Cuba: A Traveler's Literary Companion, Vol. 1 » (Translatio)

Travel to Cuba in the company of its finest writers and gain an understanding of its remarkable mystique. The twenty-one stories in this collection — some of which appear in English for the first time — will take you on an odyssey through the country's rich past to its dynamic present, where it is poised at the brink of immense change. Arranged by the areas of Cuba they illuminate, these stories offer up a rich literary banquet. Contributors include Luis Aguilar León, María Eugenia Alegría Nuñez, Uva de Aragón, Reinaldo Arenas, Richard Blanco, Lino Novás Calvo, Calvert Casey, Alfonso Hernández Catá, Josefina de Diego, Abilio Estévez, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Cristina Garcia, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, José Lezama Lima, Pablo Medina, Ana Menéndez, Ernesto Mestre, Mayra Montero, Achy Obejas, Senel Paz, Antonio José Ponte, and Zoé Valdés.

Kirkus Reviews

The eighth in this engaging international series offers 22 short stories and excerpts from longer works, several previously unavailable in English. There are perhaps too many of the latter (novels by Jose Lezama Lima and Reinaldo Arenas seem particularly un-excerptable), though it's good to be pointed toward excellent recent books by Ernesto Mestre, Abilio Estevez, and Pedro Juan Gutierrez. The stories are generally superior-notably Lino Novas Calvo's thriller-like "The Dark Night of Ramon Yendia," Ana Menendez's plaintive "Her Mother's House," and the ultimate assimilation story: "We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?," by Achy Obejas (a witty, serious farce that's every bit as good as its title). On balance, a worthy addition to a splendid series.