And We Sold the Rain: Contemporary Fiction from Central America

These wonderful stories have been chosen to represent, according to the foreword, the clash between the indigenous culture and the third world. Perhaps black English speakers are not considered indigenous enough and there is nothing from Belize or about the Garifuana. Only one story is from Panama. It would be interesting to know if the right wing is literate at all. I get two problems with politically motivated fiction. The first is that fiction may be one-sided and over-simplify a complex situation. The second is that when terrible atrocities have been committed then writing about them in fiction can make us complacent. We are able to say "it is only a story"(does Arturo Armas really remember the events of 1954). That said, these are are all remarkable. The influence of the South American magic realists can be seen, especially in the title story and there is a tendency to idealize Indian life and the Popol Vul. I has only read Quesada and Ramirez previously and shall be seeking out more by the other writers.