Blood Pact and Other Stories

by Mario Benedetti, Claribel Alegría (Editor), Darwin J. Flakoll (Editor)

This collection includes the best of renowned Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti's stories from over 40 years of publishing. In these stories of powerful sudden impact, Benedetti plumbs with deep psychological insight both the dreams and frustrations of the middle-class in a bureaucratic society, as well as the pain and disorientation of political exile. 

Genres: Short Stories, Latin American

214 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Mario Benedetti (full name: Mario Orlando Hamlet Hardy Brenno Benedetti Farugia) was a Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being published in twenty languages he was not well known in the English-speaking world. He is considered one of Latin America's most important 20th-century writers.

Benedetti was a member of the 'Generation of 45', a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement and also wrote in the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha from 1945 until it was forcibly closed by the military government in 1973, and was its literary director from 1954. From 1973 to 1985 he lived in exile, and returned to Uruguay in March 1983 following the restoration of democracy.

Reviews

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

like many of the world's finest authors, mario benedetti is virtually unknown in the english-speaking world. he is, in spanish-speaking countries however, widely considered one of the most important & beloved latin american writers. born in uruguay in 1920, benedetti has penned over fifty volumes of fiction, poetry, drama, political journalism, and criticism. following the coup in 1973, his writing was banned and he was forced into exile for the next 12 years.

save for a few slim books of poetry and two out-of-print novels, blood pact is, tragically (or criminally), the only of his works available in english translation. the 27 tales in this collection span some 40 years of his career, and comprise one of the most exquisitely well-written array of short stories i've ever read, by any author, anywhere. composed in a deft and stylish manner, benedetti's writing is full of elegance, honesty, compassion, insight, humor, humanity, and wisdom. his stories deal in the personal, yet reflect the world his characters live within. political repression and torture, the nuance of amorous relations, psychological exploration, the inevitability of aging and death, the frustrating inanity of bureaucracy; regardless of his subject, these stories are brilliantly composed. blood pact is the rarest of literary gems.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood Pact

قرأت لبينيدتي رواية (الهدنة)، وها أنا اقرأ له هذه المجموعة القصصية والتي لم يترجم منها إلا ثلاث قصص فقط للأسف، ويمكنني أن أقول الآن أني أفضل بينيدتي القاص على بينيدتي الروائي، تتنوع قصص هذه المجموعة في جودتها، ولكنها تنتظم في موضوعات تتراوح بين سوء الفهم، والسر المخفي والذي ينكشف للقارئ ويقلب رؤيته للقصة وشخوصها، يأخذنا بينيدتي من إدارة يترقب موظفوها زيادة في رواتبهم مع أخبار إقرار ميزانية جديدة، إلى موظف يقع في حب امرأة من خلال صوتها، فلقاء عاطفي بين قبيحان منبوذان، فالعلاقة الخاصة التي تربط رجلين عندما يصلهما خبر وفاة ممثلتهما المفضلة، كيف سيتصرف شريف مدينة صغيرة بعد انقلاب عسكري؟ كيف سيتعامل رجل مع تهديدات تصله صباح كل سبت؟ ما هو مصير فتاة تفقد ذاكرتها بسرعة عندما تتعرض لمحاولة اغتصاب؟ ما هو مصير رجل ينتظر طائرته في مطار لأيام؟ قصص جميلة يتوجها بينيدتي أخيرا بقصته رابطة الدم عن العلاقة التي تجمع عجوز متداع بحفيده الصغير.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most collections of short stories, I found there were a few stories in this collection that to me were exceptional (Blood Pact is one of them), a few that were pretty good and quite a number that were fairly ho-hum. This may be par for the course for most collections. The book includes stories published during the period 1949 to 1988 - presented more or less in a chronological order. Anyone who enjoys Benedetti's writing style will probably find a number of interesting and entertaining stories in this collection.

[عبدالله ناصر · Rating 5 out of 5]

لست من عشاق القصص القصيرة و أميل بشدة لقراءة الروايات و لكن الأمر يختلف تماماً مع الساحر بينيديتي. مجموعة قصصية عظيمة جداً بموضوعات مختلفة و أساليب سردية متنوعة. هذه توصية كبيرة لعشاق الأدب اللاتيني.

[Ben Winch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mario Benedetti may be a great writer, but so far this collection offers no proof of it. Admittedly I've only read three stories, but the third was so bad it made me want to throw the book out the window. Seriously, this is how it went: Attractive 40-something woman has a satisfying sex life with husband and lover. Husband grows less interested; she worries. Lover grows less interested; she checks the mirror, grows depressed, loses her looks. One day she follows her lover, who is too young to have lost his libido and must surely have met someone else. The guy goes to a park where he meets... the husband, and they walk off together hand in hand. As if that isn't corny enough, I guessed the ending three-quarters of the way through! Add that to the first story I read, which wasn't unpleasant but led me to believe it was working towards a twist that never came, and the second one, in which I guessed the twist but at least it wasn't utterly facile and an insult to my intelligence, and first impressions are not good. Not that I'm saying a story needs a trick ending - far from it - but if you're going to set us up to expect it you have to deliver. In these three stories the style is smooth but the tricks are old, and any human element that might redeem them is muted. Imagine a third-rate Kafka with the kinks ironed out churning out filler for the weekend supplement and you're not far off. If Benedetti is a great writer then whoever's wasting their time and money printing this shit should turn their attention to the good stuff before they ruin his reputation. Apparently he's famous for his poetry. Quick, where is it, before anyone else reads this!

I'll read at least one more story before I give up - make it the title story, which sounds as though it has some sort of reputation.

... Nah, it's not for me. The last story was marginally better but still seemed trite and fairly obvious, despite its kick-in-the-tail structure. Not impressed.

[Nihal Vrana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tremendous short story collection; Benedetti is one of those rare talents that can just move any dialogue in any direction. They are highly experimental and mostly hit the spot with what they are after. There is one sad part though; the traumatic impact of the coup d'etat on Benedetti (both personally and also his loved ones most probably). The stories in the '70s do not have the same playfulness of the earlier ones and filled with the atrocities of the regime (rape, blood-curdling torture...).
Still, it has one of the best ghost stories, maybe the best, I have ever read. And Blood pact is really the gem of the collection and deserves to be put on the title of the book. I have had one of those moments with my grandfather, who has an equally rich and eventful life, and just 15 minutes before he died he basically told me everything with his eyes. I think that this is a common occurrence, this emotional/nearly telepathic exchange between the generations; so the story grasps you at your very core. Highly recommended.

[Leslie (updates on SG) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two stories were so impenetrable that I nearly abandoned this collection for my Around-the-World Reading Challenge (Uruguay), but then the stories were suddenly approachable. A strange little collection of irony and sometimes horror - appropriate for the month of October.

[H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not remotely worth any English reader’s time—that’s the nicest I can put it. I’m willing to blame it on the translators, but after 94 pages I had yet to encounter a single clever or compelling premise, much less any interesting prose. Abandoned.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction B462b 1997