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LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE– literature of peoples Latin America, which are characterized by a common historical path (colonization after the invasion of Europeans and the liberation of most of them after the overthrow of colonialism in the 19th century) and common features social life. Most Latin American countries are also characterized by a common language - Spanish, and hence the influence of Spanish cultural heritage. In addition, there is partly a Portuguese influence, as in Brazil, and a French influence, as in Haiti, which also affected the language. The complexity of the cultural processes taking place in Latin America lies in the difficulty of self-identification of both individual peoples and the entire region as a whole.
The European-Christian tradition, brought by the conquerors, came into contact with the autochthonous culture in Latin America. At the same time, there was a huge gap between book literature brought from Spain and folk art. Under these conditions, the chronicles of the discovery of the New World and the Conquest, as well as Creole chronicles of the 17th century, acted as epics for Latin American literature.
Literature of the pre-Columbian period.
The culture of the peoples of pre-Columbian America due to different levels their development was very heterogeneous. If the peoples who inhabited the Caribbean region and the Amazon did not have a written language and only their oral traditions were preserved, then the highly developed civilizations of the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs left written monuments, very diverse in genre. These include mythological and historical epics, poetic works on the theme of military valor, philosophical and love lyrics, dramatic works and prose narratives.
Among the epic works created by the Aztecs, the partially preserved epic about the culture hero Quetzalcoatl, who created people and gave them maize, stands out. In one of the fragments, Quetzalcoatl descends into the kingdom of the dead to obtain the bones of the dead, from which new generations should grow. In addition, numerous poetic works of the Aztecs have been preserved: hymn poetry and lyric poetry, characterized by a variety of subjects, which is characterized by well-developed symbolism of images (jaguar - night, eagle - sun, feathers of the quetzal (dove) - wealth and beauty). Most of these works are anonymous.
Many literary works of the Maya peoples survive in 16th- and 17th-century records written in Latin script. Historical chronicles are the most famous Chronicles of the Kaqchiquel, holy books Chilam Balam and epic work Popol Vuh.
Chronicles of the Kaqchiquel- historical chronicles of the mountain Mayans, a prose work, the first part of which tells about the history of the Kaqchiquel and Quiché peoples before the Spanish conquest, the second part tells about the arrival of the Spaniards in the country and their conquest of the country.
Popol Vuh (Book of the People) is an epic work written between 1550 and 1555 in rhythmic prose in the Guatemalan Mayan Quiché language. Popol Vuh created by an Indian author who wanted to sing best qualities of his people - courage, boldness, loyalty to the people's interests. The author does not mention the events associated with the conquest, deliberately limiting the narrative to the Indian world and worldview. The book contains ancient cosmogonic myths about the creation of the world and the deeds of the gods, mythical and historical legends K'iche peoples - their origins, clashes with other peoples, stories of long wanderings and the creation of their own state and traces the chronicle of the reign of the K'iche kings until 1550. The original book was discovered in the 18th century. Dominican friar Francisco Jimenez in the highlands of Guatemala. He copied the Mayan text and translated it into Spanish. The original was subsequently lost. Book Popol Vuh was of considerable importance for the self-identification of the peoples of Latin America. So, for example, by his own admission, work on the translation Popol Vuha completely changed the worldview of such a major future author as Miguel Angel Asturias.
Books Chilam Balam(books Prophet Jaguar) – written in Latin in the 17th–18th centuries. books of the Yucatan Maya. This is a vast collection of prophetic texts, specially written in a vague language rich in mythological imagery. Divinations in them are made according to twenty-year periods (katuns) and annual periods (tuns). These books were used to predict the events of the day, as well as the fate of newborns. Prophetic texts are interspersed with astrological and mythological texts, medical recipes, descriptions of ancient Mayan rituals and historical chronicles from the time of the appearance of the Itza tribe in Yucatan (10th–11th centuries) to the early colonial period. Some of the fragments are records of ancient hieroglyphic books written in Latin. There are currently 18 known books Chilam Balam.
Almost no Mayan poetic works have survived, although such works undoubtedly existed before the Conquest. The poetic creativity of the Mayan peoples can be judged from the poem compiled by Ah-Bam in the 18th century. collection Book of songs from Tsitbalche. It contains both lyrical love and cult chants - hymns in honor of various deities, hymns to the rising sun.
Historical chronicles and epic works of the Incas have not reached our time, but many examples of the poetic creativity of these peoples have been preserved. These include hymns addressed to the gods - halyas and halyas - performed during various rituals, glorifying the exploits of the Incas military leaders. In addition, the Incas had lyrical love songs “Arawi” and elegiac songs “huanca”, sung during mourning ceremonies.
Literature of the Conquest era (1492–1600).
It was Columbus who wrote the words, which were then repeated many times by Latin American chroniclers and subsequently became decisive for the masters of Latin American literature of the 20th century, who tried to take a fresh look at the history and life of Latin America. Columbus stated that he could not find names for the “things” he encountered in the “Indies”; there was nothing like it in Europe.
