Cristina Peri Rossi is one of the most acclaimed and personal voices in Hispanic letters. This volume of short stories, "Panic Signs," first published in 1970 in Montevideo, Uruguay, presages the atrocities that would come with dictatorship in 1972. The premonitory dimension is one of the striking characteristics in all the stories—a sense of impending catastrophe, sometimes hallucinatory and often graphic, leads us to undetermined places where the horrors of censorship, torture, and human bondage take place. At the same time, the stories expose the shackles that incapacitate us and deny us the acceptance of ourselves. This elegy for freedom mourns the loss of liberty and justice while seducing us into questioning what we hold true. The metaphorical procession of images, and the craftsmanship of a narrative that continually engage us, motivate us to explore our own uncertainties and values, and offer an unquestionable opportunity to reassess today's global conditions. Peri Rossi succeeds in creating a whirlwind of despair and self-discovery, impelling us to assess our own panic signs and so avoid being entrapped by those who hold power over us. The translation of this powerful text will help English-speaking readers attain a more profound understanding of the complexities of Latin America's cultural and socio-political issues.
Author
Uruguayan novelist, poet, and author of short stories. Considered a leading light of the post-1960s period of prominence of the Latin-American novel, she has written more than 37 works. She was born in Montevideo, Uruguay but was exiled in 1972, and moved to Spain, where she became a citizen in 1975. As of 2005[update] she lives in Barcelona, where she continues to write fiction and works as a journalist. She studied at the University of the Republic.
