Underground River and Other Stories

Cynthia Steele is an associate professor of Romance languages at the University of Washington and the author of Politics, Gender, and the Mexican Novel, 1968–1988: Beyond the Pyramid. Elena Poniatowska, who helped Steele choose these stories, is one of the most renowned of Mexico's new generation of writers. Among her works translated into English are Frida Kahlo: The Camera Seduced, Massacre in Mexico, and Dear Diego.

"Underground River and Other Stories is nothing short of spellbinding. Mostly set in a small town in northwestern Mexico at the beginning of this century, it provides a stunning expression of the erotic perversity found in seemingly ordinary lives. . . . [Arredondo] is one of modern Mexico's most highly regarded writers. Cynthia Steele's able translation, the first appearance of Arredondo's work in English, should secure a new audience for her powerful and distinctive voice."—Jenny McPhee, New York Times Book Review "Essential reading or anybody who can appreciate a writer's genius for expressing passion in every shade of the lexical rainbow. The focus is anguish: a subject which touches every life."—Leslie Cohen, Jerusalem Post "These twelve stories, taken from Inés Arredondo's three short-story collections and chosen shortly before her death in November 1989, are an excellent and appropriate reflection of the range and depth of her work. . . . . The introduction by Cynthia Steele and foreword by Elena Poniatowska offer helpful insights into Arredondo's life and an assessment of her work."—Nuala Finnegan, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies "The fruity, fecund texture of [Arredondo's] prose, as lushly rendered by Cynthia Steele, marks her unmistakably as a writer of the tropics—one, moreover, who employs the wild and elaborate themes of erotic obsession, excessively passionate love, and depravity often associated with that region. . . . Arredondo's strengths will doubtless secure for her a posthumous reputation throughout the Americas equal to the one she already enjoys in Mexico."—Whitney Scott, Booklist"This selection provides a very good introduction to [Arredondo's] work, fascinating stories that open up a vista of decadence and passion, and relate some of the ways in which our rationality can be overruled by our desires. . . . A rare delight for short story lovers."—British Bulletin of Publications