It is also characteristic that among the heroes of the “new” historical novel, one of the leading genres of Latin American literature in the 1980–90s, which is characterized by a rethinking of the history of the continent, Columbus occupies a significant place ( Dogs in Paradise A. Posse, Admiral's Insomnia A. Roa Bastos), but the first in the series is the story of A. Carpentier, which anticipated this genre Harp and shadow.
In the writings of the linguist, ethnographer, historian and theologian Bernardino de Sahagún (1550–1590) General history things of New Spain(published in 1829–1831) clearly and accurately presents information about mythology, astrology, religious holidays and customs of the Indians, talks about the state structure, pays attention to local animals, plants and minerals, as well as the history of the conquest.
The Spanish historian and Dominican monk Bartolome de Las Casas (1474–1566) was also well acquainted with the history of the development of new lands - as a chaplain in the detachment of the conquistador Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, he participated in the conquest of Cuba. As a reward for participating in this expedition, he received an ecomienda, a huge plot of land along with its inhabitants. Soon he began to preach among the Indians who lived there. Apologetic History of the Indies, which he began in 1527 (published in 1909), Brief account of the destruction of the Indies(1552) and his main work History of India(published in 1875–1876) are works that tell the history of the Conquest, and the author invariably stands on the side of the enslaved and humiliated Indians. The sharpness and peremptory nature of the judgments are such that, according to the author’s order, Stories of India was not to be published until his death.
Based on his own impressions, Bartolomé de Las Casas, however, used other sources in his work, but whether archival documents or testimonies of participants in the events, they all serve to prove: the conquest is a violation of both human and divine laws regulations, and therefore must be stopped immediately. At the same time, the history of the conquest of America is presented by the author as the conquest and destruction of the “earthly Paradise” (this image significantly influenced the artistic and historiographical concept of some Latin American authors of the 20th century). Not only the works of Bartolome de Las Casas (it is known that he created more than eight dozen different works), but also his actions are bright and characteristic. His attitude towards the Indians (he refused the ecomienda) and the fight for their rights eventually brought him the royal title “Patron of the Indians of all Indias.” In addition, he was the first on the American continent to take monastic vows. Despite the fact that major works by de Las Casas in the 19th century. were little known, his letters greatly influenced Simon Bolivar and other fighters for Mexican independence.
Of particular interest are the five “reports” sent by the conquistador Fernand Cortes (1485–1547) to Emperor Charles V. These unique reports (the first letter is lost, three were published in the 1520s, the last in 1842) tell about what was seen during the conquest of Central Mexico , about the seizure of territories near the capital of the Aztec state of Tenochtitlan and a campaign in Honduras. In these documents, the influence of a chivalric romance is discernible (the actions of the conquistadors and their moral character are presented as the actions of knights with their chivalric code), while the author views the conquered Indians as children who require patronage and protection, which, in his opinion, can only be provided by a strong state led by an ideal ruler). Reports, distinguished by high literary merits and expressive details, have been repeatedly used by Latin American authors as a source of artistic themes and images.
In some ways similar to these “reports” and Letter to King Don Manuel(1500), addressed to the monarch of Portugal, the author of which Peru Vaz di Caminha accompanied during the expedition of Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral, who discovered Brazil.
Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1495 or 1496–1584) ended up in Mexico as a soldier along with Fernand Cortes, and therefore in The True History of the Conquest of New Spain(1563, published in 1632) insisted on his right to speak on behalf of a witness to the events. Polemicizing with official historiography, he simply spoken language writes about the details of the military campaign, without overestimating Cortes and his comrades, but also without criticizing them for cruelty and greed, like some authors. However, the Indians are also not the object of his idealization - dangerous enemies, they, however, are not devoid of positive human traits in the eyes of the chronicler. Despite some inaccuracies regarding titles and dates, this work is interesting for its specificity, the complexity of the characters, and in some features (entertaining, lively narrative) can be compared with a chivalric romance.
The Peruvian chronicler Filipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (1526 or 1554–1615), left a single work - The first new chronicle and good government, on which he worked for forty years. The work, discovered only in 1908, presents Spanish text interspersed with Quechua, and half of the extensive manuscript is occupied by drawings with captions (unique examples of pictography). This author, an Indian by origin, who converted to Catholicism and spent some time in the Spanish service, views the conquista as a just act: through the efforts of the conquistadors, the Indians are returning to the righteous path that they lost during the Incan rule (it should be noted that the author belonged to the royal family of the Yarovilki , which the Incas relegated to the background), and Christianization contributes to such a return. The chronicler considers the genocide against the Indians unjust. The chronicle is motley in composition, incorporating legend, autobiographical motifs, memories, and satirical passages, and contains ideas of social reconstruction.
