Hunter of Stories

Description

'Not since Guy de Maupasant has the short literary form been imbued with such grace, elegance and poignancy . . . these quintessential and often poetic pearls astonish, inspire reflection and entertain' Morning Star The internationally acclaimed last work by the bestselling Latin American writer Master storyteller Eduardo Galeano was unique among his contemporaries (Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa among them) for his commitment to retelling our many histories, including the stories of those who were disenfranchised. A philosopher poet, his nonfiction is infused with such passion and imagination that it matches the intensity and the appeal of Latin America's very best fiction. Published here for the first time in an elegant English translation by long-time collaborator Mark Fried, HUNTER OF STORIES is a deeply considered collection of Galeano's final musings on history, memory, humour, tragedy and loss. Written in his signature style - vignettes that fluidly combine dialogue, fables, and anecdotes - every page displays the original thinking and compassion that made Galeano one of the most original and beloved voices in world literature.

Eduardo Galeano (1940-2015) was one of Latin America's most distinguished writers. A Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist, he was considered, among other things, 'a literary giant of the Latin American left' and 'global soccer's preeminent man of letters.' He is the author of the three-volume Memory of Fire, Open Veins of Latin America, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, The Book of Embraces, Walking Words and Voices in Time. Born in Montevideo in 1940, he lived in exile in Argentina and Spain for years before returning to Uruguay, where he died in 2015.

Galeano was a master of the shattered story. He had a way of making realism magical without being a magical realist. This book is yet another demonstration of his brilliance. This is Galeano's parting gift, arriving to us, like a message from another dimension, from beyond the grave. It is more generous, wise, and wonderful than I dared hope. Like a magician, combining on the page the arts of reading, storytelling and civic ethics, Eduardo Galeano conjures up for us long-forgotten images of our many worlds. If, as we have always suspected, our geographies spring from our stories, Galeano is our master geographer. Meticulously sculpted . . . with the lively and inimitable voice of a passionate rebel and storyteller . . . With a keen sense for ironic reversals and equal measures of sly humor, empathy, anguish, and hope, this compendium of bite-size stories of resistance (elegantly translated by longtime collaborator Fried) is a worthy addition to the celebrated oeuvre of a writer who remains a towering figure both as an artist and a voice of conscience across Latin America and the world. - Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review