Mariana Enriquez: Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego (Spanish language, 2016, Hogarth Press, Editorial Anagrama)
Spanish language
Published Nov. 3, 2016 by Hogarth Press, Editorial Anagrama.
Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories (Spanish: Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego) is a short story collection by Mariana Enriquez. Originally published in Spanish, it was translated into English by Megan McDowell in 2017."The Intoxicated Years" was published in Granta. "Spiderweb" appeared in The New Yorker.
This is a wonderful collection of ghost stories. Much of the horror is derived from Argentina's recent history and these are the real ghosts. Enriquez manages to meld the social inequality of modern Argentina, with history, religion, superstition, and with just a touch of magic realism presents twelve truly disturbing tales. By the way, the title story is a cracker!
After binging on Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy and everything Kelly Link has published to date, I’ve been starving for more Weird fiction. Things We Lost in the Fire is an astonishing collection of short stories set in modern day Argentina, a country shaped by its history of civil and political violence, which very much informs Enríquez’s writing. These stories are dark, very dark, very unsettling, and wonderfully original. Some are just plain scary while others are more melancholy and different flavors of haunting. While it’s fair to describe them all as Weird Horror stories of one sort or another, their diversity is breathtaking.
From women who set themselves on fire in protest of domestic violence to angst-ridden teenage girls, friends until death do they part, to street kids and social workers, young women bored of their husbands or boyfriends, to a nine-year-old serial killer of babies and a girl …
After binging on Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy and everything Kelly Link has published to date, I’ve been starving for more Weird fiction. Things We Lost in the Fire is an astonishing collection of short stories set in modern day Argentina, a country shaped by its history of civil and political violence, which very much informs Enríquez’s writing. These stories are dark, very dark, very unsettling, and wonderfully original. Some are just plain scary while others are more melancholy and different flavors of haunting. While it’s fair to describe them all as Weird Horror stories of one sort or another, their diversity is breathtaking.
From women who set themselves on fire in protest of domestic violence to angst-ridden teenage girls, friends until death do they part, to street kids and social workers, young women bored of their husbands or boyfriends, to a nine-year-old serial killer of babies and a girl who pulls out her nails and eyelids in the classroom, to hikikomori, abandoned houses, black magic, northern Argentinean superstition, disappearances, crushes, heartbreak, regret and compassion.
But here’s the best part: Mariana Enríquez is not a new author. As far as I’ve been able to figure out, this is simply the first of her books that’s been translated into English. Now I’m hungry to read everything else Enríquez has published. Please, someone, get to translating.
