Short stories
Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World
Cabo de Hornos
Francisco Coloane · 1941
Synopsis
Fourteen stories from the far south of Chile, in Tierra del Fuego, as far as Cape Horn. One meets shepherds in the service of large sheep-farming companies, seal hunters, smugglers, lighthouse keepers and, according to Biografías y Vidas, also indigenous people and workers. Rivalries, vengeance, betrayals and crimes of money mingle with rides across the pampa and friendships between men, while solitude and alcohol drive some towards madness or abandon. The book opens with “La voix du vent” and closes with the story that gives it its title.
Context
Published in Santiago by Orbe in 1941, with, according to Biografías y Vidas, a prologue by Mariano Latorre, the book is ranked by Memoria Chilena among the two best-known titles of its author, who shows in it man's continuous struggle with his environment. The same biographical site sees in these early stories a sober and vigorous prose writer, sometimes compared to Jack London. François Gaudry translated it into French under the title Cap Horn from Phébus in 1994; a selection published in the United States by Latin American Literary Review Press bears the title Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World.
Who it is for
Short, rough tales of the far South, to be read separately; translated into French and, in part, into English.
Prizes and reception
A major book in its author's body of work according to Memoria Chilena, reissued in France by Phébus and then by Libretto.
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