10 short and very inspiring Latin American stories

Short Latin American stories are characterized by transmitting in very few words a host of emotions and thoughts, among which the joy, love, despair, roots, honor, life and death stand out.

Some of the most representative authors of this literary genre are Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Rubén Darío, Augusto Monterroso, among many others that you will find in the following article.

• Related article: "The 10 most interesting and memorable Peruvian legends"

10 short Latin American stories

A short story is defined as a story whose length is less than the conventional length. This includes extensions that can be very short and even ultrashort.

In constant negotiation with other literary genres, such as the poem or the short essay, from the north of Mexico to the south of Argentina we can find numerous short stories full of vitality. We will see soon a selection of 10 stories written by different Latin American authors, including a brief comment about them.

1. The giraffe (Juan José Arreola)

Short story by the Mexican writer Juan José Arreola, winner of numerous awards due to his unique anecdotal style. The story The Giraffe belongs to the collection of stories entitled "Bestiary", published in 1972. The main character is

a representation of various life aspirations of the human being.

Realizing that he had set the fruits of a favorite tree too high, God had no choice but to lengthen the giraffe's neck.

Quadrupeds with volatile heads, giraffes wanted to go above their bodily reality and resolutely entered the realm of disproportions. Some biological problems that seem more like engineering and mechanics had to be solved for them: a nerve circuit twelve meters long; a blood that rises against the law of gravity by means of a heart that works as a deep well pump; and still, at this point, an erectile tongue that goes higher, reaching twenty centimeters beyond the reach of the lips to gnaw the buds like a steel file.

With all his wastes of technique, which extraordinarily complicate his gallop and his love, the giraffe represents better than anyone the wanderings of the spirit: he seeks in the heights what others find at the level of the I usually.

But as he finally has to bend over from time to time to drink the common water, he is forced to perform his stunt in reverse. And then he gets down to the level of the donkeys.

2. Someone will dream (Jorge Luis Borges)

Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is recognized as one of the most representative authors of 20th century Latin American literature. His style is characterized by including elements of magical realism, imaginary mathematics, metaphysics, and universal philosophy, among others. This micro-story speaks precisely of dream experiences mixed with the most human acts.

What will the indecipherable future dream of? He will dream that Alonso Quijano can be Don Quixote without leaving his village and his books. He will dream that an eve of Ulysses can be more lavish than the poem that narrates his works. He will dream of human generations that will not recognize the name of Ulysses. He will dream more precise dreams than today's vigil. He will dream that we can perform miracles and that we will not, because it will be more real to imagine them. He will dream worlds so intense that the voice of just one of his birds could kill you. He will dream that forgetting and memory can be voluntary acts, not aggressions or gifts of chance. He will dream that we will see with the whole body, as Milton wanted from the shadow of those tender orbs, the eyes. He will dream of a world without the machine and without that suffering machine, the body.

Life is not a dream but it can become a dream, writes Novalis.

3. Love 77 (Julio Cortázar)

Of Argentine and later French nationality, although born in Belgium, Julio Cortázar is recognized as one of the authors who inaugurated new literary forms in the course of the twentieth century. His style is characterized by surreal content that goes beyond any timeline. The following micro-story manages to convey in just two lines the content of a complex love story.

And after doing everything they do, they get up, bathe, tint, perfume, dress and, thus progressively, they go back to being what they are not. END

• You may be interested: "The 10 best poems of Julio Cortázar"

4. Tin Lamps (Álvaro Mutis)

Álvaro Mutis, a Colombian poet and novelist who lived in Mexico until his death in 2013, is one of the most important writers of contemporary times. His style is also anecdotal and the content of several of his writings reflects part of political and personal concerns, among which is human pain and suffering.

My job consists of carefully cleaning the tin lamps with which the local gentlemen go out at night to hunt the fox in the coffee plantations. They dazzle him when suddenly confronted with these complex artifacts, stinking of oil and soot, that are immediately darkened by the work of the flame that, in an instant, blinds the yellow eyes of the beast.

I have never heard these animals complain. They always die prey to the astonished terror caused by this unexpected and gratuitous light. They look for the last time at their executioners as one who meets the gods when turning a corner. My task, my destiny, is to keep this grotesque brass always bright and ready for its nocturnal and brief venatoria. And I who dreamed of being one day a laborious traveler through lands of fever and adventure!

