Ana Lydia Vega, True and False Romances

Abstract

The collection of short stories entitled True and False Romances: Stories and a Novella is the first collection of works by Puerto Rican writer Ana Lydia Vega to be published in English. It brings together several short stories and one novella from her last three works in Spanish: Encancaranublado y Otros Cuentos de Naufragio (1997), Pasión de Historia y Otras Historias de Pasió (1994), and Falsas Crónicas del Sur (1991). The short story “Deliverance from evil” (“Despojo”) comes from her first solo collection, Encancaranublado while the stories “True Romances” (“Pasión de Historia”), “Aerobics for Love” (“Tres aerobicos para el amor”), “Solutions, Inc.” (“Ajustes, S.A”), “Just One Small Detail” (“Caso Omiso”), and “Série Noire” (“Serie negra”) are included in Pasión de historia. The last two short stories, “Consolation Prize” (“Premio de Consolatión”) and “Eye Openers” (“Cuento en Camino”), come from Vega’s last collection, Falsas Crónicas. The work ends with the novella “Miss Florence’s Trunk” (“El baúl de Miss Florence: Fragmentos para un novelón romántico”), which opens her work in Spanish.