Story a Day. La Guerra Gaucha by Leopoldo Lugones

I was looking over the blog recently and it occurred to me that it might be fun to try my hand at the Story a Day format I had tried with Lugones' Strange Forces and Richard's Charity. I'll start on this by going back to Lugones, this time with La Guerra Gaucha. Unlike Fuerzas Estrañas or Cuentos Fatales, this one is likely of less interest outside Argentina. It is a collection of short stories based on the War of Independence and the montoneras (irregular gaucho cavalry) who fought the Royalist forces in Salta province.

Like much of Lugones', the book appears to have been popular during its time but later relegated to obscurity, though I suspect it has been influential. Fellow Argentine Manuel Mujica Lainez wrote two collections of short stories related to historic events: Aqui Vivieron and Misteriosa Buenos Aires and Uruguyan Eduardo Hughes Galeano relates the entire history of Latin America through anecdotes in his Memory of Fire trilogy.

Planned future projects in the same vein: Silvina Ocampo's La continuación y otras páginas, Thomas Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco, Stephen Millhauser's In the Penny Arcade and possibly a somewhat eviscerated version of Palahniuk's Haunted.