Review of The Sons of Ishmael by George Berguño

An eclectic collection by a master of the short story form, thankfully rescued by Snuggly Books from its former out-of-print state.

The Introduction constitutes a tenth story in the volume, relying on the supremacy of the anecdote to elaborate the author’s mindset. The final section ‘About the Stories’ can be said to fulfill multiple purposes, almost like an eleventh story – the tale of how the author envisioned the other tales.
He is fond of the tale-within-a-tale format. The range of experience is indicative of an individual perspective of a man who has lived a full life.

‘Night Sea Journey to Turku’ is a memorable voyage piece. A lingering obsession, a chance encounter, the regrets of a life spent in pursuit of a ghostly moment. Beautifully rendered and lulling, like the night sea cut through with faint glimmers of stars.
‘Into the Atacama 1899,’ is the story of a conquistador’s descendant who inhabits a desert haunted by a vengeful spirit. An affecting horror story with vibrant subtext.
‘The Devil Only Visits,’ – if you search for the devil, you’ll find him. Set in Chile, a story of spiritual confusion and folkloric power.
‘Colonel Redl’s Knife Sheath’ – an unexpected historical spy story. Lighter entertainment.
‘The Possessed,’ a short masterpiece. A spiritual crisis morphed by guilt, possession, and the horror of bizarre coincidence which may harbor deeper meaning.
‘Orkney Crossing,’ A remarkable sequence of events taking place during casual travel, drawing from the author’s experiences abroad. Perils lie in wait for the curious outsider whose selfish wish to disappear will tempt the locals to abandon him in the belly of a metaphorical dragon.
‘Meyrink’s Gambit,’ – chess, destiny, history, and a near-death experience. A cleverly framed tale featuring a literary legend and a supernatural artist.
‘Doña Ariana’s Glass Foot,’ – a startling short piece making use of straightforward storytelling to infuse a gruesome and absurd plot with legitimately unsettling atmosphere. One impolite gesture results in a shame the protagonist cannot live down. He must enact vengeance on the witness of that shame.
‘A Master Class with Joseph Roth,’ – a languorous story about a fixation with one of Roth’s books. Based on the author’s enthusiasm for the book’s transformative power, the storyteller is literally metamorphosed into the author. The book is posited as an object capable of possessing the reader, of transposing souls. An intriguing premise for a historical piece containing another amusing sideline related to chess.

Many of the stories take place over a lifetime, contain themes related to various forms of death-in-life and characters who change through the years, developing a stronger awareness of self. You might call them Joycean epiphanies, often mingled with supernatural elements.

Within books I admire, I enjoy jotting down the authors referenced within the work, that I might read them later. There were a lot in this one: Zweig, Meyrink, de l’Isle-Adam, George Macdonald, Aeschylus, Kubin, Mann, Aickman, Vernon Lee, Suetonius, Procopius, Lady Sarashina, Schnitzler, Njal’s Saga, Lermontov, Herodotus, Gorky, Joseph Roth, Leo Perutz, Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Juan José Arreola, Bunin, Homer, Pu Songling, Saint John of the Cross, Bierce, and Kharms.

That’s quite a list of influences. The prevailing currents through this work are also present in the author’s other 3 superb short story collections. They are heartily recommended.