When he returned, stumbling down the mountain and out of the jungle, he did not remember anything beyond having entered the stone hovel and seen, in the far corner of the dirt floor, a cage, partly covered in a feathered cloak. Even from the door, it did not seem that the hovel had been entered or the […]
The birds were white as they flew over the marsh, across the reedbeds and the frosted meres, but as they drew level with the hide their shade changed, from white to black. I saw their crimson eyes, sparks in the cloudy dark, as they disappeared into the storm. Richard and I crouched in the hide and waited. […]
I followed my boyfriend to the city because I was in love with him. He had come to fetch me from across the country, like a knight riding in for his damsel. He had dark and curly hair. My family is fair, and there was something about his darkness, something sharp and sexy and wild, that told […]
Translated into English by Gio Clairval My old friend, Dr. *** from Chateauroux, had recommended that I visit the manor of Guernipin in Brenne, between Mezières and Rosnay, if the master of the house was kind enough to invite me, his mood being such that he was seldom inclined to grant the requests of the strangers […]
Ocelia, Ocelia, tell me who has hurt you. Who plucked your wings bare? Who stole your scarlet feathers? Was it the men I saw launch themselves off the cliff, the ones that hid behind the ashen clouds? What names did they call one another? Describe to me their plumage and whistle patterns. Ocelia, my little sister, […]
Just yesterday, I had what I’d call a mysterious bird moment. Which is to say, observing bird behavior carries its own intrinsic value and, as an amateur naturalist, I’m continually re-inventing the wheel in a way that’s useful to the imagination and also just fun. What I saw, down at San Luis Park, was a wood stork wading through the […]
Translated by Brian Stableford Originally published 1877 *** Why do they say that I am insane? Just because I am not like absolutely everyone else, just because I do not play my role like one of Panurge’s sheep, just because I remain indoors for weeks and months at a time – is that any reason to call me insane? On the contrary; […]
Translated from Urdu by Muhammad Umar Memon Khalida Asghar was born in Lahore in 1938. She started writing fiction in 1963. After half a dozen highly acclaimed short stories, she dropped out of the Urdu literary world altogether, and staged a stunning comeback after a twelve-year silence in 1977. She has published half a dozen collections of her stories, some […]
Translated by Michael Cisco The name of Alfonso Reyes reoccurs throughout any discussion of Latin American literature. In his native Mexico, he is considered a major 20th century author, and more than one street has been named for him there. Roberto Bolano referred to him in the short list of those writers he included in his […]
If it had another name, I never knew, but the locals called it The Loney — that strange nowhere between the Wyre and the Lune.… Dull and featureless it may have looked, but The Loney was a dangerous place. A wild and useless length of English coastline. A dead mouth of a bay that filled and emptied twice a day and made Coldbarrow […]