Another Peruvian chronicler, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 1539–c. 1616), a mestizo (his mother was an Incan princess, his father a high-born Spanish nobleman), a European-educated man, who nevertheless knew the history and culture of the Indians very well, became famous as an author essays Authentic commentaries that tell about the origin of the Incas, the rulers of Peru, about their beliefs, laws and rule in times of war and times of peace, about their lives and victories, about everything that this empire and republic was before the arrival of the Spaniards(1609), the second part of which was published under the title General history of Peru(published in 1617). The author, who used both archival documents and oral stories of priests, believing that the Indians and Spaniards are equal before God and condemning the horrors of the conquest, claims that the conquest itself, bringing Christianity to the indigenous population, is a blessing for them, although the culture and customs of the Incas are also extolled by the author. This work, according to some researchers, influenced T. Campanella, M. Montaigne and the French enlighteners. Among other works by the same author, translation Dialogues about love Leona Ebreo (published in 1590) and Florida(1605), a historical work dedicated to the expedition of the conquistador Hernando de Soto.
The works of chroniclers are partly complemented by works created in the genre of epic poems. This is the poem Araucana(the first part was published in 1569, the second in 1578, the third in 1589) by the Spaniard Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (1533–1594), who participated in the suppression of the Indian uprising and, based on his direct impressions, created a work dedicated to the Spanish war and Araucan Indians. Spanish characters in Araucan have prototypes and are called by real names, it is also important that the author began to create the poem at the height of events, the first part was begun on scraps of paper and even on pieces of tree bark. The Indians of the author, who idealizes them, are somewhat reminiscent of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in addition (this distinguishes Araucanu from works on the theme of the Conquest), the Indians are shown as a proud people, bearers of high culture. The poem gained enormous popularity and gave rise to a number of similar works.
So, soldier, and later priest Juan de Castellanos (1522–1605 or 1607), author Elegies on the Illustrious Men of the Indies(the first part was published in 1598, the second in 1847, the third in 1886), first wrote his work in prose, but then, under the influence Araucanas, remade it into a heroic poem written in royal octaves. The poetic chronicle, which outlined the biographies of people who became famous during the conquest of America (among them Christopher Columbus), owes a lot to the literature of the Renaissance. A significant role was played by the author’s own impressions of the poem, and the fact that he was personally acquainted with many of his heroes.
In controversy with the poem Araucana an epic poem was created Tamed Arauco(1596) by the creole Pedro de Oña (1570?–1643?), a representative of both Chilean and Peruvian literature. The author, who participated in the battles against the rebel Indians, describes the actions of the Viceroy of Peru, the Marquis de Canette. Among his other works, one should mention the poetic chronicle Earthquake in Lima(1635) and a religious poem Ignasius of Cantabria(1639), dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola.
The epic poems of Martin del Barco Centenera Argentina and the conquest of Rio de La Plata and other events in the kingdoms of Peru, Tucuman and the state of Brazil(1602) and Gaspar Perez de Villagra New Mexican history(1610) are interesting not so much as poetic works, but as documentary evidence.
Bernardo de Balbuena (1562–1627), Spaniard, who early childhood brought to Mexico, later Bishop of Puerto Rico, became famous for his poem in eight chapters The Greatness of Mexico City(published in 1604), which became one of the first works in the Creole Baroque style. The brilliant and rich city is presented as heaven on earth, and the “wild Indian” loses next to all this splendor. Of the surviving works of this author (much was lost when his personal library was lost in 1625 during the Dutch attack on San Jose), one can also name a heroic-fantastic poem Bernardo, or Victory at Roncesvalles(1604) and pastoral romance The Golden Age in Selva Eriphile of Dr. Bernardo de Balbuena, in which he faithfully recreates and pleasantly imitates the pastoral style of Theocritus, Virgil and Sannazzaro(1608), where poetry is combined with prose.
Epic poem Prosopopoeia(published in 1601) by the Brazilian poet Bento Teixeira, related thematically to Brazil, written under the strong influence of the poem Lusiads Portuguese poet Luis de Camões.
José di Anchieta (1534–1597), nicknamed the “Apostle of Brazil” for his missionary activities, also created chronicle texts. Nevertheless, he remains in the history of literature as the founder of Latin American drama, whose plays on plots drawn from the Bible or from hagiographic literature include elements of local folklore.
In general, the chronicles of the 16th century. can be divided into two types: these are chronicles that try to recreate the picture of the New World as completely as possible, while introducing it into context world history(“World Stories”), and first-person narratives that are created by direct participants in certain events. The former can be correlated with the “new” novel, which was developed in Latin American literature of the 20th century, and the latter - with the so-called “literature of evidence,” that is, non-fiction literature, which is partly a reaction to the “new” novel.
The works of chroniclers of the 16th and 17th centuries played a special role in modern Latin American literature. Republished or published for the first time in the 20th century, the works of these authors (in addition to those mentioned above, it is worth mentioning the works of Hernando de Alvarado Tesozomoc, Fernando de Alba Ixtlilxochitl, Bernardino de Sahagun, Pedro de Cieza de Leon, Joseph de Acosta, etc.) had a huge impact and on the self-awareness and creativity of almost all Latin American writers, regardless of the genre in which they work. Thus, Alejo Carpentier noted that he revised his creative guidelines precisely after he discovered these chronicles. Miguel Angel Asturias, in his speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize, called the chroniclers the first Latin American writers, and The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Diaz del Castillo - the first Latin American novel.
