Latin American Material at Cook

Launched simultaneously in Spain and the Americas, this work aims to divulge this classic novel by means of a high quality, well-taken care of edition.

Roberto Bolan~o's Tres is a showcase of the author's willingness to freely cross genres, with poems in prose, stories in verse, and flashes of writing that can hardly be categorized. As the title implies, the collection is composed of three sections. "Prose from Autumn in Gerona," a cinematic series of prose poems, slowly reveals a subtle and emotional tale of unrequited love by presenting each scene, shattering it, and piecing it all back together, over and over again. The second part, "The Neochileans," is a sort of On the Road in verse, which narrates the travels of a young Chilean band on tour in the far reaches of their country. Finally, the collection ends with a series of short poems that take us on "A Stroll Through Literature" and remind us of Bolan~o's masterful ability to walk the line between the comically serious and the seriously comical.

¿Quién no conoce al Zorro, el astuto y travieso enmascarado? Lo que no sabíamos -- de cómo surgió el héroe -- se resuelve en estas páginas, que nos revelan el misterio de su doble personalidad. Aquí reencontramos a su amigo Bernardo, su corcel, Tornado, su prodigioso látigo, la Z con que firma sus hazañas y mucho más.Nacido en 1795 en la California hispana, Diego de la Vega está atrapado entre dos mundos. Su padre es un heroico militar convertido en un próspero hacendado, su madre es una valiente guerrera indígena y su abuela materna es la sabia chamán de su tribu. Del primero, Diego aprende las virtudes de un hidalgo, desde esgrima hasta el arte de hacerse obedecer, mientras su madre y su abuela lo inician en las tradiciones indígenas y el conocimiento de la naturaleza y la magia. Junto a su inseparable amigo Bernardo, vive aventuras en la niñez y se da cuenta de las injusticias que soportan los indios a mano de los colonos europeos.Diego se hace hombre en Barcelona, donde su padre lo manda a estudiar justamente cuando España, ocupada por las tropas de Napoleón, soporta una cruenta guerra. Le toca de todo, desde duelos a muerte hasta enamorarse a primera vista, enrolarse en una sociedad secreta, huir con una tribu de gitanos, ser secuestrado por piratas y, sobre todo, enfrentarse al hombre que habrá de ser su peor enemigo. Por último regresa a California a reclamar la hacienda donde nació e impartir justicia, luchando por los indefensos. Así, entre el Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo se forma el carácter del más legendario y romántico de los héroes.

One of the core authors of the '60s boom in Latin American fiction, Julio Cortázar made a contribution of international importance to the development of the short story as a literary form. This collection spans his writing career and includes La Noche Boca Arriba and Final del Juego (1956), Las Babas del Diablo (1959), La Isla a Mediodia (1966), Recortes de Prensa and Queremos Tanto a Glenda (1981) and Botella al Mar (1982). Of the seven stories, some are famous examples of his contribution to the genre of 'fantastic' literature, while others demonstrate his social and political concerns. Cortázar can be a challenging and demanding writer. Peter Beardsell's edition, with its comprehensive introduction and notes to the text, selected vocabulary and discussion section suggests that he is also enjoyable and accessible to readers at all levels.

When Viking published Borges's Collected Fictions last September, the book received nationwide acclaim. Richard Bernstein in The New York Times hailed the publication as "an event, and cause for celebration." The celebration continues this April with the next installment in Vikings projected three-volume set of the Collected Work: a new selection of Borges's finest poems edited by Alexander Coleman. Selected Poems brings together some two hundred poems -- the largest collection of Borges's poetry ever assembled in English, including many never previously translated. The selection draws from a lifetime's work -- from Borges's earliest work in the 20s, his debut Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923), to his final poetic work, Los Conjurados (1985). Throughout the volume, the brilliance of the Spanish originals is matched with luminous English versions rendered by a remarkable cast of translators, among them W. S. Merwin, John Updike, Robert Fitzgerald, Mark Strand and Alastair Reid.