The Masters and Other Stories

Tawfiq Al-Burki

This anthology contains a collection of short stories by writers from Spanish-speaking countries. Some of them enjoy widespread fame in the Arab literary scene, such as the Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar, and the Chilean Isabel Allende, most of whose novels have been translated into Arabic by the brilliant translator Saleh Al-Amani. However, the Arab reader is still unaware of other names that have not received due attention from translators, despite the originality and uniqueness of their works. I specifically refer to the Peruvian writer Julio Ramón Ribeyro and the Dominican Juan Bosch, among others.
This led me to explore new horizons away from what the Arab reader is accustomed to. Thus, I included writers from other countries such as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, so that these selected short stories might offer some added value, without falling into the trap of repeating the same well-known names.