Cass Canfield JrRecensioni

[Masterworks of Latin American short fiction : eight novellas]
and found 2 treasures:
the Pursuers by [Julio Cortazar]
I heard her sing by [G. Cabrera Infante]

Cortazar's story revolves around a writer, a jazz critic, who has befriended a fictionalized account of the famous Charlie Parker. In the introduction [Ilan Stavans], implies this story was a precursor to Cortazar's famous Hopscotch. the story is intriguing and well done, The depictions of music and drug addiction are well done as is the singular genius that many artists portray: in their art they are superhuman, but in their more personal realm they are failed characters.

With Infante- this is my first encounter of this wild man of a writer. This story appears to also be a precursor to his magnum, Infante's Inferno, which I ran out to buy a used copy at Strand's Book Store just yesterday. Infante's pre-revolutionary Havana's nightlife is vibrant and filled with characters that burst off the page. Wild sex, hot cafe's, music and artists fill the pages and his writing is unique and bristling with life. He has a great sense of humor and appears to be well known for his puns (see Paris Review Interview: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3079/the-art-of-fiction-no-75-guillermo...

I did not read any of the 6 other novellas, all written by giants of Latin American literature.