20 Examples of Latin American Tales

Latin American stories

The Latin American stories They are short stories that were written by Latin American authors. These stories They are very varied, but they usually present elements that are related to the traditions, customs, realities, people and landscapes of this place.

These stories are influenced by Spanish literature, foreign literature in general and the different types of narratives of native peoples, such as myths and stories. legends.

The stories can narrate real or fictional events and are stories that usually have the following structure:

Characteristics of Latin American stories

Examples of Latin American stories

1. Preamble to the instructions for winding a watch. From the book Chronopios and fame stories (1962), by Julio Cortázar. This story, like many others by Cortázar, is innovative because it changes the structure of the traditional story. since there is no introduction, middle and end, but it is a description of the clocks and their importance. But the story has a different effect, because irony is used to indicate people's dependence on material objects.
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2. Have a good trip, Mr. President. From the book Twelve Pilgrim Tales (1992), by Gabriel García Márquez. This story tells the story of a president who leaves his country due to a coup and arrives in Switzerland, where he will undergo medical treatment. One day he sees Homer, a person he knew from his country and who belonged to his party. Homer invites the president to his house to eat, where Lazara, Homer's wife, will also be, but the dinner ends in an argument. This story, although it tells fictional facts, belongs to social realism, because it denounces the situation of coups in Latin American countries.
3. Luvina. From the book The Burning Plain (1953), by Juan Rulfo. In this story there are two narrators, who alternate throughout the story. One narrator is in the third person and the other in the first person. The story describes a very poor town and far away from everything, where the wind is very strong and where there is no hope. The first-person narrator tells how he passed through this town, which is called Luvina. He is a teacher and he went to Luvina to teach, but after living there for a while, he saw the desolation and the he poverty and he told the villagers that they could move to another place, but they did not want to leave there. This story seeks to show the reality of how Mexico was after the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
4. By Navegantes. From the book Trafalgar (1979) by Angélica Gorodischer. In this story, Trafalgar, the protagonist of all the stories, goes to the house of the person who tells the story and tells him his adventures on another planet, which resembles planet Earth, but is in a time in the past, similar to that of 1492. On that planet he goes to a place that is similar to Spain at that time and stays there for almost two months. This story, along with others by the author, is characterized by the use of irony and by having innovative elements within the science fiction genre.
5. The advent of the eagle. From the book Real city (1962), by Rosario Castellanos. The protagonist of the story is Héctor, a man from a noble family that originated in Spain and has become impoverished. The story tells how Hector grew up until he became an adult. At this stage, the protagonist did not work, but constantly gambled and sold the objects of his impoverished mother. Later, his mother died and he married a woman with a lot of money so that he would not have to work. Hector also spent the money on his wife, who died shortly after. Without financial support, Héctor asked his acquaintances to find him a job and thus he obtained a position as municipal secretary. In this work, the protagonist constantly deceived the natives to obtain more money. The story denounces the sexist relationship that Héctor has with his mother and his wife and the abusive relationship towards native peoples.
6. Pierre Menard, author of Don Quixote. From the book Fictions (1944), by Jorge Luis Borges. This story narrates the intention of Pierre Menard, a supposed French writer, to write Don Quixote. In the story it is stated that this author did not want to copy Cervantes's book but that he wanted to write it again and that it be exactly the same as the original. This story, like many others by Borges, was very important in Argentine literature because it raises questions of the literary criticism in relation to copying, plagiarism and originality, three central themes in the author's work Argentinian.
7. Paco Yunque. From (1951) César Vallejo. This story tells the first day of school for Paco Yunque, the son of an employee of the richest man in town. Dorian Grieve, the son of Paco's mother's boss, also attended the same school. Dorian annoyed Paco at school and misbehaved in class, but no one scolded him, because he was the son of a rich man. This story works as a social complaint, regarding the differential treatment that people have in relation to the social class to which they belong.
8. Tlactocatzine from the garden of flanders. In the book The masked days (1954) by Carlos Fuentes. This story is written as if it were a diary and tells the story of a man who had to go to take care of a house, in which he realized that a ghost lived. The ghost was of a woman, Maximiliano's wife, a man who had been shot. In this story two stories are told: the story of the protagonist (the story of the present) and Carlota (the ghost) and the history of Maximiliano (the history of the past), since the letters that they were sent in the newspaper are included.
