Classic Tales from Spanish America

by William E. Colford (Editor)

As the twentieth century draws to its close, more inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere will be speaking Spanish than English. In appraising the literary production of the New World, therefore, the serious student of Comparative Literature must take into account the tremendous strides made during this century by writers who use the Spanish language to interpret the American scene. Hispanic America has issued its declaration of cultural its literature has come of age, and is speaking in a bold, clear voice for all to hear. During the colonial period in the Americas there was a far richer literature written in Spanish than in English, particularly in poetry, both epic and lyric. England's great Elizabethan Age had come to maturity even before the first North American colonies were established, yet there was nothing written in Anglo-America to compare with the stirring accounts of Hernan Cortes and Bernal Diaz del Castillo describing the conquest of Moctezuma's empire, the

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the stories in this collection, Father’s Day, begins with:

“Yesterday I went to meet Harry Potter.”

This is not though, an unknown tale featuring the boy wizard. This collection of stories was published in 1962 and most of the individual tales were written before that date, so J K Rowling’s creation is still decades away. “Father’s Day” is a satirical tale by the Peruvian writer Hector Velarde, and is in my opinion, one of the better stories in this book. The aforesaid Potter, an English parson, comes ashore in Lima for the day. He is assailed by beggars, street children and scam artists, but speaks no Spanish and bumbles his way around the city without the slightest notion of what is happening around him. There are two other comic/satirical stories. A Letter to God, by the Mexican author Gregorio López y Fuentes, is clever and amusing. The last story, Santa Clo Comes to La Cuchilla, by Abelardo Díaz Alfaro, is from Puerto Rico in 1947. It seems that at the time, there was a view that Puerto Rico needed to become more American, that people should speak English and adopt American customs. In the story a “progressive” young teacher decides to introduce Santa Claus to the schoolchildren of a remote hamlet, with mixed results.

Most of these stories, though, are rather more sombre in tone. The collection aims to provide a geographically representative selection of the Spanish speaking countries of the Americas. Notably though all the selected authors are male. There was a different concept of diversity in 1962.

On the whole the stories tend to reinforce the stereotype that Latin Americans are passionate people, both in love and war. Some of the stories are a little melodramatic for my taste. Revenge is a very common theme, as is the oppression of the common people by big business/the aristocracy. A number of the stories combine these themes, although I felt those that did had an element of “author wish-fulfilment” about them. The Contract Workers, by Horacio Quiroga, set in Argentina, was the best of the stories on the theme of oppressed workers. I also liked One Hope, by Amado Nervo. There were though, a number of stories that didn’t work for me, especially Like Sisters by Eduardo Barrios and The Horse Breaker by Javier de Viana.

All of the tales are highly readable though. It doesn’t take long to canter through this collection.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

First rate! Published in 1962, this anthology includes 19 writers and 21 short stories - most of them written in the first half of the twentieth century. The stories are all well written, engaging and short - most are about 10 pages in length. The subject matter is wide ranging: colonial Peru, 19th century Mexico, miners and railroad workers in the Southern Andes, contract workers and missionaries in the jungles of Paraguay and Venezuela, cane cutters and revolutionaries in Cuba, Gauchos on the pampas, incidents that take place in several capital cities and much more.

A brief introduction outlines the aims of the editor/translator - to provide readers with a sampling of short stories from the best known writers from different regions of Latin America. One or two page biographies are included for each of the authors.

There is a bit of everything in this collection of short stories - making it a very enjoyable read. I imagine that it would have a special appeal for anyone interested in comparative literature.