Book Review: The Spanish American Short Story, edited by Seymour Menton

I love the cover of this book. Look closely - it's a little skeleton man clasping his hands over a cup of black coffee. I don't know what it means, but it's delightful.

Anyway, I read this collection of short stories in Spanish - El cuento hispanoamericano - for a class I am taking this semester, but it is also available in English. According to my professor, it's a unique book in that it offers the best representation of Latin American short stories throughout modern history, with details about literary movements and authors as well. I liked some stories better than others - "The Tree" by Maria Luisa Bombal and "The Ruby" by Ruben Dario were my favorites - but even the ones I disliked, such as "Secret Love" by Manuel Payno, were included because they were representative of a certain movement or regional style that was worth acknowledging.

My only issue with this book is that a story I just mentioned, "The Tree," is one of the only stories written by a woman. I'm sure that there are other great, landmark stories written by Latinas, and hopefully future editions of this book will feature more of them.

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