Strange Pilgrims (1992)

This is a collection of short stories about Latino Americans traveling or living in Europe. Marquez lures the reader into the sense that any one of his stories may not really be going anywhere, but then it suddenly shifts into an impactful climax, which validates all that came before it. Another great quality in the stories is Marquez’s ability to touch upon the human condition in very subtle ways while using magical realism to do so. Also, his descriptions of landscapes and of certain people (particularly women) are succulent. ( )

Dodici racconti che sono raminghi sia perche’ narrano le "strane cose che succedono ai latinoamericani in Europa", sia perche' sono stati per anni bozze in viaggio tra la scrivania ed il cestino della carta straccia,, venendo perse e ritrovate molte volte prima della loro redazione finale .

Sono tante piccole storie , diverse fra di loro, che incrociano sogni, destini, amore, morte; molto belle, ma ammetto di essere un po’ di parte con Marquez .

( )

When we came back to the house in the afternoon, we found an enormous sea serpent nailed by the neck to the door frame. Black and phosphorescent, it looked like a Gypsy curse, with its still-flashing eyes and its sawlike teeth in gaping jaws.

A book of short stories about Latin Americans in Europe. Some are settled and some adrift, but all feel out of place in an alien land. My favourites were "Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen", "Light is like Water" and "The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow". ( )

Vivid and affecting. Borges-like.

An anthology of twelve short stories, by one of my favorite writers, Marquez. I'm trying to read some more magical realism into my life, and I picked up this collection as a starter. The stories were actually much more pure realism than his previous collections, which doesn't detract from his masterly writing or the beauty of these stories; and though the stories didn't merge the real and the supernatural as much as I have come to expect from Marquez's work, he has the same surreal touch of presenting a dream-like quality to everyday life. The style of his writing emphasizes the magic of the ordinary.

For instance, one of my favorite stories, "Miss Forbes's Summer of Happiness". In this story of a sad summer in the life of two boys, the narrative begins in a simple structure that I've seen before, young people suffering under the harsh and restrictive tutelage of an overbearing governess. Yet we start with one of the boy's shout of fear over a fish head tacked to the door (a species that Miss Forbes identifies as a mythological creature) and that gruesome death head haunts the remainder of the story, imbuing ordinary events with an air of mystery. When the boys arrive at their shocking decision, the atmosphere of the story makes it not so surprising, after all. Nothing that happens from beginning to end is an event that we would be surprised to see in the modern day, but it all wears the murky costume of a dream in daylight.

Let me try describing another one of my favorite stories, "Light is Like Water", because it is hard putting in words the special quality in these stories. This tale is the reverse of the former; whereas one presents explicable events in a fantastic way, the other describes inexplicable happenings as if they were quite ordinary. In this much smaller tale, two boys learn how to harness the liquid nature of light and swim around their living room in boats and diving gear. They transform an apartment in the middle of a landlocked city into a water paradise. As he describes these marvelous events, Marquez uses simple and clear diction, and a tone that is natural. He has a paragraph, in fact, describing the scientific principles that make the boys' discovery possible. In all ways he writes as if this impossible event were the simplest thing in the world. This is more like some of his earlier stories that I've read, where the supernatural is so grounded in reality that you can really believe.

I am again confirmed in my high regard for Marquez as a storyteller. His characters are so real I can meet them, his sense of place so detailed and vivid that I never for a minute doubt the veracity of his story. He manages to bring out the supernatural quality of life, to merge the fantastic and the mundane in a harmonious union, even in this collection where the magical realism isn't as pronounced. I haven't even really touched on his themes, either, in particular how death is enfolded in life, or how the glorious can be discovered in the cheap and tawdry. A fine book, and a good starting place for those just discovering Marquez. ( )