Top 5 Stories That Will Make You Love Latin American Authors
Have you been spending hours on social media? Admittedly, there are times when you don't know what to do anymore, especially if you've already commented to all the posts that caught your attention, liked all the trending photos and videos, and chatted all your contacts on messenger.
The good news is that there's one more thing to do that won't make you feel bored-read! If you don't have any idea yet on what good stories would make your eyes glued on your phone, tablet, or computer screen, these five Latin American books can help you get started.
Juan Rulfo's The Llano in Flames
His novel, "Pedro Páramo" brought Rulfo to global popularity. However, his short stories are, in the same way, are worthy of spending time. Specifically, "The Llano in Flames," from what's described as a homonymous book, ideally embodies this author's trademark: "economy of prose, sensorial images," that, in their responsiveness to nature considerably captures the heart of rural Mexico. Besides, the characters Rulfo used in this story seem to have existed beyond both life and death.
Gabriel García Márquez's The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow
More popular with his famous novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," This Colombian author was the same author of most outstanding short stories of his time. In this story, a wealthy couple, on their way to their honeymoon in Europe, goes through a theatrical, Kafkaesque ordeal, leading the reader to a suffocating expedition. According to legend, Borges said that half-a-century would have served for "One Hundred Years of Solitude," although not a single word is said to be "a word too many" in this splendid story.
Clarice Lispector's The Fifth Story
This novel is nothing short of phenomenal that all of the short fiction of Lispector is available in English. Selecting one story of one of the most excellent writers of Latin America can be a painful thing to do. However, an important entry point to her novels is "The Fifth Story," from her "the Foreign Legion" book.
Relatively, all of Lispector's characteristics include particular linguistic oddness, the treason of domestic space, the meta-fictional bent, and everyday life's sadistic brutality that that would all detonate in her later works.
Pedro Lemebel's Las amapolas también tienen espinas (Poppies Also Have Thorns)
Unlawfully underpublished in the English language, this writer is one of the most singular voices of Chile. Mestizo, gay, communist, and working-class, it would be quite a challenge to look for a more doubtful survivor of the years of Pinochet. In this story from his other story, "La Esquina es mi corazón," Lemebel expresses a tale of violent homophobia, class, and desire.
Additionally, Lemebel does so honestly, charmingly, and with typical dark humor. As a so-called "transvestite flâneur," this author is described as an ideal guide to the Latin American city.
Samanta Schweblin's Towards Happy Civilization
In "Towards Happy Civilisation," from the minimalist, "Mouthful of Birds," readers follow a city dweller's misadventures as he gets stuck at a train station in the province, trying to go back to the capital.
The seemingly simple act of lodging a train is somewhat complicated to an absurd extent. One of the main features of this story is the criticism of the state of the railways in Argentina. Also evident are some commentaries on civilization versus barbarism binary behind the identity of an Argentinian. In general, this is a story that amuses and, at the same time, unsettles equal measure.
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