''Animal World'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

original title: ''Mundo animal'', 1953) is a collection of short stories written by

Antonio di Benedetto Antonio di Benedetto (2 November 1922 – 10 October 1986) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer and journalist. Career Di Benedetto began writing and publishing stories in his adolescence, inspired by the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and ...

, with hallucinatory animal transformations by the internationally acknowledged

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

master.

Summary

Written in conversational and even intentionally awkward language, they present a confused and troubled narrator, who, tormented by mysterious gnawings of guilt, becomes involved in some obscure way with an animal or whole group of animals. They invade his soul, drive him to rage or deliver him from his obsession. Often the story hinges on a pun, a distorted folktale, or an illogical association. While not spectacular in itself, each story adds to the preceding to create a growing sense of doom. Thus story by story the reader becomes ensnared in a horrifying, hallucinatory realm of associations.

Editions

* Translated from

H. E. Francis Herbert Edward Francis Jr. (January 11, 1924 – February 2, 2024) was an American scholar, academic and writer. Life and career Herbert Edward Francis was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, on January 11, 1924. He studied at the University of Wisco ...

, with an Afterword by

Jorge García-Gómez Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios' ...

Grand Terrace, CA Grand Terrace is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 12,040 at the 2010 census, up from 11,626 at the 2000 census. Grand Terrace is located between Highgrove and Colton, along the I-215 and Agua ...

Xenos Books The Borgo Press was a small publishing company founded by Robert Reginald in 1975 funded by the royalties gained from his first major reference work, ''Stella Nova: the contemporary science fiction authors'' (1970). That same year Reginald met Ma ...

. (paper), 138 p. ith cover art by Peter Zokosky.">Peter_Zokosky.html" ;"title="ith cover art by Peter Zokosky">ith cover art by Peter Zokosky.

References

{{Reflist Argentine short story collections 1953 short story collections