The pathos of discovering a new world and naming the things encountered in it, the two most important mythologies associated with the New World - the metaphor of “earthly Paradise” and the metaphor of “Hell incarnate”, which were manipulated by followers of utopian or dystopian thought, interpreting the history of Latin America, as well as the atmosphere of expectation “miracle” that colors the writings of the chroniclers - all this not only anticipated the search for Latin American literature of the 20th century, but also actively influenced it, defining these very searches, aimed, first of all, at the self-identification of Latin American culture. And in this sense, the words of Pablo Neruda are deeply true, who in his Nobel speech, speaking about modern Latin American writers, said: “We are chroniclers, late in birth.”
The Rise of Colonial Literature (1600–1808).
As the colonial system strengthened, Latin American culture also developed. First in Latin America printing press appeared in Mexico City (New Spain) around 1539, and in 1584 in Lima (Peru). Thus, both capitals of the largest viceroyalties of the Spanish colonial empire, competing not only in pomp and wealth, but also in enlightenment, received the opportunity to publish their own books. This is especially important for the reason that both cities received university privileges in 1551. For comparison, not only did there not be a university in Brazil, but printing itself was prohibited until the end of the colonial period).
There were many people who devoted their leisure time to writing. The theater developed, and although throughout the 16th century. theatrical performances served as one of the means of missionary activity; there were also plays telling stories in indigenous languages about the times preceding the conquest. The authors of these works were Creoles, and in remote corners of this kind of theatrical works existed until the mid-19th century. However, the most widespread repertoire is associated with Spanish or Portuguese theatrical traditions. A native of Mexico, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza (1581–1639) is one of the largest Spanish playwrights of the “golden age” of Spanish literature ( cm. SPANISH LITERATURE).
Poetry is also flourishing. More than three hundred poets took part in a poetry competition held in Mexico City in 1585. The development that emerged in the late 16th and early 17th centuries played an important role. and existed until the second half of the 18th century. Creole Baroque is an artistic style characterized by regional, purely Latin American features. This style was formed under the strong influence of such varieties of Spanish Baroque as the “conceptism” of Francisco Quevedo and the “culteranism” of Luis de Góngora, to which the aforementioned poetry festivals in Mexico City were often dedicated.
Characteristics of this style can be discerned in the poems of Bernardo de Balbuena and Pedro de Oña, as well as in the poem Christiada(1611) by Diego de Ojeda. They are also found in the works of Francisco Bramon Matias de Bocanegra, Fernando de Alba Ixtlilxochitpla, Miguel de Guevara, Arias de Villalobos (Mexico), Antonio de Leon de Pinela, Antonio de la Calancha, Fernando de Valverde (Peru), Francisco Gaspar de Villarroel - i-Ordoñez (Chile), Hernando Dominguez Camargo, Jacinto Hevia, Antonio Bastides (Ecuador).
Of the Mexican poets whose works are distinguished by local originality - Luis Sandoval y Zapata, Ambrosio Solis y Aguirre, Alonso Ramirez Vargas, Carlos Siguenza y Gongora, the work of the poetess Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648 or 1651) should be especially highlighted –1695). This woman with a difficult fate, who became a nun, also wrote prose and dramatic works, however, it was her love lyrics that had the greatest influence on the emerging Latin American literature.
The Peruvian poet Juan del Valle y Caviedes (1652 or 1664–1692 or 1694) cultivated in his poems the image of a poorly educated poet, while masterfully mastering versification and having an excellent knowledge of contemporary literature. His collection of satirical poems Tooth of Parnassus could be published only in 1862, and in the form in which the author prepared it, in 1873.
The Brazilian poet Grigorio de Matus Guerra (1633–1696), like Juan del Valle y Caviedes, was influenced by Francisco Queveda. Guerra's poems were widely known to the public, but the most popular were not love or religious lyrics, but satire. His epigrams, full of sarcasm, were directed not only against representatives of the ruling classes, but also against Indians and mulattoes. The discontent of the authorities caused by these satyrs was so great that the poet was exiled to Angola in 1688, from where he returned shortly before his death. But his popularity among the masses was such that “The Devil’s Mouthpiece,” as the poet was also called, became one of the heroes of Brazilian culture.
Creole Baroque, with its central themes of “Creole homeland” and “Creole glory”, as well as the abundance and wealth of Latin America, which was reflected in metaphorical and allegorical decorativism as a stylistic dominant, influenced the concept of Baroque, which was developed in the 20th century. Alejo Carpentier and Jose Lezama Lima.
Of particular note are two epic poems that were created without reference to the Creole Baroque. Poem Uruguay(1769) by José Basilio da Gama is a kind of account of a joint Portuguese-Spanish expedition, the goal of which was an Indian reservation in the Uruguay River valley, under the control of the Jesuits. And if the original version of this work is openly pro-Jesuit, then the version that has seen the light is absolutely the opposite of it, which reflects the poet’s desire to earn the favor of those in power. This work, which cannot be called historical in the full sense, is nevertheless one of the most important works of Brazilian literature of the colonial period. Particularly interesting are the lively scenes from the life of the Indians. The work is considered to be the first work in which the features of Indigenism, a movement in the Creole art of Latin America, which is characterized by an interest in the life and spiritual world of the Indians, were clearly manifested.
The epic poem is also worthy of mention Karamuru(1781) by the Brazilian poet José de Santa Rita Duran, who was perhaps the first to make Indians the subjects of a literary work. An epic poem in ten cantos, whose main character is Diego Alvarez, Caramuru, as the Indians call him, is dedicated to the discovery of Bahia. The life of the Indians and Brazilian landscapes are given an important place in this work. The poem remained the main work of the author, who destroyed most of his creations due to the fact that they did not receive immediate public recognition. Both of these poems should be taken as a proclamation of romanticism that soon arose in Latin American literature.
Novels were banned in Latin America, so this kind of literature appeared much later, but their place was taken by works of a historical and biographical nature. One of best essays The satire of the Peruvian Antonio Carrió de la Bandera (1716–1778) is of this kind. Guide for blind travelers(1776). The author, a postal worker who wrote under a pseudonym because of the risk of persecution, chose for his book the form of a travelogue from Buenos Aires to Lima.
At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. two most important paradigms of Latin American culture are maturing. One of them is connected with the politicization of the artistic and life position of writers, their direct participation in political events (and in the future this state of affairs becomes almost universally binding). The Brazilian revolutionary Joaquín José de Silva Javier (1748–1792) led the so-called “Conspiracy of Poets,” in which famous writers took part. The uprising against Portuguese rule in Brazil, which he led, was suppressed, and its leader, after a political process that lasted several years, was executed.
The second paradigm is the complex relationship between “territoriality” and “extraterritoriality”, characteristic of a certain type of Latin American consciousness. Free movement throughout the continent, in which there is an exchange of creative discoveries and opinions (for example, the Venezuelan A. Bello lives in Chile, the Argentinean D.F. Sarmiento lives in Chile and Paraguay, the Cuban Jose Marti lives in the USA, Mexico and Guatemala), in the 20th century . transforms into a tradition of forced exile or political emigration.
Literature of the 19th century.
Romanticism.
Political independence from Spain and Portugal did not mark the end of despotism. Economic instability, social inequality, oppression of Indians and blacks - all this was everyday life for the vast majority of Latin American states. The situation itself contributed to the emergence of satirical works. Mexican José Joaquin Fernandez de Lisardi (1776–1827) creates a picaresque novel The life and deeds of Periquillo Sarniento, described by himself for the edification of his children(vols. 1–3 – 1813, vols. 1–5 – 1830–1831), which is considered the first Latin American novel.
The War of Independence, which lasted in Latin America from 1810 to 1825, not only influenced the patriotic feelings of Latin Americans, it was largely responsible for the surge in Latin American poetry. Ecuadorian José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780–1847), who wrote anacreontic and bucolic lyrics in his youth, created a lyric-epic poem Victory at Junin. Song of Bolivar(published in 1825), which brought him wide fame.
Venezuelan Andres Bello (1781–1865), a scientist and public figure, author of many works on history, philosophy, philology and jurisprudence, became famous as a poet who defended classicist traditions. Among his most notable works is the poem Appeal to poetry(1823) and ode Agriculture in the tropics(1826) - fragment of an epic poem never written America. His opponent, who defended the position of romanticism in the debate about literature, the Argentine writer and public figure Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811–1888) is an extremely illustrative example of a Latin American writer. A fighter against the dictatorship of Juan Manuel Rosas, he founded a number of newspapers. His most famous work is Civilization and barbarism. Biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga. Physical appearance, customs and morals of the Argentine Republic(published in 1845), where, telling the life of Rosas's associate, he explores Argentine society. Subsequently, holding the post of President of Argentina, the writer put into practice the provisions that he defended in his books.
Cuban Jose Maria Heredia y Heredia (1803–1839), a fighter for the elimination of Cuba's colonial dependence on Spain, lived almost his entire life as a political exile. If in his work On teocalli in Cholula(1820) the struggle between classicism and romanticism is still noticeable, then in Ode to Niagara(1824) the romantic element wins.
The same opposition between civilization and barbarism as in the book by D. F. Sarmiento is also present in the works of other Argentine writers, in particular in the novel by José Marmol (1817–1871) Amalia(magazine var. - 1851), which is the first Argentine novel, and in an artistic and journalistic essay Slaughterhouse(published 1871) by Esteban Echeverria (1805–1851).
Among the works romantic genre novels worth mentioning Maria(1867) by the Colombian Jorge Isaacs (1837–1895), Cecilia Valdez, or Angel Hill(1st ed. – 1839) by Cuban Cirila Villaverde (1812–1894), Kumanda, or Drama among the Wild Indians(1879) by Ecuadorian Juan León Mera (1832–1894), created in line with Indigenism.
