Compiled and designed by: Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
Latin American Literature: A discussion: —
The post-discovery era of America by Columbus, helped many colonial powers to establish their settlements in South America after 1492. These settlers include Spanish, Portuguese, and many other European colonists. Generally, a question may arise in our mind. Why is the term Latin America used? As an answer of this question it can be said that the languages of the countries belonging to this canon, have been originated with the Latin Language. Latin America includes the countries like Sao, Paulo, Mexico City, Bueno Aries, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Lima, Monterrey etc.
The Literature of Latin America or Latin American Literature is replete with both oral and written literature. This literature includes mainly Spanish and Portuguese languages. Some Indigenous languages (The language spoken by the people of Alaska Nunavut) are also used to write. This literature has been prominent during 20th Century. It came into the lime-light with the Latin American Boom Movement.
Boom Movement: —Each and every canon of literature is followed by a literary movement. Latin American literature is of no exception. Boom Movement is a literary movement associated with novel. It was prevalent in 1960s and 1970s. This movement was greatly influenced by European and North American Modernism and Latin American Vanguardia Movement. Writer like Julio Cortazár (Argentina), Mario Vargos Losa (Peru), Gabriel Garcia Márquez (Columbia) were the pioneer of this movement.
Genres: — (Novel)—As mentioned earlier, this movement was associated with novel. The novelist like Márquez, invented a new genre in literature. Earlier that was in painting. That is none other than Magic realism. This is a certain kind of genre which portrays the realistic view of the modern world with the blend of magical phenomenon. The term is oxymoronic in nature. Actually, the term has been derived from the German term Magischer Realismus. It refers to a painting style known as Neue Sachlichkeit (New objectivity). There should have been fantastic
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-V: PAPER- C11T (Latin American Literature)
Compiled and designed by: Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
elements in real world setting. So, the natural and supernatural elements coexist in this kind of novels. Márquez’s seminal novel One Hundred Years of Solitude falls in this category. For this novel he was awarded with the Nobel prize in literature in 1982.
Julio Cortazár’s novel Hopscotch is considered to be a milestone in Latin American Literature. The novel deals with the problem of reading and falling into a gap that opens between the differing worlds. Critics opine that the book can be read from any page to get the message of the book. There is no magic but a myriad such possibilities in Hopscotch, which led to a ‘boom’ in Spanish American literature. Some other novels of this canon are Mario Vargos Losa’s Change of Skin, Guillermo Cabrera infante’s (Cuban) Three Trapped Tigers. Laura Esquivel from Mexico deals with the crisscrossing lines of personal narration superimposing the domestic problems upon the history of a nation. In this way all the novelists of this canvas are unique in their own way.
Poetry: — The poetry is another genre to mention in case of Latin American Literature. As the name suggests the poetry should be mainly written in Spanish and Portuguese language. But interestingly enough this ouvre includes the languages like Mapuche, Nahuatl, Quechua, Mazatec, Zapotecs, Ladino, English and Spanglish. Many valuable poems were written in Latin America since pre-colonial era or colonial era. But it was given the universal importance in the 20th Century. A rough division of Latin American Poetry may be made like the following:
i. Pre-Columbian poetry: Aztec poetry in Nahuatl language. ii. The poetry of Colonial Era: This kind of poems are satiric and romantic in nature. There was Ballad also. iii. The 19th Century Poetry: It rejected the long ballad of the past and meditated in short modern poems iv. The 20th Century poetry: This kind of poems focus on multi-culturalism and multilingualism
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-V: PAPER- C11T (Latin American Literature)
Compiled and designed by: Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
v. Latin American Women poets: Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (the first Latin American poet to be awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1945)
The canon of Latin American Literature consists of a wide range of poetry. It is, as discussed earlier, very tough to discuss it in a very nut shell. However, among the luminous stars of this constellation Peru’s César Vallego was a prominent writer. But very unfortunately he has not been paid due respect. Vallego wrote on the theme of protest. He depicted the sorrows and suffering of his people. As a result, he was brutally tortured by the then politics. His mission in life was querer. In English the term means “wanting” and “loving”.
Latin American poetry got a special charm and dimension by the poetry of Pablo Neruda. He was like Vallego in every way. But Neruda’s uniqueness lies in style. Neruda’s poetry transcends borders and boundaries. He became a universal voice in the 20th Century. His, poems, especially the love poems have been universal ones. The following line from one of his love poems bears that example:
“I want
to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees”.
His sentiments with the Spanish civil war made him a public hero. Neruda is also remembered for his life-long commitment to the Communist Party. All his poems got a grand success except The Episode (a poem addressed to stalin).
Some of Neruda’s contemporaries were Sara de Ibanéz, Octavio Paz and others.
All these Latin American writers, irrespective of prose and poetry, were radical by nature. To create or versify was not their sole aim. They were dedicated to a cause. Many of them were directly associated with political movement. It is needless to say that the universal approach of their writing was really remarkable. That is why the cache of this literature has been decorated with the prestigious Nobel prize for more than once.
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-V: PAPER- C11T (Latin American Literature)
Compiled and designed by: Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
Reference:
1. Batra, Shakti, Three contemporary poets (A critical study) 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_literature 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_poetry
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-V: PAPER- C11T (Latin American Literature)