Modern Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction

150 Pages·2012·1 MB·English

by  Roberto González Echevarría

M odern Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction
VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating
and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts and have
been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.
The series began in 1995 and now represents a wide variety of topics in
history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities.The VSI library
now contains 300 volumes—a Very Short Introduction to everything from
ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology—and
will continue to grow in a variety of disciplines.
V ery Short Introductions available now:
ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher ATHEISM Julian Baggini
AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick
Richard Rathbone AUTISM Uta Frith
AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin THE AZTECS Davíd Carrasco
AMERICAN IMMIGRATION BARTHES Jonathan Culler
David A. Gerber BEAUTY Roger Scruton
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES BESTSELLERS John Sutherland
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel THE BIBLE John Riches
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Charles O. Jones Eric H. Cline
ANARCHISM Colin Ward BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw THE BLUES Elijah Wald
ANCIENT GREECE Paul Cartledge THE BOOK OF MORMON
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas Terryl Givens
ANCIENT WARFARE THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea
Harry Sidebottom BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright
ANGELS David Albert Jones BUDDHA Michael Carrithers
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman BUDDHISM Damien Keown
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THE ANGLO SAXON AGE John Blair BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM CANCER Nicholas James
Peter Holland CAPITALISM James Fulcher
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins
ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller THE CELL
THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS Terence Allen and Graham Cowling
Paul Foster THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn CHAOS Leonard Smith
ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
ARISTOCRACY William Doyle Kimberley Reynolds
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long
CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta
CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch
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CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BRITAIN
Helen Morales Paul Langford
CLASSICS THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball
Mary Beard and John Henderson EMOTION Dylan Evans
CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard EMPIRE Stephen Howe
THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon ENGELS Terrell Carver
COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate
LITERATURE Rolena Adorno ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes Stephen Smith
THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince EPIDEMIOLOGY Roldolfo Saracci
CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm ETHICS Simon Blackburn
CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore THE EUROPEAN UNION
CONTEMPORARY ART John Pinder and Simon Usherwood
Julian Stallabrass EVOLUTION
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Brian and Deborah Charlesworth
Simon Critchley EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn
COSMOLOGY Peter Coles FASCISM Kevin Passmore
CRITICAL THEORY FASHION Rebecca Arnold
Stephen Eric Bronner FEMINISM Margaret Walters
THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak
CRYPTOGRAPHY THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Fred Piper and Sean Murphy Michael Howard
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin
Richard Curt Kraus FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
DADA AND SURREALISM David Canter
David Hopkins FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser
DARWIN Jonathan Howard FOSSILS Keith Thomson
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim FOUCAULT Gary Gutting
DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton
DERRIDA Simon Glendinning FREE WILL Thomas Pink
DESCARTES Tom Sorell FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons
DESERTS Nick Middleton THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
DESIGN John Heskett William Doyle
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY FREUD Anthony Storr
Lewis Wolpert FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven
DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone GALAXIES John Gribbin
DINOSAURS David Norman GALILEO Stillman Drake
DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa GAME THEORY Ken Binmore
DOCUMENTARY FILM GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh
Patricia Aufderheide GENIUS Andrew Robinson
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson GEOGRAPHY
DRUGS Leslie Iversen John Matthews and David Herbert
DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds
EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly GERMAN LITERATURE
THE EARTH Martin Redfern Nicholas Boyle
GERMAN PHILOSOPHY KABBALAH Joseph Dan
Andrew Bowie KAFKA Ritchie Robertson
GLOBAL CATASTROPHES KANT Roger Scruton
Bill McGuire KEYNES Robert Skidelsky
GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner
Robert C. Allen THE KORAN Michael Cook
GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin LANDSCAPES AND
GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger GEOMORPHOLOGY
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles
NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark
HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson LAW Raymond Wacks
HEGEL Peter Singer THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood Peter Atkins
HERODOTUS Jennifer. T. Roberts LEADERSHIP Keith Grint
HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo
HINDUISM Kim Knott LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews
HISTORY John H. Arnold LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler
THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY LOCKE John Dunn
Michael Hoskin LOGIC Graham Priest
THE HISTORY OF LIFE MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner
