Atmosphere. Or, a story’s ability to create a certain mood, maintain tension, and create an emotional setting. Manuel Muñoz’s story “Susto” can be translated as “fright” in English, but in a Mexican context it can imply a deeper, stronger trauma. The story centers around a working class community and a foreman who lives in the town who comes across the body of a dead man who has materialized. A fairly straightforward plot line or narrative, but what draws the reader in and creates the atmosphere or mood of the story is Muñoz’s style: elegant and lucid, existing in a liminal space between hyperreality and gothic superstitions. This is a story crafted with patience and attention to detail, not a single word is wasted or extraneous. Atmosphere can be closely related and effect genre, but when considered and crafted with attention to style the story can transcend genre and become something more unique and, in the case of ‘Susto,’ more haunting.
First published in Freeman’s, California, 2019. Collected in The Consequences, Graywolf Press 2022
A Personal Anthology 