A. Monterroso, 81; Writings Included One-Sentence Story

Augusto Monterroso, 81, a Guatemalan author considered to have written the shortest story in the history of literature, died Friday of heart failure in his Mexico City home.

The shortest story believed to exist is Monterroso’s “The Dinosaur,” which reads in its entirety: “When it woke up, the dinosaur was still there.”

Although born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he was a Guatemalan citizen and active opponent of the Guatemalan government and the U.S.-owned United Fruit Co., which operated banana plantations across Central America.

He helped found the intellectual magazine Acento, but left Guatemala in 1944. He lived in Mexico in self-imposed exile until 1996, when he returned to Guatemala to receive the country’s National Literature Award.

In 1959, Monterroso published “Complete Works and Other Stories.” His other books include “The Black Sheep and Other Fables” (1969); “Perpetual Movement” (1972); “All the Rest Is Silence” (1978); “The Letter E: Fragments of a Diary” (1987); and “The Magic Word” (1983).

Monterroso taught literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and in 1988, he received the Aguila Azteca, the highest honor the Mexican government can bestow on foreign dignitaries. He won the Juan Rulfo award for Latin American Literature in 1996.