The University of Wisconsin Press

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Fiction / Latin America

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The Flight of the Condor Stories of Violence and War from Colombia Translated and compiled by Jennifer Gabrielle Edwards Foreword by Hugo Chaparro Valderrama The Americas, Ilan Stavans and Irene Vilar, Series Editors "The dead in Colombia refuse to rest quietly." –Ilan Stavans After decades of violence of all kinds, what remains are the stories. History is revised and debated, its protagonists bear witness, its writers ensure that all the suffering has not been in vain. These stories from Colombia contain pain and love, and sometimes even humor, allowing us to see an utterly vibrant and pulsating country amidst so much death and loss. We encounter townspeople overcome by fear, a man begging unsuccessfully for his life, an execution delayed for Christmas, the sounds and smells of burning coffee plantations, and other glimpses of daily life. This anthology reflects some of Colombia's finest literary talent, and most of these stories appear here for the first time in English translation. They reveal the contradictions and complexities of the human condition, yet they also offer hope for the future. In their bold revelations of the depths of despair, these writers provide gripping portrayals of humanity's tenacious resistance to those very depths. "From the war, what keeps coming back to me, most vividly, is the day we buried our weapons. And the worst of it is that our weapons are still there, waiting for us. At the foot of the fig tree. I'd like to find the boys who have the same itch now that I had. I'd like to take them over there, to the Meta River, where so many years ago we buried the treasure. Ten rifles, an FA assault rifle, and a Thompson machine gun are a good start. I'd like to say to them, 'There you have it; go after it, boys, go after it. It's your party now.'" —excerpt from "The Day We Buried Our Weapons" by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza The Americas Ilan Stavans and Irene Vilar, Series Editors Jennifer Gabrielle Edwards has published translations in Michigan Quarterly Review, Metamorphoses, Creative Nonfiction Magazine, Indiana Review, and BorderSenses and has translated several novels, screenplays, essays, collections of poetry, and short stories. She is Assistant Manager of Medical Interpreter Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. Contributors: Hernando Téllez Juan Carlos Botero Álvaro Cepeda Samudio Nicolás Suescún Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza Mario Mendoza Zambrano Arturo Echeverri Mejía Germán Espinosa Manuel Mejía Vallejo Roberto Montes Mathieu Harold Kremer Germán Santamaría Heriberto Fiorillo Darío Ruiz Gómez Julio Paredes Policarpo Varón Celso Román Evelio Rosero Diago Juan Fernando Merino Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@wwwtest.uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

September 2007 LC: 2007011784 PQ 184 pp.  6 x 9 Paper $26.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-22364-9 Cloth $65.00 s ISBN 978-0-299-22360-1 ADD TO CART

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