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About Spirits and Other Mysteries: Sobre espíritus y otros misterios
Díaz Llanillo is known for her blending of paranormal fantasy with black humor and metaphysical undertones; her short fiction has been described as bizarre, uncanny, absurd, macabre, intellectual and ironic. Her work explores universal questions of right and wrong, good and evil, real and unreal. Jeremy Glazier suggests Díaz Llanillo’s tales are reminiscent of “Poe… or, better yet, Edith Wharton’s ghost stories and the twisted world of Shirley Jackson.” Jorge Febles likens her style to Latin American greats such as Silvina Ocampo, Virgilio Piñera, Cortázar and Rosario Ferré. Her writing could also could be compared to the darkly humorous horror of Haruki Murakami.
The tales in this collection are set in the city of Havana, although to enter her fiction is to cross a frontier into strange spaces and imaginary worlds. Díaz Llanillo takes everyday scenes of Cuban life, rotates them on the axis of her imagination, then reveals the hallucinations, ghosts, dreams, and supernatural forces that lie beneath the surface. Carnivorous plants, menacingly self-replicating red beans, impossible murders and discerning ghosts looking for real estate are just a few of the images that prompt uncomfortable shivers and guilty half-laughs for the readers.
Tracing the decades-long trajectory of Llanillo’s writing, About Spirits & Other Mysteries gives a representative sample from the six major story collections published before her demise. The 53 stories included in this volume come from El Castigo (1966), Antes y después del sueño (1999), Cambio de vida (2002), Entre latidos (2005), Los rostros (2008), and El vendedor de cabezas (2009). The book also contains a foreword from the author’s daughter, Dr. Raquel Pérez Díaz; a translator’s note by Manuel Martínez; and an analytical essay by the main English-language editors, Sara E. Cooper y Maria di Francesco, translated from Spanish by the principal Spanish-language editor, Daniel Díaz Mantilla.
The tales in this collection are set in the city of Havana, although to enter her fiction is to cross a frontier into strange spaces and imaginary worlds. Díaz Llanillo takes everyday scenes of Cuban life, rotates them on the axis of her imagination, then reveals the hallucinations, ghosts, dreams, and supernatural forces that lie beneath the surface. Carnivorous plants, menacingly self-replicating red beans, impossible murders and discerning ghosts looking for real estate are just a few of the images that prompt uncomfortable shivers and guilty half-laughs for the readers.
Tracing the decades-long trajectory of Llanillo’s writing, About Spirits & Other Mysteries gives a representative sample from the six major story collections published before her demise. The 53 stories included in this volume come from El Castigo (1966), Antes y después del sueño (1999), Cambio de vida (2002), Entre latidos (2005), Los rostros (2008), and El vendedor de cabezas (2009). The book also contains a foreword from the author’s daughter, Dr. Raquel Pérez Díaz; a translator’s note by Manuel Martínez; and an analytical essay by the main English-language editors, Sara E. Cooper y Maria di Francesco, translated from Spanish by the principal Spanish-language editor, Daniel Díaz Mantilla.
572 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 9, 2023
Hace cinco años descubrí a esta maravillosa autora cubana con _La otra realidad_, libro póstumo que incluye el cuento "La planta", que recién incluí en mi curso de extrañeza botánica. En su momento me di por vencido, pues no pude conseguir más libros. Pero mientras preparaba clases, encontré esta antología que recoge una selección (52) de todos los libros que publicó en vida (6). Esta robusta edición bilingüe incluye, además, estudios introductorios, análisis de su obra y palabras de expertas en el tema, como su paisana (geográfica y temática) María Elena Llana: "Lo que seduce en la prosa de Esther Díaz Llanillo es su facilidad para crear anécdotas que, partiendo de un concepto minimalista —la rutina hogareña, la soledad de la mujer que envejece, los diarios aconteceres oficinescos— se van enredando con misteriosas sustancias que trasmutan el simple hecho cotidiano en materia alarmante. Porque sus cuentos poseen una especie de latido interior capaz de imantar al lector y obligarlo a llegar al punto máximo para cualquier escritor: el punto final". Chulada.
September 24, 2025
Tracing the decades-long retrospective of the author’s writing, “About Spirits and Other Mysteries” are a collection of stories primarily set in the city of Havana. Blending paranormal fantasy, with deep character connections, dark humor intersects here and there.
Author Esther Diaz Llanillo [my cousin] was the daughter of Dolores Llanillo and Antonio Diaz y Torres [my cousin], who was the son of Maria Antonia Torres and [my great-granduncle] Jose E. Diaz y Sosa, the brother of Maria Diaz y Sosa [my maternal great-grandmother], Dolores "Lola" Diaz y Sosa [my great-grandaunt], and Manuel Luciano Diaz y Sosa [my great-granduncle]. The foreward at the beginning of the book was written by Esther’s daughter Raquel Perez y Díaz [my cousin].
Born and raised in a wealthy family, Esther spent her whole life in Cuba, living there through the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro; and residing at the same house in Havana (Calzada de Infanta No. 406, altos, between Calles San Rafael and San Martin), located three blocks from the Universidad de la Habana, where she took her doctorate in philosophy and literature (1959). In 2004, she received La Orden por la Cultura Nacional from the Ministerio de Cultura de Cuba.
This book takes a macabre look at life while providing a critical perspective on social conventions. Using a minimalist style, Diaz Llanillo’s short fiction explores the psychological depths of her characters who struggle against a variety of foes from a discerning ghost seeking real estate to carnivorous plants to confronting their own fatal flaws.
Author Esther Diaz Llanillo [my cousin] was the daughter of Dolores Llanillo and Antonio Diaz y Torres [my cousin], who was the son of Maria Antonia Torres and [my great-granduncle] Jose E. Diaz y Sosa, the brother of Maria Diaz y Sosa [my maternal great-grandmother], Dolores "Lola" Diaz y Sosa [my great-grandaunt], and Manuel Luciano Diaz y Sosa [my great-granduncle]. The foreward at the beginning of the book was written by Esther’s daughter Raquel Perez y Díaz [my cousin].
Born and raised in a wealthy family, Esther spent her whole life in Cuba, living there through the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro; and residing at the same house in Havana (Calzada de Infanta No. 406, altos, between Calles San Rafael and San Martin), located three blocks from the Universidad de la Habana, where she took her doctorate in philosophy and literature (1959). In 2004, she received La Orden por la Cultura Nacional from the Ministerio de Cultura de Cuba.
This book takes a macabre look at life while providing a critical perspective on social conventions. Using a minimalist style, Diaz Llanillo’s short fiction explores the psychological depths of her characters who struggle against a variety of foes from a discerning ghost seeking real estate to carnivorous plants to confronting their own fatal flaws.
September 2, 2022
Every time I open this book I have to smile! 🤩 As the book editor, I'm a little biased, but honestly I enjoy the macabre and darkly humorous stories in this collection. While they are universal in theme--soft sci-fi/fantasy--many stories have little details that reveal the peculiarities of Cuban life. Esther Díaz Llanillo is intellectual and philosophical, so if you like the narrative style of Jorge Luis Borges you will love her.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews