El viejo, el asesino, yo y otros cuentos gathers nine stories and a
testimonial essay by Ena Lucia Portela, who began to publish in the
1990's and has been recognized as one of the outstanding stars of
recent Cuban fiction. Portela was born Dec. 19, 1972 in Havana,
where she still lives. She is the author of the novels "El pajaro:
pincel y tinta china" (1999), "La sombra del caminante" (2001),
"Cien botellas en una pared" (2002; winner that year of the Jaen
Novel Prize awarded by the Caja de Ahorros of Granada, Spain, and
2003 winner of the Prix Litteraire Deux Oceans Grinzane Cavour
awarded by French critics), y "Djuna y Daniel" (2008; recipient of
the Cuban Critics' Award), and the short story collections "Una
extrana entre las piedras" (1999) and "Alguna enfermedad muy grave
(2006). She writes occasionally for the newspaper El Pais of Spain,
and for magazines such as Index on Censorship, Encuentro de la
cultura cubana, SoHo, Critica and La Siempreviva, among others.
Portela's texts have appeared in many anthologies of short stories
and essays, both in Cuba and in many other countries. Her work has
appeared in nine languages and in over twenty countries. She was
selected in May, 2007 as one of the 39 most important writers in
Latin America under 39 year sold. The texts included in the present
volume were published between 1993 and 2008 in two collections and
various magazines. This volume closes with a testimonial essay,
"Alas rotas," first published in 2008. A short film based on
Portela's story "El viejo, el asesino y yo," 1999 winner of the
Juan Rulfo Prize awarded by French International Radio, and used as
the title of the present collection, will be shown at the Festival
de Cine Pobre, in Gibara, Cuba. Besides being marvelous stories in
themselves, this anthology provides an introduction to Portela's
works of fiction and non-fiction. Literature is a key element in
Portela's work, and references to books and authors of all eras are
interwoven throughout her writings, as well as references to the
plastic arts, film and music. The density of cultural reference is
accessible, and is both serious and playful. Today's Cuba appears
as a backdrop of the stories, but not in a crude or touristic way.
Even criticism is made to serve literary purposes. Iraida H. Lopez'
prologue offers an overview of the short story in Cuba since 1959,
focusing particularly on the 1990's generation. She discusses not
only there current themes in Portela's stories, but also many of
the strategies utilized by the author to accomplish her goals. More
than a hundred footnotes, in the production of which Lopez and
Portela collaborated, elucidate both personal and academic aspects
of the stories.
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