My Documents: Stories (Paperback)
The landmark first story collection from internationally acclaimed author Alejandro Zambra, “burning brighter than most anything we’d call exceptional, yesterday or today and in any language” (NPR)—now reissued by Penguin with five bonus stories
An early desktop computer becomes the third partner in a doomed relationship, and a receptacle for hundreds of files of music, images, and writing of questionable quality. A man attempts to quit smoking in spite of the fact that he’s very good at it. Pinochet’s dictatorship looms large over classroom instruction, and men in relationships—cruel, tender, brutal, sympathetic—exhibit their profound capacity for both love and harm.
Every facet of Chilean life, from religion and romance to technology, soccer, and solitude, becomes fresh and uncannily captivating in this unforgettable book of short fiction from internationally acclaimed author Alejandro Zambra. Intimate and playful, provocative and profound, and brilliantly rendered by National Book Award-winning translator Megan McDowell, My Documents a testament to the necessity of literature even—and especially—in times of crisis.
An early desktop computer becomes the third partner in a doomed relationship, and a receptacle for hundreds of files of music, images, and writing of questionable quality. A man attempts to quit smoking in spite of the fact that he’s very good at it. Pinochet’s dictatorship looms large over classroom instruction, and men in relationships—cruel, tender, brutal, sympathetic—exhibit their profound capacity for both love and harm.
Every facet of Chilean life, from religion and romance to technology, soccer, and solitude, becomes fresh and uncannily captivating in this unforgettable book of short fiction from internationally acclaimed author Alejandro Zambra. Intimate and playful, provocative and profound, and brilliantly rendered by National Book Award-winning translator Megan McDowell, My Documents a testament to the necessity of literature even—and especially—in times of crisis.
Alejandro Zambra is the author of ten books, most recently Chilean Poet and Multiple Choice. The recipient of numerous literary prizes, as well as a New York Public Library Cullman Center fellowship, he has published fiction and essays in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. He lives in Mexico City.
Megan McDowell (translator) is the winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Translation and the recipient of a 2020 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among other awards. She has been nominated four times for the International Booker Prize.
Megan McDowell (translator) is the winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Translation and the recipient of a 2020 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among other awards. She has been nominated four times for the International Booker Prize.