2006 First Edition of Happy Families by Carlos Fuentes – Hardcover with Dust Jacket

Title: Happy Families
Author: Carlos Fuentes
Translation: Edith Grossman
Genre: Fiction / Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection & Vignettes
Edition: 2006 True First U.S. Edition, First Printing
Publisher: Random House, New York

A FAMILY LIKE ANY OTHER

"The Father. Pastor Pagan knows how to wink. He's a professional at winking. For him, winking an eye - just one - is a way to be courteous. All the people he deals with conclude their business with a wink. The bank manager when he approves a loan. The teller when he cashes a check. The administrator when he hands it to him. The cashier when he plans the fool and doesn't inspect it. The chief's assistant when he tells him to go to the bank. The porter. The chauffeur. The gardener. The maid. Everybody winks at him. Headlights on cars wing, traffic lights, lightning in the sky, grass in the ground, eagles in the air, not to mention the planes that fly over the house of Pastor Pagan and his family the whole blessed day. The feline purr of the engines is interrupted by the winking of the traffic on Avendia Revolucion. Pastor responds to them with his own wink, moved by the certainty that this is dictated by good manners. Now that he's on a pension, he thinks of himself as a professional winker who never opened both eyes at the same time, and when he did, it was already too late. One wink too many, he thinks in self-recrimination, one wink too many. ..."

Crafted by a titan of Latin American boom literature, the overarching narrative is bound together by the complex threads of domestic love, as well as the devastating psychological weight of its failure.

The collection strikes a memorable chord with its opening segment, "A Family Like Any Other," introducing readers to a former working professional named Pastor Pagan. Pastor is a consummate master of the polite gesture who has turned the simple act of winking into a full-time social art form. From the bank managers approving loans to passing transit chauffeurs, the entire world seemingly winks right back at him, to the point that the roaring engines of overhead airplanes and blinking streetlights blend into his habit. Now living quietly on a pension, Pastor looks back in deep self-recrimination, haunted by the realization that he was an individual who never managed to open both eyes at the exact same time before it was far too late.

Author Carlos Fuentes Macías (1928–2012): An internationally acclaimed Mexican novelist, essayist, and diplomat, recognized as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. His extensive bibliography includes major works such as The Death of Artemio Cruz, Aura, and The Old Gringo. During his career, he received the Miguel de Cervantes Prize and the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor, and was frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Translator Edith Grossman (1936–2023): A highly regarded American literary translator known for bringing major Latin American authors to English-speaking readers. She is remembered for her translations of works by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Carlos Fuentes, including a renowned translation of Don Quixote (2003).

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Condition*: Near Fine/Very Good. Dust jacket: Light edge wear; small closed tear, head of the spine. Pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.