yes, they were there, they had arrived…Īs evidenced in the above citation from “The Last Summer,” many of Dávila’s stories feature an actual or metaphorical haunting, but it’s the arrangement of The Houseguest that allows the reader to appreciate fully the interrelatedness of Dávila’s works.

and her eyes perceived a faint shadow beneath the door. yes, there wasn’t the slightest doubt, that’s what it was, they were coming closer, closer, slowly and steadily. Strange sounds, unidentified creatures, and the buried returning to life throughout Dávila’s narratives.Īt nearly six in the evening she heard a light rasping sound, something dragging itself across the floor, barely touching the surface she sat still, without breathing. The monster in the basement is alive and well in Dávila’s “Oscar,” but it’s the details of the pharmacies and doctors that make this story resonate with modern readers, eliciting fears of madness that cannot be conquered by contemporary medicine. He had been shouting for hours, howling, ranting, breaking everything within reach in the cellar, furiously shaking the padlocked iron door, throwing the furniture against it. One of the medicines he took, which calmed him down quite a bit, had run out at the pharmacy, and the doctor had substituted another that had little effect on him. On that day, the sixth of August, Oscar had been unbearable since sunrise. Dávila, whose stories feel both timeless and timely, accomplishes this distress by blending well-known horror tropes with real-world details. The Houseguest by Amparo Dávila, translated by Audrey Harris & Matthew Gleeson, is a collection of stories so haunting and so tinged with the surreal that it reminds the reader of the pleasure of being scared.

The houseguest amparo