Rene Aviles Fabila. Cuentos de hadas amorosas y otros textos. Mexico City. Fondo de Cultura Economica. 1998. 124 pages. ISBN 968-16-5491-9.
As its title suggests, Rene Aviles Fabila's recent book narrates a series of love affairs. Told in the first person by "Rene," most of these tales describe passionate relationships that end in separation. Although only one story mentions the time frame (the 1960s), the reader surmises that the narrator is relating his amorous adventures during the sexual revolution of that decade.
In "Una ninfa civilizada" Rene falls for a beautiful girl of Lebanese descent, envisioning the two of them in an Oriental idyll, only to find himself rejected when she weds an Arab jeweler. "Una semana de amor" tells of Rene's affair with Yolanda, a comely businesswoman who, it turns out, is married. Rene now realizes that her use of Usted throughout their affair was "una formula para mantener la distancia."
Several stories take place outside Mexico City, where Rene is lecturing on literature. In "Un hada disfrazada de prostituta" he finds himself in a brothel face to face with the local minister of culture, who is also reputed to be a dangerous drug trafficker. Soon thereafter a prostitute from the brothel consoles him in his hotel room. Then, grateful for her visit, Rene sends her a copy of his latest book, which is returned because she had provided him with a "domicilio desconocido."
The eponymous protagonist of "Sally, el hada-huracan" is a Costa Rican woman whom Rene meets while attending a literary conference in San Jose. A nonstop talker and avid sexual partner, Sally visits him briefly in Mexico and then, like a hurricane, vanishes. Similarly, "Dona Ines del alma mia" depicts Rene's affair with an attractive woman in a small Mexican city, but she too disappears after Rene discovers she has another lover.
Despite its light subject matter, the collection is almost devoid of humor and irony. One of the few exceptions is "Un hada posesiva," about Rene's mistress Sofia, who demands all his time and attention, leaving him to conclude, "Estoy verdaderamente aterrado: lo unico que le falta a Sofia es pedir que me divorcie y nunca vuelva a ver a mis hijos." "El autografo" takes place in Monterrey, where Rene signs one of his books, including his telephone number, for a student. The book, it turns out, is destined for the girl's grandmother.
The volume's final segment, titled "Otros textos," presents brief essays and vignettes reminiscent of Borges. One of these lauds Daniel Defoe's Political History of the Devil, where Satan emerges as perhaps the greatest literary character of all time. Another comments on Swedenborg, whose philosophy the author, like Borges, holds in great esteem. Still another text imagines God to be "harto de soledad" for lack of communication with others.
Despite his somewhat monotonous narratives of sexual encounters with abrupt endings, Aviles Fabila earns high marks for his stylistic elegance.
George R. McMurray
Colorado State University
Source Citation: McMurray, George R. "SPANISH. Rene Aviles Fabila. Cuentos de hadas amorosas y otros textos." World Literature Today. 73.2 (Spring 1999): p303. Literature Resource Center. Gale. New York Public Library. 2 Jan. 2010 <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=nypl>.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A55074294
