Underground River and Other Stories (Latin American Women Writers) [Paperback]

Ines Arredondo (Author), Cynthia Steele (Translator), Elena Poniatowska (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Latin American Women Writers | Publication Date: April 1, 1996

Inés Arredondo (1928–1989) published just three slim volumes of stories over twenty-three years, yet her reputation as a great writer, “a necessary writer,” is firmly established in Mexico. Her works dwell on obsessions: erotic love, evil, purity, perversion, prostitution, tragic separation, and death. Most of her characters are involved in ill-fated searches for the Absolute through both excessively passionate and sadomasochistic relationships. Inevitably, the perfect, pure dyad of two youthful lovers is interrupted or corrupted through the interference of a third party (a rival lover or a child), aging, death, or public morality.

Set at the beginning of the twentieth century in the tropical northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, the stories collected in Underground River and Other Stories focus on female subjectivity. Arredondo’s adult male characters are often predators, depraved collectors of adolescent virgins, like the plantation owners in “The Nocturnal Butterflies” and “Shadows in the Shadows” and the dying uncle in “The Shunammite,” who is kept alive by incestuous lust. Since the young female protagonists rarely have fathers to protect them, the only thing standing between them and these lechers are older women. Perversely, these older women act as accomplices–along with the extended family and the Roman Catholic Church–in the sordid age-old traffic in women.

Underground River and Other Stories is the first appearance of Arredondo’s stories in English.

 

(19970320)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ines Arredondo only published three collections of stories during her lifetime, and Underground River and Other Stories is the first to appear in English. Set mostly in northwestern Mexico, the stories here delineate a world of passion, madness, scandal, and death. A niece marries her dying uncle, only to have him recover as a result. A woman shares her lover with her elderly husband. An element of magic clings to these tales of adultery, incest, and sexual obsession, and that magic lies as much in the author's fine prose and eye for detail as in the twists of fate she describes.

From Publishers Weekly

Reading Arredondo is not unlike watching certain Bu?uel movies: women who are both passive and powerful dominate stories that are charged with madness and (generally unnatural) eroticism. Arredondo's style and her subjects are subtle and rather rarefied. In the half dozen or so longer pieces among the 12 here, readers lose themselves in that world, and its oddness comes as a delightful frisson. In shorter pieces (some are just a couple of paragraphs), the same style and subject can seem merely stiff and pretentious. The five longest pieces are truly outstanding. Both "The Shunammite," about a young woman forced to marry an ancient, wealthy uncle in extremis only to have lust pull him back from the grave, and "The Mirrors," about a girl's tragic parentage, reflect cruel interweavings of destiny and character. They are eclipsed by three stories set in rich, enervated households ruled by perversion ("The Nocturnal Butterflies," "Shadow in the Shadows") or, as in the title story, by madness. "Underground River" is not really a story but more of a plea from the narrator to her nephew, begging him never to visit or think of her and telling how she has become the gatekeeper of the family's insanity. "I have led a solitary life for many years, a woman alone in this immense house, a cruel and exquisite life," she explains to him in a prologue that might characterize many of Arredondo's characters and stories. "I have a destiny but it isn't mine. I have to live my life according to other people's destinies."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 130 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; Uncorrected proof. edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803259271
• ISBN-13: 978-0803259270
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 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: #337,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How should I start..., June 2, 2000

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PunchDrunkBunny "[e-mail]" (orlando, florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Underground River and Other Stories (Latin American Women Writers) (Paperback)

Let me first tell you that I have a hardcopy of this book (for posterity) and a paperback (for late night, bed-reading abuse). This book, which I found while browsing in my local library, is by far the most powerful book I have ever read. Now, that may sound so typical of reviews.."5 stars..really great!" and all of that. The depth of this book goes far beyond that of any "ratings" guide.

OK, now for the content. Women, we will certainly identify with this book more than our male counterparts. Not because this is a "woman's book" which it is not. I always thought that was an ignorant term to begin with, but because most of the characters (both antagonist and protagonist) are female. This book deals with very strong themes of erotic love, evil, loss of innocence, and religious hypocrisy. All of that may sound 'juicy' but Arredondo has a way with words. Her writing is halfway between poetic prose and contains an eloquency beyond anything I have ever read in my short, yet hopefully long and fufilling life. Worth every penny.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Estupendos cuentos, comparables con los de Rulfo y Arreola., June 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Underground River and Other Stories (Latin American Women Writers) (Hardcover)

La Sunamita, es un análisis profundo de las relaciones familiares tradiconales en México, combinado con la influencia religiosa de "lo que debe de ser", a costa de la dignidad humana. La protagonista termina con sentimientos de culpa, con su soberbia desecha y con el rencor perpetuo a la vida que la obligó a perder su pureza. Mariana enfrenta al lector con la "anormalidad" de la pasión-locura, y con todos los prejuicios de una sociedad provinciana, que nunca entiende a la protagonista por ser "diferente" de los demás. La Señal es quizás el mejor cuento que jamás escribió Inés. La señal de la humillación, en un episodio religioso, es genial. Año Nuevo es una de las joyas literarias, que en seis líneas narra toda la historia de una mujer que sufre. Río Subterráneo trata también de la locura como la "anormalidad" de un ser, y la fatalidad de enloquecer para entender a la locura. Las Palabras Silenciosas es un cuento en el que se resumen los problemas de incomunicación entre dos culturas muy alejadas entre sí, y la importancia de la palabra en esta comunicación. Orfandad es un cuento también dedicado a la incomunicación, a través de una anécdota espeluznante. Las Mariposas Nocturnas refleja, con singular maestría, no sólo las costumbres de una época, sino los problemas íntimos de la homosexualidad (Don Hernán)y de los valores de la satisfacción artística (Lía). Dos cuentos preciosos (Los Hermanos y De Amores), precisamente sobre el amor en su máxima expresión. Los Espejos, (el último cuento que escribió) es un retrato de familia llevado a sus últimas consecuencias literarias, proustianas, de una ternura inmensa, y, creo, es una joya del romanticismo. Por último, Sombra entre Sombras, es un verdadero ensayo sobre la pureza y la concupicencia, analizándolas desde varios puntos de vista, pero que tienen un fundamento único, que es el amor (otra vez) llevado a sus últimas consecuencias. Hay otros cuentos traducidos al inglés, en diversas revistas universitarias, que! es muy recomendable buscar, para disfrutar de la obra completa de esta escritora singular en las letras latinoamericanas. Gracias por leerla.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best book I have ever encountered., August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Underground River and Other Stories (Latin American Women Writers) (Hardcover)

As a lover of poetry and literature, I have found this book to be at the very pinnacle of both. The first time that you read this book, you are going to be overwelmed. Different than other books that paint imagery and scenery into your mind, Ms. Arrondondo brings to us a world of experience and emotion that lies dormant until awakened. We then realize--these passions live in all of us.