Product Description

Reflecting the variety of modern Spanish literature, these stories range from the sharp insights of Gabriel García Marquez's María dos Prazeres to Isabel Allende's powerful evocation of the oral traditions of the Amerindian Walimai, the deceptive simplicity of Javier Marías's On the Honeymoon, and the philosophical speculation of Laura Freixas's Absurd Ending.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57025 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-01
• Released on: 2001-01-02
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Language Notes
Text: Spanish, English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

About the Author
John R. King has taught Spanish and French at Eton College in England where he was formerly the college's head of Spanish and is now Housemaster.

Customer Reviews

Good to help you secure your learning
Definitely not a beginners book. Probably comes in at the intermediate level & above. Assumes you know the complete verb system...the stories throw pretty much everything at you in terms of sentence construction. The more advanced you are, the less you need to depend on the English translation and just read the stories in Spanish, which even by themselves are treasures (I. Allende, G. Garcia Marquez, C. Fuentes among the estimable authors included).

The translations are a joy to read, because you notice right away that there's not this word-for-word transliteration that you get with many attempts at parallel texts. The translators (each credited in their own right) really try to bring across in English the feeling and emotion that the writer intended when they penned the original Spanish. It's eye-opening. On top of that, the book's editor John R. King has added about 20 - 30 or so footnotes per story that really take your understanding to a new level. A great example: in the first story, he adds a footnote to denote when the two characters in the story slip from using formal verb construction into informal. It would have slid right by me, had it not been for the footnote. And it does mark a definite change in the direction of the story.

Really good stuff.

Excellent learning tool
This book begins with easy stories, mostly in present tense. It progresses to more difficult stories. The stories are by Latino authors, so you have the additional bonus of Latino culture with the stories. The back of the book gives brief information about the authors. It includes exercises, some to be answered orally and others written, and a Spanish glossary. It's a good tool to have in your "bag of tricks" for learning and improving your Spanish.

Good literature and great linguistics
Short Stories in Spanish improves ones language skills through enjoyable stories and excellent linguistic explanations. These stories come from many different spanish speaking countries, which allows the student to be exposed to different style and slang. Not only are the stories translated correctly, but certain words, names, and phases are explained in depth relating to culture or history. Furthermore, the difficulty of this book is from advanced beginner to expert.