La felicidad.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

La felicidad (Happiness) is Agosin's first collection of stories. Like her poetry, her fiction cuts to the quick, exposing the filth as well as the goodness within the human soul. In "Esclavas" ("Slaves"), she mocks the abusive upper classes--self-satisfied, cruel, and blind to their own vulgarity--who writhe with envy when confronted with the psychic energy and moral freedom of the masses. In the charming story "La costurera de San Petersburgo" ("The Seamstress of Saint Petersburg"), she evokes the grace and simplicity of her own grandmother. Likewise, in "Los muertos" ("The Dead"), she evokes her Russian-born ancestors, ghosts who comfort and console her. In the image of the mother conversing softly with her dead son, which dominates this story, Agosin captures the depth and intensity of maternal love, which transcends even death. Rather than a celebration of her own ethnicity, "Los muertos" is an...