The Third Bank of the River contains twenty-two stories that average around ten pages in length. Reversing the Latin American inclination toward prolixity, toward using many words to say relatively simple things, Guimarães Rosa had abruptly altered his style and undertaken to accomplish the opposite. For while the stories of The Third Bank of the River are on the surface modest, unplotted sketches, they are infused with a tone of mysticism which suggests insights and meanings that project far beyond their immediate scope. In this fashion the author now proposed to communicate a great deal within a simple and concise form.

This may well be the key to interpreting the last stage in Guimarães Rosa's development. These stories were composed, the author tells us, following a serious illness suffered in 1958. Apparently he nearly died. The change in his style is somehow related to this crisis….

Synthesis...