Fire from the Andes: Short Fiction by Women from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru

by Susan E. Benner (Editor), Susan E. Benner (Editor), Kathy S. Leonard (Editor)

This anthology provides an opportunity for English-speaking audiences to read previously untranslated fiction by women from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Much of this work is inspired by an awareness of social injustice - particularly for women, indigenous groups, and other marginalized members of society - and by a desire to transcend that injustice through personal revelation. Most of the stories focus on women's inner lives and their struggles to make sense of experience.

Genres: Fiction, Bolivia, Short Stories

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot to be said for this collection of short stories and its purpose of highlighting work from women who have gone mostly unrecognized in America: great writers, wide range of topics, detailed bibliography, good translations, etc. That being said, as a casual reader, I found the biographies to make for slow going overall - although they definitely helped inform the story to follow, it made me less likely to just keep reading the next story as is typically the case for me in collections. And although it highlighted things within that story at that moment, it almost became a case of information overload, with it being hard to keep track of what was biography and what was story and who was who. It's a terrific resource for research, or as a jumping off point for exploring women writers from the Andes (especially if you could read the original texts!), but wasn't a stand out read for the casual reader.

#womenwritersoftheworld -> Andea selection (Bolivia, Ecuador, & Peru)

[George Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice collection of short stories. The biographies were sometimes longer than the stories, but it gives some historical as well as personal perspective, so I didn't mind. Admittedly, I skimmed the biographies at times.

I can't help but wonder what has happened to the authors since this was first published twenty years ago. I've copied the Table of Contents to spend some time finding out.

[Amc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book because I'd checked it out from the library the maximum number of weeks and finally decided I should let it go. Being written from women's perspectives these are some insightful short stories with every major theme of import from love to violence to systemic injustice. There are also short bios on each of the authors so the reader gets some context before reading the short story. I'll probably finish it someday when I'm needing some good Latin American women reading.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only story I read from this collection was Monica Bravo's "Wings for Dominga."

The short story is a good example of magical realism. The character of Death is handled well and students could benefit from paying attention to clothes worn and colors depicted throughout the story.

High school level.

[Ashley Hillier · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have to admit I did not find all of the stories in this anthology terribly interesting, I did thoroughly enjoy several of them. My favourites were "Of Anguish and Illusions", "The Feathered Serpent", and "The Red Line".

[Sean Sexton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of stories.

[David Bickerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read a few stories while on vacation