Ten

Chilean writer Emar (1893–1964) stocks the surreal tales of this freewheeling collection, originally published in 1937, with magical animals and unnerving settings. “The Green Bird” recounts the adventures of a parrot, from when it’s plucked out of the Amazon by a French doctor to its death and a shocking moment of violence involving its ghost. In “Damned Cat,” the narrator ventures into the wilderness and has a cosmic encounter with a cat. The narrator of “The Cantera Estate” visits a farm that’s been listed for sale and finds the property suffused with “a marked discontent.” The narrator and two men accompanying him recite the alphabet and the solfège scale in an attempt to restore order to the property, but instead find themselves in a nightmare comprising exploding anthills and sinister ladies with parasols. The story lines zig and zag in unexpected ways and are most effective when readers allow the chaos to wash over them. This dizzying collection will appeal to fans of Kō bō Abe, Lenora Carrington, and Witold Gombrowicz. (Aug.)