Costa Rica: A Traveler's Literary Companion, Vol. 1 Book

I read this book in preparation for a trip to Costa Rica. It was far more enjoyable than a guidebook, although the information it provided was much more subtle. Rather than describing the geography or tourist attractions, it provides an introduction to the Costa Rican soul. And it dos this not by repeating the standard platitudes about friendly, peaceful Ticos that are found in travel brochures, but by immersion in what Costa Rican authors have written for Costa Rican readers.

The book is a selection of about two dozen literary short stories, originally written in Spanish between the 1930s and the 1990s, and translated into English for this volume by a variety of translators with mixed but generally high quality. The result is a collection of stories that is quite diverse in style, time period, and topic; the only things binding them together are the shared national values and spirit that underpin them. Instead of trying to shine a spotlight on a single, uniform national character, this collection reveals the myriad reflections of that character as it is diffracted through a cultural kaleidoscope.

Imagine trying to understand the American spirit by reading stories by Faulkner, Twain, Steinbeck, and Hemingway. The works themselves would vary greatly, but might reveal that Americans like to define themselves in terms of their land, work ethic, and struggles to forge something out of nothing. I don't know Latin American literature well enough to know how many of these authors have the stature of Hemingway, either internationally or in their home country, but the effect is the same. It reveals, at least to me, that Costa Ricans like to define themselves in relation to the plants and animals that live on the land, their work ethic, and struggle to persevere in the face of hardship.