21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

PRESENTATION
 Consist of oral & written literature in several languages
(Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas as well as
literature of the United States written in the Spanish language)
 Rose to particular prominence globally during the second half
of the 20th century, largely due to the international success of
the style known as magical realism. As such, the region's
literature is often associated solely with this style, with the
20th Century literary movement known as Latin American
Boom, and with its most famous exponent, Gabriel García
Márquez. Latin American literature has a rich and complex
tradition of literary production that dates back many
centuries.
Pre-Columbian Literature
• Primarily oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans

Colonial literature
• When Europeans encountered the New World, early
explorers and conquistadores produced written
accounts and crónicas of their experience, such as
Columbus's letters or Bernal Díaz del Castillo's
description of the conquest of Mexico
Nineteenth-century literature ("foundational
fictions“)
• Novels in the Romantic or Naturalist traditions that
attempted to establish a sense of national identity,
and which often focused on the indigenous question
or the dichotomy of "civilization or barbarism“
• Additionally, a gradual increase in women's
education and writing during the 19th century
brought more women writers to the forefront
Modernismo was an end of
Nineteenth and early
Twentieth-century Latin-
American literary
Modernismo and Boom precursors
movement, best exemplified
by Rubén Darío. • Emerged in the late 19th century
• A poetic movement whose founding text was the
Nicaraguan Rubén Darío's Azul (1888).
• Had been the renovation of poetic from & techniques,
extending to the use of free verse.
• The first Latin American literary movement to
influence literary culture outside of the region, and
was also the first truly Latin American literature, in
that national differences were no longer so much at
issue.
• In early twentieth century, saw the rise of
indigenismo, a movement dedicated to representing
indigenous culture and the injustices that such
communities were undergoing
• The Argentine Jorge Luis Borges invented what was
almost a new genre, “the philosophical short story”
• Also vanguadria, literally fore-guard
• Next artistic movement after Modernismo which
instituted a radical search for new, daring,
confrontational themes and shockingly novel forms
• People & works have become experimental
• It is to push boundaries of what is accepted as the
norm or status quo
The Boom
• After World War II, Latin America enjoyed increasing
economic prosperity, and a new-found confidence also gave
rise to a literary boom.
• Was a period of literary flourishing in the 1960s and 70s
that brought much of the area’s literature to an
international audience. Famous Boom authors include
Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, Mario Vargas
Llosa, and Gabriel García Márquez.
• Boom writers ventured outside traditional narrative
structures, embracing non-linearity and experimental
narration.
• Launched Latin American literature onto the world stage,
it was distinguished by daring and experimental novels
• Emir Rodríguez Monegal published his influential Latin
American literature monthly Mundo Nuevo (with excerpts of
unreleased novels from then-new writers such as Guillermo Cabrera Infante
or Severo Sarduy, including two chapters of Gabriel García Márquez's Cien
años de soledad in 1966) which was one of the Boom's defining
novels, which led to the association of Latin American
literature with magic realism.
Post-Boom and contemporary literature
• Sometimes characterized by a tendency towards
irony and towards the use of popular genres
• Some writers felt the success of the Boom to be a
burden, and spiritedly denounced the caricature that
reduces Latin American literature to magical
realism.
• Other writers have traded on the Boom's success: see
for instance Laura Esquivel's pastiche of magical
realism in Como agua para chocolate.
• Contemporary literature in the region is vibrant and
varied, ranging from the best-selling Paulo Coelho
and Isabel Allende to the more avant-garde and
critically acclaimed work of writers such as Diamela
Eltit & Giannina Braschi.
1. The Fantastic — odd, remarkable or bizarre;
grotesque and highly unbelievable or unrealistic
events occur in fiction. The Fantastic tests and
often bends the limits of reality. Authors most often
associated with the “Fantastic” are Borges and
Cortázar.
2. Magical realism — there is argument between
those who see magical realism as a Latin American
invention and those who see it as the global product
of a postmodern world
— when magical or supernatural
elements are introduced into an otherwise realistic
fictional setting; magical realism will depict believable
settings, characters, and circumstances, but the
supernatural or magical is incorporated into the fiction.
Carpentier coined the term “lo real maravilloso.”
Authors associated with magical realism include Garcia
Marquez, Carpentier, and Esquivel (especially Like
Water for Chocolate).
3. Social realism — dark and often depressing
depictions of life in Latin America; sometime the
literature reflects the violent history of the region:
“Torrents of blood.” Authors associated w/social realism
are Novas Calvo, Rulfo, and Arias.