Gaucho literature, an unparalleled literary genre originating in Argentina and Uruguay, has produced works such as the poem by Rafael Oblegado Santos Vega(1887) about the legendary singer and written in a humorous manner Fausto(1866) Estanislao del Campo. However, the highest achievement in this genre is the lyric-epic poem of the Argentinean José Hernandez (1834–1886) Martin Fierro(first part – 1872, second part – 1879). This poem is just like Facundo(1845) by D.F. Sarmiento, became the predecessor of the “telluric literature” that subsequently developed. The latter is associated with the concept of tellurism (from Spanish - earthly, soil) in Argentine philosophy, represented by the works of R. Rojas, R. Scalabrini Ortiz, E. Malea , E. Martinez Estrada. The main thesis of tellurism is that while maintaining the possibility of the secret influence of nature on man, he can break out from the influence of geographical factors on culture, enter into historical existence, and thereby break through from an inauthentic culture into a genuine one.
Realism and naturalism.
A natural reaction to the attraction of romanticism to everything unusual and bright was the interest of some authors in Everyday life, its characteristics and traditions. Costumbrism, one of the movements in Latin American literature, whose name goes back to the Spanish “el costumbre”, which translates as “temper” or “custom”, was strongly influenced by Spanish costumbrism. This trend is characterized by sketches and morally descriptive essays, and events are often shown from a satirical or humorous perspective. Costumbrism subsequently transformed into a realistic regionalist novel.
However, realism itself is not typical for Latin American literature of this period. The work of the Chilean prose writer Alberto Blest Ghana (1830–1920) develops under the strong influence of the European literary tradition, in particular the novels of Honoré de Balzac. Ghana Novels: Arithmetic of love (1860), Martin Rivas (1862), The Rake's Ideal(1853). Argentine writer Eugenio Cambaceres (1843–188), a representative of naturalism, focusing on novels in the spirit of Emile Zola, created such novels as Whistling naughty(1881–1884) and Without a goal (1885).
The combination of realism and naturalism marks the novel by the Brazilian Manuel Antonio de Almeida (1831–1861) Memoirs of a Police Sergeant(1845). The same trends can be traced in the prose of the Brazilian Aluisio Gonçalves Azeveda (1857–1913), among whose most famous works are the novels Mulatto(1881) and Pension(1884). Realism marks the novels of the Brazilian Joaquín Maria Machado de Assis (1839–1908), whose work influenced Latin American literature as a whole.
Modernism (last quarter of the 19th century – 1910s).
Latin American modernism, which is characterized by its close connection with romanticism, was influenced by such major phenomena of European culture as the “Parnassian school” ( cm. PARNASUS), symbolism, impressionism, etc. At the same time, just as for European modernism, it is significant for it that the modernism of Latin America is represented overwhelmingly by poetic works.
One of the largest figures in the literature of Latin America of the 19th century, as well as in Latin American modernism, is the Cuban poet, thinker and politician José Julian Marti (1853–1895), who for his national liberation struggle against the colonial rule of Spain received the title from the Cuban people "Apostle". His creative heritage includes not only poetry - a cycle of poems Ismaelillo(1882), collections Free verses(published in 1913) and Simple Poems(1891), but also a novel Fatal friendship(1885), close to the literature of modernism, sketches and essays from which should be highlighted Our America(1891), where Latin America is contrasted with Anglo-Saxon America. J. Marti is also an ideal example of a Latin American writer whose life and work are fused together and subordinated to the struggle for the good of all Latin America.
As another significant representative of Latin American modernism, we should mention the Mexican Manuel Gutiérrez Najera (1859–1895). During the life of this author, the collection was published Fragile Stories(1883), presenting him as a prose writer, while his poetic works were collected only in posthumous books Poetry of Manuel Gutiérrez Najera(1896) and Poetry (1897).
The Colombian José Asuncion Silva (1865–1896) also earned fame only after his early death (due to financial difficulties, and also because a significant part of his manuscripts were lost during a shipwreck, the poet committed suicide). His collection of poems was published in 1908, while the novel Table conversations- only in 1925.
Cuban Julián del Casal (1863–1893), who published newspaper essays that exposed the aristocracy, became famous primarily as a poet. During his lifetime, collections were published Leaves in the wind(1890) and Dreams(1892), and the posthumously published book Busts and rhymes(1894) combined poems and short prose.
The central figure of Latin American modernism was the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario (1867–1916). His collection Azure(1887, supplemented - 1890), combining poetry and prose miniatures, became one of the most important milestones in the development of this literary movement, and in the collection Pagan Psalms and Other Poems(1896, supplemented - 1901) became the culmination of Latin American modernism.
Prominent figures of the modernist movement are the Mexican AmadoNervo (1870–1919), author of numerous books, including poetry collections Poems (1901), Exodus and flowers of the road (1902), Vote (1904), Gardens of my soul(1905) and collections of stories Wandering Souls (1906), They(1912); Peruvian Jose Santos Chocano (1875–1934), who actively participated in the political life of Latin America, including fighting in the ranks of Francisco Villa’s army during the Mexican Revolution. After the overthrow of Guatemalan President Manuel Estrada Cabrera, to whom he was an adviser, he was sentenced to death, but survived. Returning to his homeland in 1922, José Santos Chocano was awarded the title “National Poet of Peru.” Modernist trends were reflected in poems collected in collections Soul of the Americas(1906) and Fiat lux (1908).
