De monos y hombres

Due to its physical constitution, its aptitude for imitation and its relative willingness to train, the monkey has always been present in human societies, seen as a curiosity or an ornament, almost a joke. But, since Darwin's theories scientifically based our kinship in the mid-nineteenth century, he acquired an unexpected, dramatic dimension, the object of all kinds of fables, ironies and nightmares. Marta Salís has brought together in this anthology seventeen stories that perfectly illustrate this evolution from a funny and presentable pet to an often obscure symbol of our animal nature. From E. T. A. Hoffmann to Roberto Arlt, through Flaubert, Poe, Lugones, Kafka, Lovecraft, Vallejo or Dinesen, we see how literature has used primates to ridicule us, surprise us, uncomfortably force our understanding. Sometimes an image of degradation, sometimes a reminder of fatuity, it has also been an excellent pretext to talk about captivity and the excesses of scientific experimentation. Of monkeys and men raises interesting questions, through a series of excellent stories, about how we see ourselves and how we conceive humanity.