Rainy Days / Dias de Lluvia ― Short Stories by Contemporary Spanish Women Writers

It was quite a while ago that writers, publishers, readers and scholars stopped apologising for the short story: the genre is no longer a bad investment, a trial-exercise for a novel or a minor entertainment, as demonstrated by exceptional writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alice Munro or Quim Monzo, amongst others. With deep roots in classic and medieval literatures, and great instances of achievement in the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries, the short story, which benefits from the linguistic tightness of poetry and the narrative comforts of the novel, has finally been recognised as having an identity of its own. This volume re-edits and expands a previous bilingual (Spanish-English) collection of cuentos in Spanish: Rainy Days/Dias de lluvia: Short Stories by Contemporary Spanish Women Writers, which was first published in 1997. The first edition included stories by twelve writers: Pilar Cibreiro (whose brilliant short story provided the title for the anthology), Cristina Fernandez Cubas, Paloma Diaz-Mas, Adelaida Garcia Morales, Lourdes Ortiz, Laura Freixas, Marina Mayoral, Mercedes Abad, Rosa Montero, Maruja Torres, Soledad Puertolas and Maria Eugenia Salaverri. To this formidable group of women writers, the present edition adds another four: Nuria Amat, Juana Salabert, Luisa Castro and Berta Marse. The stories gathered in this second edition were written between 1980 and 2010, and testify to the richness and vitality of women's writing in contemporary Spain. With the original texts as well as their translations into English, a comprehensive Introduction, explanatory notes, and selected bibliographical information on each author and on Spanish contemporary culture, this volume is a useful tool for students of Spanish language and literature at all levels. From stories dealing with different types of human relationships (couples, friends, brothers, mothers and daughters) to ironic dialogues with tradition, from tales that expose and contest the powerless position of women in male dominated societies to powerful childhood narratives, the volume makes an exciting incursion into the imaginative ways with which the genre challenges and develops contemporary themes.

Montserrat Lunati is a Reader in Catalan and Spanish Studies at Cardiff University.