Cruel Fictions, Cruel Realities
Edited and translated by Kathy S. LeonardISBN: 0-935480-87-0
Price: $16.00
Pages: 160
"Cruel Fictions, Cruel Realities provides a
firsthand glimpse into the Latin American soul through the
writings of prominent women authors, most appearing here for
the first time in English translation. This anthology offers
unique portrayals of human experience which allow the reader
to view the many faces of cruelty presented from a woman's
perspective. However, these are not stories about cruelty,
torture, or abuse of women, but rather stories about the
cruelty perpetrated by one human being on another, by a
government on its citizens, a cruelty which is multifaceted
and omnipresent. These authors expose the hidden and overt
dangers of cruelty, showing us that cruelty emerges from
many sources, expected as well as unexpected, from sources
known and unknown, and has the ability to embolden its
perpetrators with a thirst for increased power which allows
them to perpetuate their cycle of terror and abuse."
--Kathy S. Leonard
This anthology includes a preface by renowned author Ana Marķa Shua, bigraphical information about each writer which bring the stories into a culturally relevant context, and an extensive bibliography making it ideal for classroom use.
Editor and translator Kathy S. Leonard is a Spanish professor at Iowa State University. She has been awarded numerous grants throughout her career to pursue her academic interests. Leonard has published numerous articles, translations and books including Between Fire and Ice: Short Fiction by Women from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru (1996).