It is also necessary to mention the Bolivian Ricardo Jaimes Freire (1868–1933), author of collections Barbarian Castalia(1897) and Dreams are life(1917), Colombian Guillermo Valencia (1873–1943), author of collections Poems(1898) and Rituals(1914), Uruguayan Julio Herrera y Reissig (1875–1910), author of cycles of poems Abandoned parks, Easter time, Water clock(1900–1910), as well as the Uruguayan José Enrique Rodo (1871–1917), one of the major Latin American thinkers, who discussed the idea of cultural synthesis in an essay Ariel(1900) and put forward the idea that it was Latin America that should carry out such a synthesis.
Brazilian modernism stands apart, which emerged in the early 1920s, the founders and central figures of which were Mario Raul Morais de Andradi (1893–1945) and José Oswald de Andradi (1890–1954).
The positive significance of Latin American modernism was reflected not only in the fact that this literary movement gathered many talented authors into its ranks, but also in the fact that it updated poetic language and poetic technique.
Modernism actively influenced those masters who were subsequently able to free themselves from its influence. Thus, the Argentine poet and prose writer Leopoldo Lugones (1874–1938) began as a modernist, which was reflected in poetry collections Golden Mountains(1897) and Dusk in the garden(1906). Enrique Gonzalez Martinez (1871–1952), starting from the principles of modernism, in the collection Secret paths(1911) broke with this tradition, advocating a new poetic system.
20th century.
Latin American literature of the 20th century. not only is it unusually rich, its position among other national literatures has fundamentally changed. The changes were already reflected in the fact that the Chilean poetess Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957), the first of the Latin American writers, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.
The avant-garde search through which most famous Latin American writers went through played a huge role in this qualitative leap. The Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948) put forward the concept of “creationism,” according to which the artist must create his own aesthetic reality. His poetry books include collections in Spanish Equatorial(1918) and Citizen of Oblivion(1941), and collections in French Square horizon (1917), All of a sudden (1925).
The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), who received the Nobel Prize in 1971, began to write in avant-garde poetics, choosing “free verse” as the poetic form that was most adequate to his thoughts; over time, he moved on to poetry, which reflected direct political engagement . Among his books are collections Twilight (1923), Residence – land(1933, supplemented - 1935), Odes to simple things (1954), New odes to simple things (1955), Birds of Chile (1966), Heavenly stones(1970). His last book during his lifetime Incitement to Nixonicide and Praise of the Chilean Revolution(1973) reflected the feelings that the poet experienced after the fall of the government of President Salvador Allende.
Another major figure in Latin American literature is the Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz (1914–1998), Nobel Prize laureate for 1990, author of numerous books, including collections Wild Moon (1933), Root Man (1937), Sun stone (1957), Salamander (1962).
The Argentine poet and prose writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), one of the most revered and quoted authors of the 20th century, began with ultraism, an avant-garde literary movement. His collections of short stories brought him fame. A General History of Infamy (1935), Garden of Forking Paths (1941), Fictions (1944), Aleph (1949), Doer (1960).
Negrismo, a literary movement whose goal was to elaborate on the African American heritage as well as to introduce the Negro worldview into literature, made significant contributions to Latin American literature. Among the writers belonging to this movement are the Puerto Rican Luis Pales Matos (1898–1959) and the Cuban Nicolas Guillen (1902–1989).
The Peruvian Cesar Vallejo (1892–1938) had an active influence on the poetry of Latin America. In the first collections Black heralds(1918) and Trilse(1922) he develops avant-garde poetics, while the collection Human Poems(1938), published after the poet’s death, reflected the changes that had occurred in his poetics.
The plays of the Argentinean Roberto Arlt (1900–1942) and the Mexican Rodolfo Usigli (1905–1979) were created under the obvious influence of the European dramatic tradition.
Among those who developed the regional novel were the Uruguayan Horacio Quiroga (1878–1937), the Colombian José Eustacio Rivera (1889–1928), the Argentine Ricardo Guiraldes (1886–1927), the Venezuelan Romulo Gallegos (1864–1969), and the Mexican Mariano Azuela ( 1873–1952). The Ecuadorian Jorge Icaza (1906–1978), the Peruvians Ciro Alegría (1909–1967) and Jose Maria Arguedas (1911–1969), and the Guatemalan Miguel Angel Asturias (1899–1974), Nobel Prize laureate for 1967, contributed to the development of indigenism.
Among the largest prose writers of the 20th century. – Argentines Eduardo Maglie (1903–1982), Ernesto Sabato (1911–2011), Julio Cortazar (1924–1984), Manuel Puig (1933–1990), Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti (1909–1994), Mexicans Juan Rulfo (1918– 1984) and Carlos Fuentes (b. 1929), Cubans José Lezama Lima (1910–1976) and Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980), Brazilian Jorge Amado (1912).
The Nobel Prize was awarded in 1982 to the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez (b. 1928) and in 2004 to the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936).
