So at least we have something in common. But Palacio (1906-1947), whose complete works fill a slim volume of about 175 pages that has achieved canonical status in his native land, was a unique figure in Ecuadorian literature. He was, in the words of one critic, a “doomed precursor” of the Latin American literary boom of the mid-to-late twentieth century (Palacio died relatively young, in an asylum).In this short story, a young man decides to play amateur detective and solve a violent crime that has baffled the police. It sounds simple enough, but the tale was way ahead of its time both structurally and thematically, ridiculing what one critic calls “the elitist culture that dominated Ecuador at the end of the 1920s,” and prying into the sexual taboos of ... Oh, never mind. Just read the story and you'll get the idea.When the short story collection featuring “Un hombre muerto a puntapiés" ("The Man Who Was Kicked to Death") appeared in 1927, avant-garde poet Gonzalo Escudero raved about it: “Bitter tales, tart, icy as cocaine ...