Michael Benton MADNESS Andrew Scull
THE History of Medicine THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips
William Bynum MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix
THE HISTORY OF TIME MARX Peter Singer
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Leofranc Holford S trevens MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers
HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside THE MEANING OF LIFE
HOBBES Richard Tuck Terry Eagleton
HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope
HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham MEDIEVAL BRITAIN
HUMANISM Stephen Law John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths
HUME A. J. Ayer MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster
IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden MICHAEL FARADAY
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton Frank A.J.L. James
INFORMATION Luciano Floridi MODERN ART David Cottington
INNOVATION MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
Mark Dodgson and David Gann MODERN FRANCE
INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary Vanessa R. Schwartz
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta
Khalid Koser MODERN JAPAN
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Christopher Goto-Jones
Paul Wilkinson MODERN LATIN AMERICAN
ISLAM Malise Ruthven LITERATURE
ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein Roberto González Echevarría
JESUS Richard Bauckham MODERNISM Christopher Butler
JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves MOLECULES Philip Ball
JUDAISM Norman Solomon MORMONISM
JUNG Anthony Stevens Richard Lyman Bushman
MUHAMMAD Jonathan A. C. Brown POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young
MULTICULTURALISM Ali Rattansi POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler
MUSIC Nicholas Cook POSTSTRUCTURALISM
MYTH Robert A. Segal Catherine Belsey
NATIONALISM Steven Grosby PREHISTORY Chris Gosden
NELSON MANDELA Elleke Boehmer PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
NEOLIBERALISM Catherine Osborne
Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy PRIVACY Raymond Wacks
THE NEW TESTAMENT PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent
Luke Timothy Johnson PROTESTANTISM Mark A. Noll
THE NEW TESTAMENT AS PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns
LITERATURE Kyle Keefer PSYCHOLOGY
NEWTON Robert Iliffe Gillian Butler and Freda McManus
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer
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NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITAIN THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion
Christopher Harvie and QUANTUM THEORY
H. C. G. Matthew John Polkinghorne
THE NORMAN CONQUEST RACISM Ali Rattansi
George Garnett THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS REALITY Jan Westerhoff
Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall
NORTHERN IRELAND RELATIVITY Russell Stannard
Marc Mulholland RELIGION IN AMERICA
NOTHING Frank Close Timothy Beal
NUCLEAR POWER Maxwell Irvine THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton
NUCLEAR WEAPONS RENAISSANCE ART
Joseph M. Siracusa Geraldine A. Johnson
NUMBERS Peter M. Higgins RISK Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany
THE OLD TESTAMENT ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway
Michael D. Coogan THE ROMAN EMPIRE
ORGANIZATIONS Mary Jo Hatch Christopher Kelly
PAGANISM Owen Davies ROMANTICISM Michael Ferber
PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
PAUL E. P. Sanders RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
PENTECOSTALISM William K. Kay RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly
THE PERIODIC TABLE Eric R. Scerri THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig S. A. Smith
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW SCHIZOPHRENIA
Raymond Wacks Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SCHOPENHAUER
Samir Okasha Christopher Janaway
PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards SCIENCE AND RELIGION
PLANETS David A. Rothery Thomas Dixon
PLATO Julia Annas SCIENCE FICTION David Seed
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
David Miller Lawrence M. Principe
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue SCOTLAND Rab Houston
SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier THEOLOGY David F. Ford
SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer THOMAS AQUINAS Fergus Kerr
SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt TOCQUEVILLE Harvey C. Mansfield
SLEEP TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
Steven W. Lockley and Russell G. Foster THE TUDORS John Guy
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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITAIN
ANTHROPOLOGY Kenneth O. Morgan
John Monaghan and Peter Just THE UNITED NATIONS
SOCIALISM Michael Newman Jussi M. Hanhimäki
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce THE U.S. CONGRESS Donald A. Ritchie
SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor UTOPIANISM Lyman Tower Sargent
THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell THE VIKINGS Julian Richards
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR VIRUSES Dorothy H. Crawford
Helen Graham WITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill
SPANISH LITERATURE Jo Labanyi WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
SPINOZA Roger Scruton WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
STATISTICS David J. Hand THE WORLD TRADE
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill ORGANIZATION Amrita Narlikar
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY WRITING AND SCRIPT
Stephen Blundell Andrew Robinson
TERRORISM Charles Townshend
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R oberto González Echevarría
Modern Latin
American
Literature
A Very Short Introduction

1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
González Echevarría, Roberto.
Modern Latin American literature : a very short introduction /
Roberto González Echevarría.
p. cm. — (Very short introductions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-975491-5 (pbk.)
1 . Spanish American literature—History and criticism. I. Title.
PQ7081.G6315 2012
860.9′98—dc23 2011031494
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in Great Britain
by Ashford Colour Press Ltd., Gosport, Hants.
on acid-free paper
A la memoria de Octavio Corvalán,
maestro tucumano