4. Female discourse — fiction that makes its main

theme gender role as it critiques marianismo and
machismo in Latin American society. Authors
associated w/female discourse or feminist themes
include Allende, Castellanos. and Ferré.
 Surrealism is often confused with magical
realism as they both explore illogical or non-realist
aspects of humanity and existence.
Surrealism "is most distanced from magical
realism [in that] the aspects that it explores are
associated not with material reality but with the
imagination and the mind, and in particular it attempts
to express the 'inner life' and psychology of humans
through art." It seeks to express the sub-conscious,
unconscious, the repressed and inexpressible. Magical
realism, on the other hand, rarely presents the
extraordinary in the form of a dream or a psychological
experience.
• Labyrinth — Borges’ fiction relies upon this theme.
Many of his characters are caught in strange mazes
or webs of lies. Sometimes, Borges’ charters’ actions
cause them to be trapped in a place or time, repeating
the same bad decisions endlessly.
• Eternal Recurrence of All Things — Borges borrows
from Nietzsche’s concept: the eternal recurrence of
all things means that everything that has happened
in the past will happen again; only characters who
are capable of self-knowledge can learn not to repeat
the mistakes of the past.
Reader participation —Cortázar’s characters are more
often social outcasts: the circus freak, lunatics, even
some delusional characters people Cortazar’s fiction.
Instead of the author having omniscience (being all-
knowing), Cortázar invites readers to construct the
meaning of his work. In the case of Rayuela/Hopscotch
(a novel), readers are encouraged to read chapters in a
non-linear fashion. Whether a reader wants to read
from the middle of the novel or from the last chapter to
the first (backwards), each reader will experience a
different story.
Open doors — rather than placing characters in a maze,
Cortázar risks their lives; some are murderers, some
are insane, and others are suicidal.
Sudden jolts — the unexpected is bound to happen in
Cortázar’s fiction. In an effort to shake readers from
passivity and complacency, Cortázar wants readers to
feel shocked and surprised when we read his stories.
The conclusion of “Continuity of Parks” is particularly
surprising as readers are suddenly transported into the
narrator’s chair. (How so?)
1. Jorge Luis Borges (Argentine, 1899-1986)
• Author of Ficciones, El Aleph
• The most eminent Latin American author of any
century, because to read him is to activate an
awareness of literature in which he has gone farther
than anybody else. (According to literary critic Harold Bloom)
• Borges’ work is aesthetic; this means he writes with
the intention of contributing to the world of
literature. As such, his fiction can be viewed as
“art for art’s sake.”
• Credited for developing and advancing the
“fantastic” style in the region
• His short stories frequently present his reader with a
dizzying array of libraries, labyrinths, and mirrors.
• “Is an admirable writer pledged to destroy reality
and convert man into a shadow.” (description of Ana
Maria Barrenchea)
2. Gabriel García Márquez (Columbian)
• Novelists that’s perhaps the most prominent author to
emerge from Latin America in the 20th century
• Author of the Cien Años de Soledad (1967), one of the most
important works in world literature of the 20th century
• Won the Nobel Prize for Literature 1982
• Márquez’s magical realist world blends beautifully the
magically quotidian (ice, magnets) with everyday magic
(divine ascensions, raining flowers)
3. Pablo Neruda (Chilean)
• A poet of 20th century
• “Is the greatest poet of the 20th century, in any language.“
(according to Gabriel García Márquez)
• Won the Nobel Prize for Literature1971
• An outspoken voice in Latin American world politics, a
move which allowed him, in some ways, to alienate
everyone.
• His poetry is famously romantic and erotic, sometimes
importing sensuality to the most quotidian of objects, as
seen in works like “Ode to the Apple.
• Neruda’s politics made him an exile from his native Chile,
and he recounted his dramatic escape in his Nobel lecture.
4. Octavio Paz
• Mexican writer and poet
• Won the Nobel Prize for Literature1990
• Author of the The Labyrinth of Solitude
• Hist poetry often explores solitude and sensuality as
well as language and silence.
5. Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980)
• great stylistic contribution to Latin American literature
was his magical realism, called lo real maravilloso, which
reflects the fantastic, and often otherworldly, properties of
Latin American life
• Embraces the extreme as never too far from the truth
• His novel The Kingdom of this World depicts the Haitian
uprising in which African slaves rebel against their French
colonial rulers.
6. Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)
• Her poetry captures not only the wide political themes of
Latin American identity and progress, but also the intimate
spheres of loss, grief, and motherhood.
• She remains the only female Latin American author to win
the Nobel Prize 1945.
7. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)
• His books reflect a constant political striving,
interrogating the ideals of revolution, power, equality,
justice, and violence.
• Author of The Death of Artemio Cruz, that happily
utilizes the tools of multiple narration and interior
monologue.
8. Isabel Allende (b. 1947)
• A post-Boom author
• Her novels frequently blend myth and reality. She draws
from the fount of magical realism that has long helped
capture the Latin American experience.
• As a reporter, she was able to get an interview with Pablo
Neruda, who told her that she had too much imagination
for a journalist. He suggested that she begin writing novels
instead. As a result, her literary career has a semi-
accidental nature. If it wasn’t for outside encouragement,
and a letter to her dying grandfather (that developed into
The House of the Spirits, her first book), who knows how
long her career would have been delayed. Today, she is
regarded as a Latin American treasure and figure of world
culture. She has appeared in Olympic ceremonies, won
Chile’s National Literature Prize, and won a Presidential
Medal of Freedom
Britannica.com
myblog.worpress.com
Wikipedia
bookstellyouwhy.com
telegraph.com