Los objetos en varios cuentos de Humberto Salvador

Abstract

The author looks at La navaja y otros cuentos by Humberto Salvador, a collection of urban short stories which critique inequalities and the dehumanizing effect of modern society. Diverse objects are used metaphorically (razors, flashlights, cars, etc.), against the alluded dehumanization and isolation, generating at least one bond between humans: violence. The relationships between the privilege social classes and marginal individuals –whose possibilities for resistance or revenge are always left to chance–, are gloomy. These are highly connotative stories, full of surprise and open endings, which maintain a hopeful and lucid tone despite the weight of social criticism. The author depicts Salvador as not only an associate of vanguardist Pablo Palacio, but also as the forerunner of the usage of certain ideas in the nation’s new fiction.