The Boom in Latin American Literature
Simply defined, the "Boom" refers to the period in Latin American literature in which a number of writers achieved international acclaim for their work. It is primarily associated with the novel, although a few of the Boom writers were recognized for work in other forms as well. The Boom was in full swing throughout the 1960s and the early seventies, though precursors to the Boom, most notably Jorge Luis Borges, were internationally known as early as the 1940s. While the novels of the Boom varied substantially, and it is hard to make any all-inclusive generalizations concerning them, it is a common perception that the novels from the Boom period differed from previous Latin American writing not only in the sense that they reached a wider audience, but also in their style and subject matter.
The Boom is said to mark the end of the "regionalist" period, in which Latin American writers dealt with highly specific, Latin American scenes and issues. This period, which began after the First World War, is said to be a reflection of the disenchantment of Latin American writers with Europe after the War (Gallagher 82). As a response, writers turned back to Latin American scenes as the basis for their work. During the Boom, however, this trend was reversed, and turned the literary focus turned towards the universal, abandoning realistic Latin American settings for more universal ones. Says Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the principal figures in Boom literature: "La novela deja de ser latinoamericana, se libera de esa servidumbre. Ya no sirve a la realidad; ahora se sirve de la realidad" (Franco 219). This quote is roughly translated as "The novel stopped being Latin American‚ it was liberated from t...
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...ave satirized the Boom, defining it as the most exclusive club that the cultural history of Latin America has known." ) Clearly, modern Latin American writers live in the shadow of these men and their prodigious work. However Latin Americans may feel about the Boom and the legacy which it left, there can be no doubt that it also paved the way for Latin American writers in many ways by making them visible to the rest of the world.
Works Cited
Franco, Jean. Spanish American Literature Since Independence. Barnes and Noble Books: New York, 1973.
Gallagher, D.P. Modern Latin American Literature. Oxford University Press: London, 1973.
Rama, Angel. "El boom‚ en perspectiva." Más allá del boom: literatura y mercado. Ed. Angel Rama. Marcha Editores: México, 1981.
Williams, Raymond Leslie. The Modern Latin-American Novel. Twayne Publishers: New York, 1998.
Vega, Ed “Spanish Roulette” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Ed. James, Missy and Merickel, Alan P. 5th ed. Boston: Longman, 2013. 417-423. Print.
Walter Mignolo explored the ways America had emerged as the forth continental division in the European understanding of the world. Mignolo did this through: examining the continental triad of Christian cosmology, explaining how the mercantile economy was transformed into a capitalist because of the “discovery” of America, and explaining the consequences of the West becoming the place from where categories of dominant knowledge and classifications of the rest of the world were created. Those three topics defined how America was invented rather than discovered.
Burns, E. B., & Charlip, J. A. (2007). Latin America: an interpretive history (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
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The vending machines which have mostly sodas and chips are also convenient for kids, but they are consuming tremendous amount of sugars that are so unhealthy for their diets. In high schools, their hormones are changing and when they eat or drink foods that are not healthy, their hormones respond to those, by making them hyper, unable to learn and to comprehend subjects better in schools.
Lorca and the Spanish Avant-Garde: Autonomous and Elitist art, F. Bonaddio, Harris, Derreck, ed, changing times in Hispanic Culture (Aberdeen: Centre for the study of the Hispanic Avant-Garde, University of Aberdeen, 1996), page 97-109.
Burns, Bradford E. Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2002.
American literature over the Great Depression was a quite settle time since no one had strong education but more experience. With new ways of government rulings “2 thinkers whose idea had the great impact on the period were the Austrian Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and German Karl Marx (1818-1883)” (Bayom 1712) are changing people’s way of thinking. With Communism rising both outside and inside the US and poverty made people start to question society logic on the rich and lower class. Even with all the change from the wars “American Literature…not separated family roots” (Bayom 1713); families were able to stay together but moved on from different ideas and view of life. New ideas of way of life were starting to change literature this time “between the two world wars found itself… attacking the old-style idea of tradition literature” (Bayom 1716). The American people slowly progressed from a straight conservative view to a more liberal view on lifestyle and society. The Great Depression authors were able to change how writers write after authors “writers before World War I had faith in society and in art, writers after between 1914 and 1945 had faith… writers after 1945 had lost even faith and never the faith in themselves that had inspired and sustained writer between the wars.” (Bayom 1713). The change in how writers wrote their books happened because of the depression and which they were forced into poverty and little hope for their future. Harper Lee showed us about how her life was with racism and poverty mixed in with the outcome of sadness and depressing from it. The writers in the 1930s were so influential that “[authors during the Great Depression] remain strong… as teaching of American Literature in college... on the premise that these earlier writers constituted a true American literary traditional worthy of study alongside the British” (Bayom 1713). Big writers