Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Contemporary Latin American Literature

Catalog description

The publication of Cien años de soledad in 1967 was one of the highest moments in 20th century Latin American literature. Behind this masterpiece was the arduous and tireless work of a writer that had been searching for a personal style during almost a decade. This search also has a continental dimension. In García Marquez’s work, readers find the main topics, aesthetic quests, and political conflicts that hold the Latin American imagination, from the “crónicas de conquista” to the artistic vanguard adventures of the middle of the century. His narrative brings together early discussions about magical realism and the literary boom, anthropological inquiries rooted in transculturation and critical regionalism, as well as questions on class, race, and gender. In this course we will read different moments of his work, from his early short stories to some of his major novels. In addition, we will compare his writing to some of their contemporaries’, in order to have a comprehensive idea about the formation of the Latin American contemporary canon.