9. Etching. (1888) by Rubén Darío. This story is a micro-story, that is, a very short story. It does not have the structure of a story but rather describes the work that some men are doing, who could be blacksmiths. To achieve this, past imperfect verbs are used (for example, they worked, moved, dressed) that is, the actions do not advance, but are static, as in an image. This story represents Modernism because classical narration is left aside and elements of painting are used, such as colors, contrasts, etc.
10. The dinosaur. (1959) by Augusto Monterroso. This story is a micro-story, containing a very short sentence. This story has been widely analyzed by literary criticism. A reading hypothesis holds that the dinosaur refers to the PRI, a political party that ruled Mexico for many years, and, therefore, it would be as old as a dinosaur. Another hypothesis holds that the dinosaur is a problem, since problems never go away until they are solved.
11. Like the night. From the book Time war (1959), by Alejo Carpentier. This story narrates in the first person the events of four men who go to war. Each narrative is set at a different time in history, the Trojan War, the 16th century, the 17th century, and the 20th century. The central idea of ​​the story is to reflect on what is left behind when a young man goes to war (family and love), and the similarity of this type of situation in different historical contexts.
12. The stockings of the flamingos. From the book Jungle tales (1912) by Horacio Quiroga. This tale has the typical structure and content of a legend, although in truth it is not, because it explains the supposed cause that flamingos have pink legs. In the story it is narrated that there was a party in the jungle and that the flamingos, who had white legs, wanted to wear stockings so as not to be mocked. The owl gave them some so-called pink stockings to wear to the party.
13. Blame it on the Tlaxcalans. (1964) by Elena Garro. This story is very important in Latin American literature because it belongs to magical realism, a genre that mixes realistic elements with fantastic elements. The main scenario is realistic, Laura is chatting with Nacha in a kitchen. But what Laura tells has fantastic elements: Laura, the protagonist, moves to another space, which is the scene of the Conquest of Tenochtitlán. But Laura does not travel in time: the past and the present coexist in the same moment.
14. The switchman. From the book Conspiracy (1952), by Juan José Arreola. The story tells the story of a man who is waiting for a train and another man, the switchman, arrives. The two characters start talking and the switchman tells him stories about the railway system that border on the fantastic. In this story irony appears to show the reality of the state of the railway system and the people who work in it.
15. How the stars were born. From the book How the stars were born (1987), by Clarice Lispector. This is a children's book that includes Brazilian legends, but that the author transformed a bit. This story takes place in the jungle, the characters are people from an original people and it tells how the stars would have originated. The story talks about the different functions that men and women had. It can be interpreted as a criticism of machismo because, although men hunted and fought in confrontations, women were in charge of doing everyday work.
16. The crocodile. (1962) by Felisberto Hernández. This story is in the first person. The protagonist, a concert performer, narrates that, not being able to make a living from music, he begins to sell stockings. In order to get people to buy from him, he deceives his buyers with a mock cry. The end of the story has a very forceful effect because it is almost unreal. This story, like many others by this author, is groundbreaking because it introduces an outlandish element to the story.
17. The badge. From the book The word of the world (1952), by Julio Ramón Ribeyro. The tale tells the story of a man who was walking down the street and found a badge in a garbage can. He began to wear the badge and, from that moment on, unknown people began to do him favors and gifts. He started attending meetings where people had the same insignia and had many jobs thanks to him wearing this item. This story is realistic in style, but includes situations that border on the implausible or the extravagant.
18. The tree. (1939) by María Luisa Bombal. Brígida, the protagonist of this story, had married a man she did not love. Observing that the tree she saw from her house had collapsed, she decided to leave her husband. But in the narration, Brígida is accompanied and guided by classical music composers, Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. This story represents the frustration of a marriage that does not work and the possibility of changing the course of life.
19. The slaughterhouse. By Esteban Echeverría. It was written between 1838 and 1840, but published in 1871. This story was published long after the author passed away and is considered the first Argentine realistic story and one of the most important. The story takes place in a slaughterhouse and seeks to represent what life was like for the federals (a political party in Argentina). The author uses satire to present the characters, and the grotesque to represent space. The story narrates what happens in this place and the confrontation that occurs with a young Unitarian (the political party opposed to the federals).
20. Two weights of water. (1941) by Juan Bosch. This story tells the story of a town in which there was a drought and in which there had been serious consequences due to the lack of water. No one believed that she could rain except Remigia, who constantly lit candles to make it rain. The story ends with a moral about pessimism and excessive optimism.

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