Review Of "Open Door: Stories" By L. Valenzuela, Translated By H. Carpentier

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2-1-1989

Published In

Choice

Abstract

This is the first collection of Valenzuela's short stories to appear in English in several years, and it represents a personal selection of what she considers to be her best stories from two earlier books (Clara, CH, Sep '76, and Strange Things Happen Here, 1979) as well as a group of stories, which were first published in Spanish as Donde viven las aguilas (1983) and now appear here in English translation ("Up Among the Eagles") for the first time. All three groups of stories show the Argentine author at her best, and they capture the range of this important writer--from the macabre tales of a society terrorized by a military dictatorship (Strange Things Happen Here) to the eerie reinvention of myth found in Donde viven las aguilas. In all of these stories it is Valenzuela's dark humor, her play with words, and her unique talent in turning a phrase that make her narrative world unforgettable. Excellent translations by David Unger, Margaret Sayers Peden, Christopher Leland, Helen Lane, J. Jorge Castello, and Hortense Carpentier. For graduate, undergraduate, and public libraries.

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