Hammock Beneath the Mangoes

Hammock Beneath the Mangoes

     As a North American, I admit that my exposure to Latin American authors prior to moving to Costa Rica was limited, at best. Yes, I’d read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Luis Borges and Isabel Allende (I’d even had the pleasure of meeting this famed author a few times), but honestly, my knowledge of this expansive world of literature was sorely lacking. When I moved to Tamarindo eight years ago, I made it a point to start amending this void and it has since been my pleasure to discover the rich, poetic world of Latin literature.

     I recently found a copy of “A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes”, a compilation of short stories written by twenty-six Latino authors from eight different Latin American countries. It is a great way for any novice to gain an introduction to this extensive genre. The collection is organized into five geographic sections: Mexico, the Caribbean, Chile, and two more chapters covering the rest of South America. Prior to each story, there is a brief bio of each author.

     I was a little disappointed and more than a little surprised that the famed Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa had not been included. I’ve read a collection of his short stories and can think of more than one of these that could easily have been included. By the same token, the book exposed me to a variety of writers whose other works I will now pursue reading. Two of the good surprises for me were discovering Jorge Amando, via “The Miracle of the Birds” and Murilo Rubiao’s “The Ex-Magician from the Minhota Cavern”, both modern Brazilian writers who combine sensuality, humor and the fantastic into a lively literary buffet.

     The Puerto Rican authoress Rosario Ferre was an excellent discovery for me, too. The story included in this book was “The Gift”, a well-crafted, flowing story about two girls from opposite sides of town who become best friends at a Catholic all-girl school and what ensues. It is truly a wonderful tale. Another Puerto Rican writer, Ana Lydia Vega, is represented in this anthology with her novella “Story-bound”, a sort of romantic detective tale told with a very hip, caustic wit. I also enjoyed being exposed to the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo via his perfectly paced short story “Luvina”. My favorite new author (for me), though, was the “enfant terrible” Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas and his delivery of “Bestal Among the Flowers”, a bizarrely enthralling story that could never be properly recounted and deserves to be read first hand only for its full impact.

     And the aforementioned Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez are here, too: he with “The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship”, a rambling, three thousand word single sentence of interior monologue and she with “Toad’s Mouth”, a classic example of her talent for fairy tale erotica.

     Spanish is called a Romance language for a reason and it means a lot more than what goes on between the sheets. The culture seeps through the language. Metaphors and adjectives live in a poetic, otherworldly level. This book is a nice primer for non-Latinos to become exposed to this Romantic way of life. 
     All comments about this article are gladly welcome.