5. Duel (Alfonso Reyes)

Alfonso Reyes was born in northern Mexico in 1889 and not only served as an important poet and essayist, but as an influential diplomat. He grew up in the pre and post revolutionary context of the early twentieth century and held important government positions. This is reflected in some of his short stories, like the one that follows.

From one end of the Chamber to the other, the aristocratic deputy shouts: "You are slapped!" And the Democrat, shrugging his shoulders, replied: "You consider yourself dead in a duel!"

6. The kisses (Juan Carlos Onetti)

Despite the fact that he is a writer with less recognition than his work deserves, Juan Carlos Onetti, of Uruguayan origin, has been considered one of the most original authors in Latin America. His style is mainly existentialist, due to the pessimistic content and loaded with negativity, although personal and coherent.

He had known them and missed his mother. He kissed on both cheeks or on the hand any indifferent woman who was presented to him, he had respected the brothel rite that prohibited joining the mouths; girlfriends, women had kissed him with tongues on his throat and they had stopped wise and scrupulous to kiss his member. Saliva, heat and slips, as it should be. Then the surprising entrance of the woman, unknown, crossing the horseshoe of mourners, wife and children, sighing weeping friends. She approached, undaunted, the very whore, the very daring, to kiss the coldness of her forehead, for above the edge of the coffin, leaving between the horizontality of the three wrinkles, a small stain carmine.

7. The drama of the disenchanted (Gabriel García Márquez)

Gabriel García Márquez was a writer and journalist born in Colombia in 1927. His work is closely related to magical realism and promotes critical and innovative thinking in different areas, such as the arts and sciences. Addresses topics such as loneliness, violence, culture, life and death. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

... The drama of the disenchanted man who threw himself into the street from the tenth floor, and as he fell he was seeing through the windows the intimacy of his neighbors, the little tragedies domestic affairs, furtive loves, brief moments of happiness, the news of which had never reached the common staircase, so that in the moment of bursting against the The pavement of the street had completely changed his conception of the world, and he had come to the conclusion that this life that he left forever through the false door was worth it. to be lived.

8. Etching (Rubén Darío)

Rubén Darío was an important poet and journalist of Nicaraguan origin, recognized as one of the main exponents of modernism. His metric style, the rhythmic adaptation of his verses, and the lexicon he uses are very particular. Among other things, his works enriched the literary creation made in Spanish.

From a nearby house came a metallic and rhythmic noise. In a narrow room, between sooty walls, black, very black, men worked in the forge. One moved the puffing bellows, making the coal crackle, sending whirlwinds of sparks and flames like pale, golden, blue, glowing tongues. In the glow of the fire in which long iron bars were reddened, the faces of the workers were looked at with a tremulous reflection.

Three anvils assembled in crude frames resisted the beat of the males that crushed the red-hot metal, sending out a reddened rain. The smiths wore open-necked woolen shirts and long leather aprons. They could see the fat neck and the beginning of the hairy chest, and the arms protruded from the baggy sleeves. gigantic, where, as in those of Anteo, the muscles looked like round stones from which they wash and polish the torrents.

In that cavern blackness, in the glow of the flames, they had carvings of Cyclops. To one side, a window barely let through a beam of sunlight. At the entrance to the forge, as in a dark frame, a white girl was eating grapes. And against that background of soot and charcoal, her delicate and smooth shoulders that were naked made his beautiful lily color stand out, with an almost imperceptible golden hue.

9. A patient in decline (Macedonio Fernández)

Of Argentine origin, Macedonio Fernández is recognized as a Latin American writer and philosopher of great influence for authors like Borges and Cortázar. His works are recognized for their philosophical and existential depth, perhaps the product of Macedonio's predilection for contemplative activity and solitary life.

Mr. Ga had been so assiduous, so docile and long-term patient of Doctor Therapeutics that now he was only one foot. Successively removed teeth, tonsils, stomach, kidney, lung, spleen, colon, now Mr. Ga's valet arrived to call the Therapeutic doctor to attend to Mr. Ga's foot, who sent him to call.

The Therapeutics doctor carefully examined the foot and "shaking his head gravely" he resolved: "There is too much foot, rightly so it feels bad: I will trace the necessary cut to a surgeon."

10. The Dinosaur (Augusto Monterroso)

We end this selection with one of the most famous Latin American short stories. In fact, until recently, this tale it was considered the shortest micro-story in world literature, due to the complexity and aesthetic richness it contains. Its author is Augusto Monterroso, a writer of Honduran origin, nationalized Guatemalan and based in Mexico City.

When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there.