Latin American Fiction: Mid-20th Century to Present

Posted on Feb 4, 2025 in Latin

Spanish American Novel and Short Story: Second Half of the 20th Century

From the 1950s and 1960s, the emergence of Latin American fiction in the contemporary literary scene marked a dramatic change in this genre. This change was determined by two key moments:

  1. The emergence of magical realism.
  2. The consolidation of innovations by the Boom generation.

It is important to note that since the 1940s, the Latin American novel has had distinct characteristics that mark all subsequent narratives. These features are:

  • Themes: Presence of existential and social problems and the emergence of magical realism. Magical realism is a concept that refers to the American world, mixing magic and fantasy with the reality of the country.
  • Aesthetic/Form: Prose is very carefully crafted and elaborate.

Key Authors of the Latin American Narrative Revival

The most important authors of this revival of Latin American narrative are Miguel Angel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Luis Borges, and Juan Rulfo. Of these, Jorge Luis Borges is one of the leading figures of world literature. His narrative creations are composed of short stories, which tend to be imaginative games that require an intellectual exercise for the reader. These stories often raise metaphysical issues, as seen in Ficciones. His work achieved international diffusion and became a bestseller. This phenomenon is known as the Boom of the Hispano-American novel.

The novelists of this decade consolidated all the renewals of the previous stage. They were innovative in terms of form and perspective, reflecting reality in their works from very different angles. Thus, we find realistic novels alongside novels that blur the line between reality and fiction.

Characteristics of the “Boom” Novel

  1. Rupture of time and space.
  2. Combination of different narrative perspectives.
  3. Mixture of styles.
  4. Blending of the real and the mythical.
  5. Creation of new terms.
  6. Active participation of the reader.

Key Authors of the Boom Generation

  1. Julio Cortázar (Argentina): Cortázar wrote short stories and novels. His stories often feature puzzles and a strong element of imagination. He is characterized by the pace at which he presents his narratives. One of his notable works is Bestiario.
  2. Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia): Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. His work often takes place in Macondo, a fictional place inspired by reality, where everything that happens is connected to the author’s own life experience. His masterpiece is One Hundred Years of Solitude. This novel presents the story of seven generations of the Buendía family, marked by a prophecy (the last of the Buendía will be a man with a pig’s tail). Some of his other works are Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor.
  3. Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru): The theme of his stories is reality, but he also introduces mythical worlds drawn from his own life and Peru. In his book The Time of the Hero (originally published as The City and the Dogs), all these issues appear. Other titles include The Feast of the Goat and The Bad Girl. His literary production has three basic aspects: autobiographism, a totalizing ambition to embrace reality, and the intention to transform reality into poetry.

Contemporary Latin American Narrative

The richness and variety of Latin American narrative continue today. Its writers are authors with extensive work and high standards, enjoying wide international circulation. Additionally, new authors have appeared whose work has been supported by critics. Among them, we can mention Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate.