José Manuel Caballero Bon

A Short Story by Jorge Luis Borges: "Emma Zunz"

Jorge Luis Borges. Source of the Imagen in Internet

Jorge Luis Borges (1899, Buenos Aires -1986, Geneva) was an Argentine poet, essayist, translator and short-story writer whose works have become classics of 20th-century world literature. Two o his most famous books, Ficciones (1944) and The Aleph (1949), are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes such as dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, animals, fictional writers, philosophy, religion and God. His works have contributed to philosophical literature and also to magical realism. 

Borges and María Kodama got married in a civil proceeding in Paraguay on April 26, 1986.

At 40 he suffered a severe head wound that finally made his blood poisoning: he developed septicemia, and for a month hovered between life and death. After this experience, Borges began playing with a new style of writing for which he would become famous.

Surprisingly he didn´t win the Nobel Prize. 

"Emma Zunz", published in 1949 in the book called The Aleph, is one of his best short stories. 

My preferred epitaph

Poet Vicente Huidobro. Source of the image

Which is your preferred epitaph? It´s not easy to say. There are some very funny, but if I should have to name one, only one, I think this by the great poet Vicente Huidobro, very fond on the sea, would be my selection. 

“Aquí yace el poeta Vicente Huidobro / Abrid la tumba / Al fondo de esta tumba se ve el mar”.

Vicente Huidobro

You can read other writers epitaphs in this post by María Carvajal: "Epitafios en las tumbas de escritores. Tumbas que hablan", published in NarrativaBreve.com. And don´t forget to tell us which is your preferred epitaph!

Les Nouvelles en trois lignes de Felix Fénéon

Felix Fénéon. Critique d'art, journaliste et directeur de revues françaises. Grand "twitteur" bien avant l'heure. Turín, 1861 - Châtenay-Malabry, 1944. Source d´image: Impedimenta

Les Nouvelles en trois lignes sont une rubrique publiée dans le journal Le Matin à partir de 1905. Cette rubrique est restée célèbre pour avoir bénéficié de la collaboration de Felix Fénéon entre mai et novembre 1906. Les Nouvelles en trois lignes de Fénéon ont depuis fait l'objet de plusieurs publications indépendantes en volumes.

Source

Haikus by Jua

Micronouvelle de Jacques Fuentealba: "[La normalidad]

Jacques Fuentealba, Invocaciones y otras elucubraciones,
Ediciones Efímeras, 2008

Jacques Fuentealba est un romancier, nouvelliste, anthologiste, traducteur et micronouvelliste né en 1977. Diplômé de la Sorbonne il a rédigé plusieurs centaines de micronouvelles, dont une bonne quantité sur la Fabrique de Littérature Microscopique qu'il anime avec Benoît Giuseppin et Karim Berrouka, et d'autres en recueils : Invocations et autres élucubrations (éditions Efimeras en ligne), Scribuscules (éditions Clef d'Argent) et Tout feu tout flamme (chez Outworld).

(Wikipédia)

It´s a hard crisis

Source of the image

Figure 1: It´s a hard crisis. I used to visit the psychologist but now I must be satisfied by telling everything to a taxi driver. 

Figure 2: Talk calmly. Now I drive a taxi, but I´m really a psychologist.

SHORT STORIES IN SPANISH

Interview with Lauro Zavala about sudden fiction

Lauro Zavala. Source of the imagen

I retake this interview with Lauro Zavala, published two years ago in Letras de Chile. Zavala is one of the most important specialists in sudden fiction (we call them "microrrelatos", the denomination Zavala prefers, but there are many other names). 
If you are interested in very short stories (I´m sure of it), you will enjoy this interview.

I wanna be a poet (by Forges)

Cartoon by Forges. Source of the imagen

Character 1: "You must learn to read and to write because if not you´ll never be able to sign mortgages, precarious contract, release documents...

Character 2: Yes, but besides that I want to learn as soon as possible because I wanna be a poet.

Antonio Fraguas de Pablo (Forges), born in Madrid in 1942, is one of the best Spanish cartoonists. He is the inventor of Spanish neologisms as "gensanta, stupendo, bocata, firulillo, esborcio...", based in colloquial lenguage.  

To know more about him, you can visit his web. 

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Nouvelle courte de Dominique Vernay Juillet: "Lencería fina"

Lencería fina. Source d´image

Née en France, mais vivant en Espagne depuis de nombreuses années, Dominique Vernay Juillet découvre bien vite le plaisir de pouvoir jouer avec les mots de la langue de Molière et de celle de Cervantes. Dans la nouvelle courte "Lencería fina" "Lingerie fine" elle reprend une idée qui lui est chère, à savoir que la phrase "je le/la connais comme si je l'avais fait/e" ne repose que sur une illusion. Le regard que nous portons sur les autres est à tel point faussé par tant d'idées préconçues, qu'il nous est impossible de nous rendre à l'évidence que les choses ne sont pas forcément comme nous le croyions et cela... même avec, sous les yeux, la preuve du délit.

Short Story by M

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.

Leer el cuento completo

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.

MORE SHORT STORIES IN SPANISH

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.

Short Story by Alejandro Jodorowsky: "Extravío"

Artist Alejandro Jodorowsky. Source of the image

EXTRAVÍO

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Un ciego, con su bastón blanco, en medio del desierto, llora sin poder encontrar su camino porque no hay obstáculos.

..........

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in Chile in 1929. He is a verstaile artist: writer, poet, painter, screenwriter, musician, therapist, psychomagical... He writes his books in spanish and in french. In the sixty, he founded Grupo Pánico with writers Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor (also a comic book artista). En 1953 he left Chile to live in París, México and New York. He lives now in Paris, where he works on his art and teaches tarot. 

"Extravío" (meaning "loss") is a brilliant very short story about how much we need obstacles in live and overcome them. 

MORE SHORT STORIES IN SPANISH

Short story by Augusto Monterroso: "El dinosaurio"

Dinosaur. Source of the Image

EL DINOSAURIO

Augusto Monterroso

Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí.

..........

"The Dinosaur", by Agusto Monterroso, is wrongly considered the shorttest story in spanish language. It has only one sentence with seven words (nine if we consider the two from the title). 

Augusto Monterroso is one of the best short stories authors. Humour and irony are usual in his stories. He said "The Dinosaur" can be read and understood from many points of views. 

In 2000 he won the Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras Prize as recognition for his literary work.  

MORE SHORT STORIES IN SPANISH

Welcome to Literatura For Foreigners

Spanish writer Max Aub. Source of the imagen

Welcome to Literatura For Foreigners, the blog where readers from all the planet can read the best literary texts in spanish. Here you can enjoy the best short stories by the best writers.