THE SOUTH and BENE

paper 0-8032-7080-1 The South and Bene ($30.00; paper $12.00; Nov. 22; 104 pp.; 0-8032-2178-9; paper 0-8032-7080-1). Two limpid and haunting short novels, first published in 1985, by a Spanish author whose dreamy lyricism is reminiscent of her underrated countrywoman Maria Luisa Bombal. “The Soth,” the inspiration for a critically acclaimed Spanish film, describes a traumatized woman’s return to her native village in the wake of civil war, then her pilgrimage to Seville, to learn the bitter truth about her late father’s deeply troubled life. “Bene” is even better: a portrayal, through the eyes of a half-comprehending adolescent girl, of a gypsy housemaid’s vulnerability to rumors that she possesses magical powers. Is she indeed a witch, or only a victim of ethnic prejudice? Morales juggles both possibilities brilliantly, in a skillfully understated novella that has the texture and momentum of legend.