Latin American Literary Boom

 When i took college Spanish in the early 1970s, we read anthologies of short stories in Spanish. I think some of the writers were surrealists. I can't find reference to these authors and need help. I am not referring to Borges or Lorca, by the way.

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That sounds like you were exposed to a fascinating period of literature! The early 1970s was the peak of the Latin American Literary Boom, a movement that often incorporated elements of the fantastic, the absurd, and the dreamlike—often categorized as Magical Realism or influenced by Surrealism—in short story collections that were highly popular in college courses.

Since you've excluded Jorge Luis Borges and Federico García Lorca, here are some of the most likely candidates for "surrealist" or fantastic Spanish-language short story writers you might have read in a college anthology during that time:

Key Latin American "Boom" Short Story Writers (1960s-1970s)

The following writers, mainly from Latin America, were major figures whose short fiction often appeared in anthologies and used surreal, fantastic, or absurdist elements:

Julio Cortázar (Argentina)

Why he fits: He is perhaps the most prominent short story writer after Borges in the realm of the fantastic and surreal. His stories frequently involve the blending of reality and fantasy, non-linear narratives, and characters who experience sudden, inexplicable changes.

Key Collections: Bestiario (1951), Final del juego (End of the Game, 1956), and especially Todos los fuegos el fuego (All Fires the Fire, 1966) which was highly influential in the 60s and 70s. Stories like "Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" (about a man who vomits bunnies) are classic examples of this.

Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)

Why he fits: He is the master of Magical Realism, a style that treats fantastical elements as commonplace, which has a strong overlap with Surrealism. His work became internationally famous right around this time with the success of One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).

Key Short Stories (often anthologized): "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (1968) and "Death Constant Beyond Love" (1970).

Juan Rulfo (Mexico)

Why he fits: His stories, particularly in El Llano en llamas (The Burning Plain, 1953), are full of ghosts and dreamlike, death-haunted landscapes, which creates a powerful, often unsettling atmosphere akin to the surreal. His work was a precursor and major influence on the "Boom" writers.

Silvina Ocampo (Argentina)

Why she fits: Known for her disturbing, bizarre, and sometimes cruel short stories that often delve into the uncanny and the grotesque.

Key Collection: La furia (Fury, 1959), which includes stories like "La casa de azúcar" (The Sugar House). She is less well-known than Cortázar or García Márquez but her work definitely fits the surrealist description.

Juan José Arreola (Mexico)

Why he fits: A master of the short, fantastic tale, known for his witty, allegorical, and often absurdist short stories and prose poems.

Key Collection: Confabulario (1952) and Bestiario (1958).

Anthologies to Consider

It is difficult to name the exact anthology you used, as college Spanish departments often created their own readers or used specific academic anthologies. However, the short stories from the authors above were all staples in such collections. You might want to look for anthologies published between the mid-1960s and early 1970s with titles like:

Cuentos de la América Latina (Stories of Latin America)

Antología del cuento hispanoamericano (Anthology of Hispanic American Short Stories)

Narrativa hispanoamericana: el 'boom' (Hispanic American Narrative: The 'Boom')

If you can recall a specific story, title, or editor, it would help narrow down the search!