Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Short Story by Julio Ramón Ribeyro: Los gallinazos sin plumas

A las seis de la mañana la ciudad se levanta de puntillas y comienza a dar sus primeros pasos. Una fina niebla disuelve el perfil de los objetos y crea como una atmósfera encantada. Las personas que recorren la ciudad a esta hora parece que están hechas de otra sustancia, que pertenecen a un orden de vida fantasmal. Las beatas se arrastran penosamente hasta desaparecer en los pórticos de las iglesias. Los noctámbulos, macerados por la noche, regresan a sus casas envueltos en sus bufandas y en su melancolía. Los basureros inician por la avenida Pardo su paseo siniestro, armados de escobas y de carretas. A esta hora se ve también obreros caminando hacia el tranvía, policías bostezando contra los árboles, canillitas morados de frío, sirvientas sacando los cubos de basura. A esta hora, por último, como a una especie de misteriosa consigna, aparecen los gallinazos sin plumas.

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Walt Whitman, in the Eye of the Storm

Poet Walt Whtiman. Source of the imagen

In Donde la eternidad envejece (Destino, 2012), a plentiful memory book, César Antonio Molina glosses hundreds of writers figure, one of them Walt Whitman, who -there´s no exception in literary world- was criticized by his contemporaries. Many of them didn´t forgive him the sensuality of Leaves of Grass, and somebody claimed with some humour that such book lacked vine leaves.

At the beginning, Whitman had the support of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who saw 
a great poet in the young and sensualist bearded man.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Short Story by Enrique Anderson Imbert: "El suicida"

Suicidio. Fuente de la imagen

Enrique Anderson Imbert was an Argentinian writer (1910-2000) who wrote novels, short stories and essays. His essays about latinoamerican literature history are highly valued. 
"El suicida" is a sarcastic sudden fiction about a desperated man who tries to commite suicide. At the end you can see a video about this story. 
[Source of the story: Cuentos breves recomendados]


The Shortest Story in the World?

American writer Fredric Brown

This very short story by Fredric Brown, "The last man on Earth", has been considered for a long time the shortest story in the world (in English language). Fredric Brown (1906-1972) was an american sci-fi writer, very known for his very short stories full of humour and with surprising endings. 
(But... ¿was this short story a plagiarism? Read both stories and decide).  


LLAMADA
Fredric Brown

El último hombre vivo en la Tierra estaba sentado en su casa. Llamaron a la puerta.



Sunday, October 7, 2012

Ombligo Magazine, made in Mexico


Ombligo Newspaper. Source of the imagen

Ombligo is a digital magazine made in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. It´s been recently created with the aim of spread culture in general and literature in particular. The persons responsibles of the edition believe the best way to change Ciudad Juárez -one of the most dangerous cities in the world- is through the culture. They publish literary texts by mexican writers but also by writers from Spain and all Latinoamerica. Ombligo is a plural magazine whose board of directors is formed from people from twenty five countries, and its most numerous readers come from Mexico, Spain, United States, Chile, Argentina... They post short stories, articles, poems, interviews...  I encourage you to visit them and know some of the best contemporary writers in spanish.