Good and Evil and Other Stories
by Samanta Schweblin
Translated by Megan McDowell
Argentine author Samanta
Schweblin is part of a new wave of Latin American weird, speculative and horror
fiction, alongside other authors (including several female and/or queer
writers) such as Mariana Enríquez, Agustina Bazterrica, Mónica Ojeda, Giovanna Rivera and Bernardo Esquinca. However, while it is convenient to group authors into one geographical
school, this often comes at the cost of losing sight of the idiosyncrasies of
the individual authors.
In Schweblin’s case, what strikes me is her ability to create a sinister atmosphere of dread and unease, while barely relying – if at all – on traditional horror or Gothic tropes. Her previous collection to be published in English – Seven Empty Houses – did refashion, in its own way, the trope of the haunted or abandoned house. However, her latest – Good and Evil and Other Stories – avoids altogether traditional monsters, ghouls, and scary settings, and, instead, injects the uncanny into the everyday. In the opening tale, for instance, a young mother tries to kill herself by diving to the bottom of a lake, but then resurfaces to go back to her family, only to feel as if she left a part of herself in the deep waters. In another, a man regularly receives taunting silent prank calls at night, which may be somehow related to his son, with whom he has an awkward relationship blighted by a terrible accident. Elsewhere, two sisters befriend an alcoholic poet at a seaside resort, but their nightly escapades end in tragedy. All six tales in this collection inhabit ‘fever dream’ territory, punctuated with inexplicable happenings, peopled by unnerving characters who flit in and out of the narrative. Ordinary relationships and events are made strange. Family and friends become the backdrop for the horrific. Uncanny elements are often a metaphor for very real and human issues.
The collection is masterfully translated from the original Spanish by the prolific Megan McDowell, responsible for bringing into English earlier works by Schweblin and several other Latin American authors. She authentically conveys the haunted poetry of these magical tales.
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