Everyone has heard of Stephen King, Charles Bukowski or Mark Twain. Everyone has read “The Lord of the Rings” or “50 Shades of Grey” (yes, putting these books in one line was wrong). But what comes to your mind when we say “Latin America writers?” Tumbleweed?
Today a team of professional writers from PaperCheap is going to fill in the blanks.
Believe it or not, but Latin America also has produced literary giants, writers, and essayists whose arresting styles and strong political sentiments have led to an unprecedented “boom”.
Carlos Fuentes
It is arguably Mexico’s most acclaimed novelist. He was one of the most admired widely-read Latin American contemporary writers. The son of a Mexican diplomat, Carlos Fuentes became a prolific essayist, critic, political analyst and columnist as well as a diplomat himself in the 1960s. Along with his friend and fellow novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fuentes drew worldwide attention to Latin American literature when this was extremely outspoken and at one time was denied entry into the United States because he was considered the communist sympathizer.
His work is characterized by strong critiques of the social and political inequality found in Mexico and the rest of Latin America at large. His characters often start off as idealists who over time are either destroyed by the system or themselves become a part of it. A prime example of this is “The Death of Artemio Cruz”. The novel follows the titular character as he lies on his deathbed, reflecting on his life from the childhood and Mexican Revolution to his rise to become one of the country’s most powerful business tigers.
Using multiple narrators, flashbacks, and spanning decades, the novel is comparable to a Mexican version of Citizen Kane. Through this non-traditional biography, Cruz comes to symbolize the Mexico of the 20th century and beyond as a country seemingly unable to escape the demons of its past, no matter how many reforms and reinventions one attempts to undertake.
Carlos Fuentes was known for his dashing mustache and his admiration of beautiful women. But his biggest passion was writing. Hours before being taken to hospital where he died of apparent heart complications, Fuentes wrote an essay on the impact of the change of government in France. Until the very end, he had something to say.
The death of Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes marked a significant moment in Latin American literature. Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez along with Peru’s Mario Llosa and Argentina’s Julio Cortazar spearheaded the 1960’s Latin American Boom. So, we could not help but mention the name of the most influential author of Latin America.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When it comes to Latin American writers who have gained fame among non-Spanish speakers, one name stands out above all others – Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His works, which include “100 Years of Solitude” and “Life in the Time of Cholera,” are dense highly energetic epics that deal with the history and war of his native Columbia. He is often cited as being the author responsible for bringing a particularly Latin version of magical realism to an international audience.
He was born beneath the sign of the tropics and the Atlantic Ocean. In 1982 the Nobel Prize committee paid tribute to the author of the worldwide masterpiece. This obstinate storyteller who will make any sacrifice to be able to write, created in “100 Years of Solitude” a new vision of the world – Macondo, a small Caribbean village yet at the same time a whole continent.
The Colombian novelist credited with introducing the world to a genre called magic realism began his career as a journalist. Gabriel Garcia Marquez said that his novels were based on real-life experiences which were far more bizarre than anything he could invent. He was also passionate about politics; he was a committed leftist and a close friend of Fidel Castro. While Marquez defended the Cuban Revolution, he often interceded to obtain the release of political prisoners, particularly, intellectuals.
Gabrielle Garcia Marquez will nevertheless be long remembered for being not only the biggest exponent of magic realism but for having ignited a fascination with Latin American literature that will long outlive him.
Julio Cortazar
Argentine novelist, short story writer, Cortazar influenced an entire generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers across the globe and was one of Latin America’s most important political figures supporting Castro in Cuba. He had a passion for boxing, theater, and music, all of which are deeply intertwined in his stories. Though he is known above all as a modern master of the short stories, Cortazar’s four novels (“The Winners”, “A model kit”, etc.) have explored the basic question about the man in society.
We could not help but mention the role of his wife, Karel, in his life story. At the end of the 1990s, they both get really sick, and the doctor said they only have a few years left to live. This is where the story gets really amazing. They decided to embark on an incredible road trip which is absurd, and unlike any road trip you have ever heard of – a timeless adventure. They took their minivan which they lovingly called “Dragon”, pack it up with their typewriters, wine, and camera, and drove from Paris to Marseilles. This is usually a 10-hour trip if you did it straight, but they did it in 33 days. They stopped at every single rest spot along the way and treated it like a new exploration of the world.
During this road trip, they have written a whole book – “The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute”. In two months after they finished the journey, Karel dies. After this tragic Julio has never written fiction again.
