Latin-American Literature

Latin America is the group of countries and dependencies in the western hemisphere (North America and South America) Romance Languages are predominant: Spanish and Portuguese.

The Western Hemisphere is a reflection of four major cultural influences: Indigenous American cultures (Amerindians, Aztecs and Incas), African Cultures (the result of the slave trade that Europeans brought with them when they "discovered" the Americas), northern European cultures (which primarily rooted themselves in North America), and southern European cultures (which primarily rooted themselves in South America).

The territory can be divided into the following groups by a cultural/geographic characteristic:

Meso- and Centroamerica: Mexico and Central America. (Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama)

The Andean Cultures: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela.

The Southern Cone Cultures: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The Caribbean Cultures: Greater Antilles (Cuba. Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico) and Lesser Antilles (the multicultural island chains from the U>S Virgin Islands in the north to Trinidad in the south).

Reference
Text retrieved from
   Foster, D. (2002). The Global Etiquette Guide to Mexico and Latin America. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
   Wikipedia. (2016, May 23). Latin America. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America

The history of the region is usually divided between pre-Columbian times (meaning before Columbus and the onslaught of the Western conquest) and after the conquest (modern times). The mission fo the southern Europeans was to claim the New World in the name of the king and teh church, transplanting, very rigorously, the traditions of hierarchical and aristocratic Crown and Roman Catholicism.

Four hundred years after Columbus, Latin America has proven to have its very own culture, but varying from country to country.

Literature itself has played a very important role in Latin American's history, as it served for documenting and transcribing their culture, beliefs, language and much more.

Reference

Text retrieved from Foster, D. (2002). The Global Etiquette Guide to Mexico and Latin America. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Images retrieved from Google Images
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In the late 19th century Modernismo emerged: the first Latin American movement to influence culture outside if the region and truly representing the Spanish-speaking territory.

Though modernismo itself was often seen as anesthetic and anti-political, introduced compelling critiques if the contemporary social order and plight of the indigenous groups.

As a result of this movement, the twentieth century also saw the rise of

• Indigenismo: a movement dedicated to representing indigenous cultures and the injustices that such communities were undergoing.
• Magical Realism: a genre that reacted against the dominant realism and naturalism, created by Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges.
• Avant-garde Movements: Inspired in the Mexican Revolution, a committed work of social realism and the revolution and its aftermath. It still is a point of reference for the Mexican Literature.
• Poetry: As a source for expressing love and political commitment.

From 1960-70's Latin America experience the Literary BOOM! Characterized by having a rebellious general point of view of the culture, where authors crossed traditional boundaries, experimented with language (making up new words just for their writings), and often mixing different styles of writing in their works. Boom works often tended not to focus on social and local issues, but rather on universal and at times metaphysical themes.

The movement was distinguished by daring and experimental such as:

• Rayuela, by Julio Cortazar.
• One hundred years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges.
• The Death of Artemio Cruz, Carlos Fuentes.
• Mario Vargas Llosa

Reference

Image retrieved from Google Images https://tveducativasculturalesiberoamericanas.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/literatura.gif

Wikipedia. (2016, May 24). Latin America. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_Boom