SHORT STORIES BY LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN

An impressive range of themes and techniques is on display in this highly interesting collection of 31 stories by as many writers, representing 15 countries (Argentina and Mexico dominate). A handful of the stories are too sketchy to make much of an impression. But there are vivid examples of traditional narrative (Isabel Allende’s episodic “An Act of Vengeance”; Vlady Kociancich’s fascinating neo-medieval allegory “Knight, Death, and the Devil”), postmodernist surrealism (Clarice Lispector’s “Looking for Some Dignity”; Alicia Yañez Cossío’s “The IWM 1000”); and varying perspectives on what James Thurber called the war between men and women (Rosario Castellanos’s “Culinary Lesson”; Nelída Piñón’s ingenious linking of humans’ and animals’ fates “Big-Bellied Cow”; Carmen Naranjo’s wry reversal of traditional gender roles “Symbiotic Encounter”). Other standouts include María Luisa Bombal’s eerie fantasy “The Tree”; Rosario Ferré’s droll exploration of family enmity “A Poisoned Tale”; and the presentation of photography as metaphor for both freedom and alienation in Luisa Valenzuela’s brilliant “Up Among the Eagles.” Most readers will skim some, but the volume’s many high points make it an essential one.