by Horacio Quiroga

Horacio Quiroga (1878-1937) was born in Salto, Uruguay, to an Uruguayan mother and an Argentine father. In 1901 Quiroga published his first book, Coral Reefs, and went on to publish more than 200 stories throughout his career. The writer divided his adult life between the tropical jungle area of Misiones in northeastern Argentina—near the River Plate region where Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay meet—and the urban center of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Many of his short stories are set in the tropical borderlands of Misiones, where he lived and wrote for many years. Not only is Quiroga considered a master of the Latin American short story, but throughout his career he wrote renowned technical and instructional essays about the short story as a genre; his most famous is the “Decalogue of the Perfect Short Story Writer.” Recurring...