Blood Pact and Other Stories

"The last time our office got a new budget was way back in nineteen twenty-something, when most of us were still struggling with geography and fractions." So opens Mario Benedetti's 1949 story, "The Budget." "A new budget is any government bureau's highest aspiration." Alas, some things never change.

Benedetti's most recent collection of short stories reflects his long and distinguished belletristic career. Author of more than 50 published works that include poetry, fiction, drama, literary and cultural criticism, and political journalism, Benedetti demonstrates an impressive range. Dialogue-driven narratives and graceful soliloquies appear alongside his early work, which heaves ironic sighs against bureaucratic incompetence, and the contemporary work dealing with political tyranny. Although 15 different translators are at play here (the collection spans four decades), Benedetti's supremely cool, ironic voice is transposed seamlessly onto the contemporary consciousness.