E-Book Overview
Regina Rheda is a contemporary award-winning Brazilian writer whose original voice and style have won her many admirers. First World Third Class and Other Tales of the Global Mix presents some of her finest and most representative work to an English-speaking readership. Stories from the Copan Building consists of eight tales set in a famous residential building in S?o Paulo. The stories, like the apartment complex, are a microcosm of modern-day urban Brazil. They are witty, consistently caustic, and never predictable. Also in this volume is the poignant and often hilarious novella First World Third Class. It depicts young middle-class professionals and artists who, as opportunities in Brazil diminished, opted to leave their country, even if it meant taking menial jobs abroad. At the center of the narrative is Rita, a thirty-year-old aspiring filmmaker who migrates to England, and then Italy. She looks for work and love in all the wrong places, moving from city to city and from bed to bed. The last three stories in this collection also happen to be among the author's most recent. "The Enchanted Princess" is an ironic title for a postfeminist tale of a South American woman being wooed to marry an old-world gentleman who promises to take care of her every need. "The Sanctuary" concerns the living conditions of immigrant workers and farm animals. Equally piquant in nature, "The Front" deals with ecology, labor environments, and gender politics.
E-Book Content
FIRST WORLD THIRD CLASS and Other Tales of the Global Mix
Texas Pan American Literature in Translation Series Danny J. Anderson, Editor
d l r o W t s r Fi s s a l c third and Other Tales of the Global Mix
Regina Rheda Charles A. Perrone, Volume Editor Translated from the Portuguese by Adria Frizzi and REYoung, David Coles, and Charles A. Perrone With an introduction by Christopher Dunn
University of Texas Press
Austin
Copyright © 2005 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2005 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713 –7819. The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso Z39.481992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rheda, Regina, 1957– [Short stories. English. Selections] First world third class and other tales of the global mix / Regina Rheda ; Charles A. Perrone, volume editor ; translated from the Portuguese by Adria Frizzi . . . [et al.] ; with an introduction by Christopher Dunn.—1st ed. p. cm.—(Texas Pan American literature in translation series) isbn 0-292-70648-0 (cloth : alk. paper)—isbn 0-292-70699-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Rheda, Regina, 1957— Translations into English. I. Perrone, Charles A. II. Frizzi, Adria. III. Title. IV. Series pq9698.28.h43a24 2005 869.342 — dc22 2005001637
CONTENTS
Preface
A Regina Rheda Reader— Titles, Subtitles, Versions, Reversions
Acknowledgments Introduction
Stories from the Copan Building (1994) The Neighbor from Hell
PART 2
PART 3
xi
On the Ground in the Global Mix Christopher Dunn
PART 1
vii
xiii 1 3
The Cat Girl
16
Dry Spell
32
The Ghost
35
The Woman in White
45
Girlfriends
61
The Voyeuse
70
The Prostitute
81
First World Third Class (1996)
87
I. Brazil
89
II. England
98
III. Italy
197
A Trio of Tales
237
The Enchanted Princess (1997)
239
The Sanctuary (2002)
243
The Fron