The 4 Most Frequent Latin American Boom Topics

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Sherman Hoover

The Latin American boom themes more recurrent were a depiction of social conflicts, violence, repression or racism, "sweetened" with fantasy (or magical realism) and romanticism. A fusion of the real, the ideal and the fantastic. 

This trend emerged in the 1960s, being a cultural revolution marked by the urgency of creating avant-garde literature that was influential in all corners of the world..

Among the most representative writers of this time are: Mario Vargas Llosa with the work The city and the Dogs; Julio Cortázar with Hopscotch; Carlos Fuentes with the Death of Artemio Cruz and Gabriel García Márquez with the work One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Most recurring themes of the Latin American boom

1- Social, political, economic and social conflicts

The writers who belong to the Latin American boom created their stories of the reality of their peoples, becoming the voice of an entire continent.

They took the social, political, economic and racial conflicts to mix them with the myths and legends of each region, giving the writing a touch of fantasy and dream, hence the magical realism.

2- Politics and social repression

The politics and form of government of the time marked many of the literary arguments, reflecting authoritarian, totalitarian or dictatorial mandates; massacres of indigenous people and the excessive power of the military and the oligarchy.

3- Love and violence

The novels of the literary boom have one characteristic in common; they talk about love, violence and politics; linking the story in a clear way, facing the fear of relating the current social reality.

4- Fantasy

Fantasy was an intrinsic part of this literary trend.

To recreate it, the authors took words used in popular slang, creating puns or monologues in a dreamlike way, with flashes of fantasy and fiction..

At the same time they partially or totally eliminated the punctuation marks, so that the reader can make their own interpretation of the story.

The writers of the Latin American boom managed through their works to broaden the sense of reality through fiction, allowing readers to identify with the protagonists and recognize the places to which the work refers.

Literary style of the Latin American boom

The literary style of these writers allows to leave behind the strict rules of literature, developing originality and creativity, giving a new air to writing with special characteristics that enchant, catapulting the works to demanding readers around the world..

Some of the most prominent features were:

-The mixture of different narrative techniques was used in a work such as non-linear time, since the story can be started at the end, going back and forth in time.

-Circularity using the same words from the beginning to the end of the story.

-Polyphony by repeatedly including the different ideas of the participants in the novel, reaching a central point.

References

  1. Characteristics. (s.f.). Obtained from caracteristicas.co.
  2. Parra, R. (2017). ABOUT SPANISH. Obtained from aboutespanol.com.
  3. Perozo, J. C. (2015). we learn today.com. Obtained from queaprendemoshoy.com.
  4. Ramos, A. (2017). el Diario.es. Retrieved from revistadon.com.
  5. Rodrigo, I. M. (2017). ABC culture- books. Obtained from abc.es.
  6. Week. (2012). Obtained from Semana.com.

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