From one of Guatemala's finest young writers, these twenty-six stories--at once brutal and intensely lyrical--are peopled with sorcerers, ghosts, and assassins.
Springing from myth and beliefs indigenous to Central America and North America, where their action occurs, Rey Rosa's tales give the sense of being dreamed. At the same time they can be read as metaphors for the terror and oppression of years of warfare.
-The Beggar's Knife was originally subtitled '24 strange tales' in the English translation by Paul Bowles, published by City Lights Books in 1985. This...
From one of Guatemala's finest young writers, these twenty-six stories--at once brutal and intensely lyrical--are peopled with sorcerers, ghosts, a...
Set in Guatemala, these spare and beautiful tales are linked by themes of magic, violence, and the fragility of existence. Paul Bowle's translation perfectly captures Rey Rosa's stories of the haunted lives of ordinary people in present-day Central America.
"A genuinely surprising and original set of stories...a sense of violent unease shading into terror drifts up from every line...his writing has a sharp, almost sadistic edge." --The Times Literary Supplement
"Compelling in the extreme...these twelve tales (that) boast of hidden dangers and lurking terrors, are...
Set in Guatemala, these spare and beautiful tales are linked by themes of magic, violence, and the fragility of existence. Paul Bowle's translation...
