Things Look Different in the Light & Other Stories

Description

Among these wonderful, blackly comic tales from the Spanish master of the short story, an office queen falls from her throne, a tartan shirt holds the threads of a man's life, a simple dictation test results in glimpsed mortality, and a case of mistaken identity finally pays off. Taking in love, family, war, food and the unforgettable view of the world from childhood, these rich, ch arming stories and Fraile's light touch will stay with you long after you have finished reading.

Medardo Fraile b.1925 grew up in Madrid, and lived through the siege of the city during the Spanish Civil War. He first achieved literary recognition for his work in experimental theatre, becoming part of a group including Alfonso Sastre and Alfonso Paso, and writing the acclaimed play El Hermano. During the Fifties his focus moved to short-story writing, and he left Franco's Spain to eventually settle in Scotland, as a Professor at the University of Strathclyde. His stories won him many prizes, including the Crtica, Ssamo and Estafeta Literaria prizes as well as the Hucha de Oro. He died in 2013.

Life lasts only a few minutes, but Fraile's narrative "nose" will endure for ever -- Andres Neuman A master of black comedy... He has a light touch and a razor wit as well as a highly original way of looking at the world -- Eileen Battersby Irish Times So little is said and so much is conveyed -- Ali Smith Precise, compact and concise, impactive through subtle suggestion... often gently tender and melancholic, infused with a wry and touching humour Herald Masterfully muted, their insights impactful but delayed... Fraile's stories, tightly controlled and peopled with scrupulously-rendered characters, offer a fine deviation from the giddy desperation of much contemporary literature. English readers are lucky to finally have the opportunity to read Fraile's crystalline work Iowa Review They have the exactness of verse - and the translator deserves credit for rendering the stories so beautifully in English BookTrust