later date, I'll probably go through with an intent to learning Spanish, but this time, I just read the stories in English and enjoyed them. The stories are from a variety of different types of modern Spanish literature, and I really enjoyed them. The only two writers I had heard of were Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The first story, "Eva's Indifference", wasn't great, but I did definitely enjoy the predictable but interesting "Literary Tea Party". It was a rather typical way of showing how waiting and impatience and strife brings out the worst in people, people's true natures. In it, a group of people are waiting for a famous writer to show up so that they can talk to him. "On the Honeymoon", described as "deceptively simple" was just that, and more. It's a story of mistaken identities.

I actually didn't like the two stories by authors I had heard of; Isabel Allende's story wasn't very interesting, and Marquez's was confusing. However, most of the stories in this collection were very good, thought-provoking, and a great learning tool. There are 10 stories overall.

This is a collection that I would highly recommend if you are attempting to learn Spanish; if not, you could still read it, but perhaps consider getting a different volume of Spanish stories. There are a lot of other languages in this series: French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and probably more. It's definitely a great series.

www.novareviews.blogspot.com

[Loki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for learning! From a parallel text, learning a language becomes almost like deciphering a code.. a fantastic challenge. It's very much expanded on my GCSE-level knowledge of Spanish, to the point where I can even read a whole paragraph by myself! I still have far to go, but there are many more parallel text books around ;)

I really can't emphasise enough how much better it is to learn grammar this way than from tables/traditional school methods.

[martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a challenging read for a language learner because the stories range from intermediate to advanced level and the translations aspire to be in line with the spirit rather than the word for word meaning of the writing. The stories were not written with the intention of teaching the language, but are instead works by respected authors. As a result there is a lot of vocabulary in here that will be unfamiliar and sentence structures are often complex. I found the final story especially overwhelming at times. Others were more easily understood

That said, I enjoyed it immensely and was childishly delighted at being able to see the humour and the themes of some of the stories. It’s also been a a valuable introduction to the work of Spanish and Latin American writers. Some authors I knew fairly well, others I hope to read more, especially Julio Ramón Ribeyro.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful aid to learn some of the idioms and intricacies of the language. The stories are arranged from more straightforward and plain language stories to ones that are more intricate and verbose later in the collection. I found some of the translations to be better than others. Six translators translate the ten stories. In some cases poetic language is simplified unnecessarily, where it seems to be adequately served by translation word for word. The last story (Syllabus) uses complex and convoluted language, but that is part of the main theme of the story. Some of the stories are especially moving and beautiful; I found Walimai, Las Amigas, Segunda Vez and Maria Dos Prazeres to be excellent.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read the stories in Spanish, but I will hopefully do so in the future. Overall, this is a good collection of many varied stories, in subject matter, tone, and writing style. They encompass a wide range of genres and authors. The sections explaining why the stories were chosen and their contextual significance were very useful, and made the stories more easily understood by a reader who doesn’t have the cultural understanding of the targeted audiences of the stories.

[Pierre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an Interesting collection but it includes too many open endings types of stories. Most of the writers are masters of style who deserve to be read in individual collections of their own work, not lumped together while using a similar device, it weakens the effect.

[Corinne Lyons · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I read this verry slowly, over the course of about 2.5 years! This is a parallel text consisting of 10 short stories from Spain and Latin-America. Intermediate to advanced Spanish. Spanish on left-hand pages, English on right. For the most part, I read in Spanish, consulting the English side for help as needed. I jotted down my opinion of each story as I finished it. My three favorites were:

"Walimai" by Isabel Allende. My note: "Good level. A page-turner. Beautifully written, heartfelt, and spiritual."

"Las Amigas" by Carlos Fuentes. "Liked it! Not too challenging. Interesting, touching, funny."

"A Literary Tea Party" by Julio Ramón Ribeyro. "Good level of difficulty. Entertaining, but strange ending. Enjoyed overall."

I would not say I enjoyed the other seven stories, really. The last one, "Syllabus," was *punishingly* challenging to read -- even in English!!! I didn't even read the Spanish, considering I could barely trudge through the English translation! Plus, the plot was boring and didn't have a point, that I could see.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly most of the stories in this book were pretty bad. But it's a neat format! Having the original Spanish on the left and English on the right, perfect for people like me who can read Spanish okay but need an easy translation here or there.

The stories by Allende and Marquez were my favorites, which is no surprise because I love their novels. Other than that, the rest of these stories either felt kind of pointless, predictable, or just straight up creepy (in a bad way). I gave up reading the Spanish versions on the last two stories, they weren't kidding about the language getting more and more complex with each progressive story lol. But yeah I wouldn't really recommend this particular collection besides those 2 stories in the middle.

[Makayla MacGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great selection of fun short stories, plus good exposure to some of the great Spanish-speaking authors like Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende. I honestly feel like my understanding of Spanish colloquialisms and especially grammar improved while reading this; having the English on the opposite page was a useful reference that made understanding the text a good learning experience but without the pressure of missing any crucial information. Some were much harder than others, and some translations were better than others, but overall this was an excellent learning tool.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this, not so much for the stories, but in my Spanish learning, I'm going to look for more parallel text in Spanish to help me more.
As for the stories, I'd first say, I read very little fiction and almost no literary fiction, so I'm nor best placed to judge. Most of the stories had ambiguous or incomplete endings, but I guess that is like life, so that is how it goes. Most were at some point unsettling, which again, I think was the point. Written over a few decades and in both Castiliano and various American Spanish dialects it was good variety

[Indra]

I really felt how the stories progressed in their complexity from easier to really difficult to understand, the last two stories I had to read in English before venturing to read them in Spanish. My favourite story was Las amigas by Carlos Fuentes. The stories I found the least enjoyable, each in its own way, were Syllabus by Juan Benet and La poseída by Antonio Muñoz Molina.

[Donna Boultwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m calling this a work in progress! From a learner’s perspective the stories got harder and harder. I really struggled with the last two. I hope next time I read the book I’ll find it easier. I found the language quite tricky. Not the sort of vocab I’m used to. Some interesting short stories - not the sort I’d usually read.

[Lorena Ramli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I managed to read español — Gabriel García Márquez’s María dos Prazeres no less! Parallel text books are definitely useful in the study of a foreign language, and makes learning easier and more fun.

[lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serves for the purpose it intends to with a good selection of authors from various Spanish speaking countries. Includes some very big names like Isabel Allende and Julio Cortázar, and so overall probably provides good introductions to these authors.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the parallel text format, and I like that the stories included in this book were all different. Not every story was a winner for me, but I find that's typical of a short story collection.
My favorites were Walimai, Maria dos Prazeres, and Second Time Round.

[lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's not much I can really say about this book. Although I found most of the stories unbelievably boring, they all served their purpose perfectly: helping me learn Spanish. Some really useful vocabulary and the side-by-side translation is such an ingenious idea I haven't ever seen before. I didn't read this book in the best way possible, as I kept going back to specific stories every once and a while, and rarely read it from one story to the next, but then again, I don't think that matters. I have my AP Spanish Language test tomorrow and I can confidently say this book has been of great help.

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una colecion poderosa con muchos escrituros conocidos - Garcia Marquez, Allende, Fuentes. Es una buena manera para una estudiante intermediato leer el espanol. "Las amigas" de Fuentes" tal vez mi favorito.

[Laraharding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading, re-reading and listening to the 2 or 3 short stories which I also found on Utube brought these to life and the meaning gradually revealed itself to me. An enjoyable, low-pressure way to improve your comprehension and get the sound of the language in your ear.