Cold Tales (Eridanos Press Library) [Paperback]

Virgilio Pinera (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0941419193 | ISBN-13: 978-0941419192 | Publication Date: October 1988 | Edition: 1st wraps

tr Mark Schafer, intro Guillermo Cabrera-Infante

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Laws of gravity are abrogated in this short fiction by a Cuban litterateur. Men swim on dry land, death does not relieve the insomniac of sleeplessness, parents become the children of their children. "Cold" with the frigidity of a hell in which "one freezes over a low flame," most of these 40-odd tales are no longer than two pages, taut evocations of the surreal. The most successful, however, develop slowly and abundantly as political commentary. A landlady commands the uninterrupted attention of her impoverished boarders as she spends a full eight months describing a photograph taken at her wedding: "The happiness of those people was absolute, and not even the most categorical social restitution would have satisfied them as much as the lady's descriptions." A civilian, observing his president's metamorphosis into the "dummy" of his official persona, arranges for a rubber dummy to stand in for the leader with unforeseeable success. The late Pinera calibrates the macabre with a confidence and wit reminiscent of Dino Buzzati; his highly original figurations of the absurd should invite interest in this first English publication of his stories.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Marsilio Pub; 1st wraps edition (October 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941419193
• ISBN-13: 978-0941419192
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master Work, January 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cold Tales (Eridanos Press Library) (Paperback)

Elegant, arresting, unique. One marvels at Pinera's command of narrative and language. Read and see what Cubans have been raving about for decades.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a funhouse of the absurd and bizarre, February 10, 2007

By 

R. Colbourne (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cold Tales (Eridanos Press Library) (Paperback)

Some stories so short they barely take much of the page, yet each secure in its completeness, and its to-the-pointness, even if that point eludes us. Other, more expanded stories, can get more outrageous page by page, but still, these stories all seem grounded as perfectly normal reality, and perhaps in a wonderful way, they are. Good pre-reading for his fine novel, Rene's Flesh, also part of the excellent Eridanos Library of books.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not an objective review, April 2, 2006

By 

Yumuri "Polilla" (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Tales (Eridanos Press Library) (Paperback)

Virgilio is my grandmother's first cousin, his father and her mother were siblings. I unfortunately have few memories myself but loads of family stories that always made me attracted to his persona and his work. I wish more of his work were available here. Thanks, Amazon!