This collection includes the best of renowned Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti's stories from over 40 years of publishing. In these stories of powerful sudden impact, Benedetti plumbs with deep psychological insight both the dreams and frustrations of the middle-class in a bureaucratic society, as well as the pain and disorientation of political exile.
Mario Benedetti was born in Uruguay in 1920. Following a 1973 coup d'état, Benedetti's work was banned. From 1973 to 1985, he lived in exile for various periods in Argentina, Peru, Cuba, and Spain. Writing from exile, he was able to inform the world about tragedies happening in his home country. Today, his more than 80 books of poetry, fiction, essays, and drama are well-renowned around the globe, having been published in over 20 languages. A member of Generation '45, his work had notable influence on Uruguayan literary and cultural life. He died in 2009.
"Benedetti blends introspection, elegy, and sly humor in piquant revelations of the terrors lurking in 'ordinary' people and things."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A brilliant fingerprint of the city of Montevideo."
—Eduardo Galeano
"An extremely acute sense of [the] irony of daily existence has made his work compelling and often hilarious reading."
—David William Foster, Books Abroad
