Introduction

Critics have sometimes argued that the Latin American short story is the product of a long, oral storytelling tradition. The modern Latin American short story, then, is perceived as a product of indigenous cosmogonies, Old Testament stories, classical mythology and even myths of Discovery propagated by the Spanish colonizers. This vision is symptomatic of a critical position that view the cuento as a timeless and universal form, a position manifested by the insistence that 'everyone, everywhere, has always told stories'. The consistencies and inconsistencies of the short story will be illuminated by the works of three writers: Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortazar and Augusto Monterroso. Another point of intersection is Monterroso's course on the short story at Stanford University, which includes a session on Julio Cortazar, focusing on two famous stories and two theoretical essays. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book.