Short stories
Shumio-Ara: cuentos de Bocas del Toro
Not translated into English
José María Sánchez Borbón · 1948
Synopsis
Stories from the Caribbean region of Panama, among jungle, mountain, rivers, hunts and banana plantations. In “La muerte de Nicanor”, a peasant with a diseased chest, sitting on a log at the edge of a lagoon, watches the river swell under the storm and broods over the hatred his wife inspires in him; other stories follow characters such as Anselmo or Clarisa, in the rural life of the region.
Context
The collection appeared in 1948 from the culture department of the Ministry of Education, in 126 pages, two years after Tres cuentos. Its author had been publishing stories since 1937; Rodrigo Miró saw in it the mark of the social, and Franz García de Paredes saw regional themes at a time when the country's literature was turning to the avant-garde. A third volume, Cuentos de Bocas del Toro, appeared in 1994, two decades after his death.
Who it is for
In Spanish, with no published translation of the collection; Nicanor's story can be read in the anthology Cuentos escogidos, digitised by the National Library of Panama.
Prizes and reception
His tales, some of which have been translated into German, French, English and Russian, rank among the important texts of Panamanian literature.
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