Blood Pact and Other Stories [Paperback]

Mario Benedetti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

This collection -- "A brilliant fingerprint of the city of Montevideo" (Eduardo Galeano) -- includes the best of renowned Uruguayan writer Mane Benedetti's stories from over 40 years of publishing. In these stories of powerful sudden impact, Benedetti plumbs with deep psychological insight both the dreams and frustrations of the middle-class in a bureaucratic society, as well as the pain and disorientation of political exile. In his On Arts And Professions, Benedetti wrote, "the effect of the short story is the surprise, the astonishment, the revelation".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The last time our office got a new budget was way back in nineteen twenty-something, when most of us were still struggling with geography and fractions." So opens Mario Benedetti's 1949 story, "The Budget." "A new budget is any government bureau's highest aspiration." Alas, some things never change.

Benedetti's most recent collection of short stories reflects his long and distinguished belletristic career. Author of more than 50 published works that include poetry, fiction, drama, literary and cultural criticism, and political journalism, Benedetti demonstrates an impressive range. Dialogue-driven narratives and graceful soliloquies appear alongside his early work, which heaves ironic sighs against bureaucratic incompetence, and the contemporary work dealing with political tyranny. Although 15 different translators are at play here (the collection spans four decades), Benedetti's supremely cool, ironic voice is transposed seamlessly onto the contemporary consciousness.

From Booklist

Drawn from some 40 years of Benedetti's writings, most done in his native Uruguay, these stories address the suffocating effects of middle-class life and often feature unexpected, dramatic endings that expose trust and romantic dreams as misplaced or illusory, sometimes with horrific consequences. Some stories show how surrendering to the necessities of daily life drains the future dry, as in "Gloria's Saturday" and "Blood Pact." Others show febrile romanticizing easily deflated by a voice or an incident from the past, as in "Iriarte Family." There are stories where daily life or an imagined escape from it distorts (or ends) time, as in "Perhaps beyond Repair," where a businessman's flight is repeatedly delayed overnight until he finally hears his son say his father was killed in a crash years ago, or in "Five Years of Life," where a man and woman enthusiastically meet and go home together, in what is suddenly five years later, to a life seemingly drained of its promise. These are accomplished and often wry fictions. Jim O'Laughlin

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Books; 1 edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188068439X
• ISBN-13: 978-1880684399
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,502,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mario Benedetti pertenece a la misma generación de Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes y José Donoso y es uno de los escritores que mejor ha sabido integrar la búsqueda estética con la conciencia política. Su mundo novelístico plasma uno de los más profundos y elevados retratos literarios de la sociedad de América latina. Sus novelas son consideradas hoy eslabones indispensables para comprender la evolución de la novela sudamericana desde los años setenta hasta nuestros días.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest living writers blends irony, compassion., July 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Pact and Other Stories (Paperback)

Uruguayan author Mario Benedetti, one of the most prolific and respected Latin American writers, is little known in the U.S.A. Of 50 years worth of fiction, plays and essays, the two novels published here are long out of print. This collection of 27 short stories should go a long way to bringing him the larger English-speaking audience he so merits.

Benedetti's early work (1940s and 50s) was rooted in and reflective of the middle class milieu of Montevideo. Like all successful regionalists, his keen eye and ear for local ideosyncracy could be bitingly on- target, while transcending the specific to express universal themes. The upheavals of the 1960s added a political focus that was sharpened when he was exiled (and his work banned) as a result of Uruguay's 1973 coup. His writings on political repression and on expatriate life display the same combination of dry irony and warm compassion as his earlier work; while themes change, there is a continuity of artistic vision.

Having enjoyed Benedetti in Spanish, I can recommend this collection. It offers a good cross-section, ranging from 1949 to 1987. I paid particular attention to translation on three of my favorites: "The Budget," a wickedly funny sendup of stultified bureaucracy; "Requiem Over Tea," a beautiful, sad story as told by a 13 year old; "Just Kidding," the chilling tale of a joke gone awry in the era of wiretaps and detention. Throughout, the author's original rythms, his strong sense of narrative voice, and distinctive use of vernacular came across very well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REVIEW QUOTES, October 10, 2001

By 

Curbstone Press, Jantje Tielken, Editorial As... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Pact and Other Stories (Paperback)

"Benedetti is Uruguay's most important current writer."--Multicultural Review

"This superb collection...brings together tales of urban romance and political strife from the beloved Uruguayan writer. The fictions, most only a few pages long, are masterful in form, at once succinct and evocative. Many of the early tales...are reminiscent of Kafka-though with none of the weighty mood. Benedetti's language is light and playful..., full of humorous generosity to the reader." --Review of Contemporary Fiction

"What remains...is the singular and surprising nature of Benedetti's stories." --The New York Times Book Review

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Storyteller, October 25, 2001

By 

fm (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Pact and Other Stories (Paperback)

Mario Benedetti, a Uruguayan writer, is well known in South America and Mexico. This is one of his rare collections available in English. This story collection presents a perspective not often used by US writers: that underlying paranoia, cycnicism, fatalism that anyone who has lived through the dictators and hyperinflation and tragic history of South America and Central America is well acquainted with. With recent events, many who have never had to live in fear are now faced with the kinds of dark powers that many others in our world have known for years. Notwithstanding the darker tone and sadness he evokes, the writing is superb and highly recommended.