Berenice Vesnina
Literature:
History of the Literatures of Latin America. From ancient times to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Book 1. M., 1985
History of the Literatures of Latin America. From the Revolutionary War to the completion of national state consolidation (1810s–1870s). Book 2. M., 1988
History of the Literatures of Latin America. Late 19th – early 20th centuries (1880–1910s). Book 3. M., 1994
History of the Literatures of Latin America. 20th century: 20–90s. Book 4. Part 1–2. M., 2004
We present to our readers a book that includes works by the founders of Latin American modernism - the Argentinean Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938) and the Nicaraguan Ruben Dario (1867-1916). They met in Buenos Aires at the office of a local newspaper, and a friendship began between them that lasted until Dario's death.
The work of both was influenced by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and as a result a new genre of literary work arose - the fantastic story. The collection you are holding in your hands presents the complete unadapted text of the stories of Lugones and Dario, equipped with detailed comments and a dictionary.
An incredible and sad story about the simple-minded Erendira and her cruel grandmother (collection)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez Classic prose Missing No dataThe stories in this collection belong to the “mature” period of the great Latin American writer’s work, when he had already achieved perfection in what made him famous and became his original “ business card"style of magical realism. Magic or the grotesque can be funny or frightening, plots can be fascinating or very conventional.
But the wonderful or monstrous invariably becomes part of reality - these are the rules of the game set by the writer, which the reader follows with pleasure.
Self-instruction manual for the Spanish language, 2nd ed., revised. and additional Training manual for open source software
Nadezhda Mikhailovna Shidlovskaya Educational literature Professional educationThe textbook is focused on developing communication skills in Spanish within the framework of the main lexical topics in the social and everyday sphere, acquiring grammatical and lexical knowledge necessary for successful communication. Texts selected from the works of Spanish and Latin American writers, dialogues compiled from radio broadcasts, and regional studies texts are accompanied by a dictionary of active vocabulary, lexical and grammatical commentary and reflect the current state of the Spanish language.
They will allow you to master reading techniques, practice grammatical forms, master basic stereotypical cues and develop speech reactions to certain life situations. The clear structure of the textbook and the system of exercises and test tests with keys developed by the authors will help in the development of basic linguistic competencies.
Exiles. Book to read in Spanish
Horacio Quiroga Stories Literatura classicaHoracio Quiroga (1878–1937) - Uruguayan writer who lived in Argentina, one of the most prominent Latin American writers, master short story. We present to our readers the complete unadapted text of the stories with comments and a dictionary.
Partisan's daughter
Louis de Bernières Modern romance novels AbsentLouis de Bernières, author of the bestselling book Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the Latin American magic trilogy and the epic novel The Wingless Birds, tells a poignant love story. He is forty, he is English, a traveling salesman against his will. His life passes under the news on the radio and the snoring of his wife and has imperceptibly turned into a swamp.
She's nineteen, Serbian, and a retired prostitute. Her life is full of events, but she is so tired of them that she wants to fall asleep and never wake up. She tells him stories - who knows how true they are? He saves money, hoping to buy it one day.
Shehryar and his Scheherazade. They seem to be in love with each other. They are for each other a rare chance to start over. But what is love? “I fell in love quite often,” he says, “but now I’m completely exhausted and I no longer understand what it means... Every time you fall in love a little differently.
And then, the word “love” itself became common. But it should be holy and hidden... Just now the thought came that love is something unnatural, which is known through films, novels and songs. How to distinguish love from lust? Well, lust is still understandable. So, maybe love is a savage torture invented by lust? Perhaps the answer lies in the pages of a new book by Louis de Bernières, a writer who has an invaluable property: he is not like anyone else, and all his works are not alike.
The secret of the WH project
Alexey Rostovtsev Spy detectives Missing No dataAlexey Aleksandrovich Rostovtsev is a retired colonel who served in Soviet intelligence for a quarter of a century, sixteen of which were abroad; writer, author of many books and publications, member of the Russian Writers' Union. In one of the deep canyons of the Latin American country of Aurica, forgotten by God and people, the sworn enemies of humanity have built a top-secret facility where weapons are being developed, designed to provide their owners with dominance over the world.
A few hours before his failure, a Soviet intelligence officer manages to uncover the secret of the Double-U-H facility.
Orchid hunter. Book to read in Spanish
Roberto Arlt Stories Prosa modernaWe present to our readers a collection of stories by Roberto Arlt (1900-1942), an Argentine writer of the “second tier”. His name is almost unknown to the Russian reader. Three Latin American titans - Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar and Gabriel García Márquez - hid with their powerful shadows more than a dozen names of outstanding, sometimes brilliant, writers of South America.
Arlt in his work demonstratively breaks with the traditions of “good literature” of the middle classes. The genre of his works is grotesque and tragic farce. In the rough language of the proletarian outskirts, he describes the life of the city bottom. The book contains the complete unadapted text of the short stories, equipped with comments and a dictionary.
The book is intended for students of language universities and all lovers of the Spanish language and literature.
Antarctica
Jose Maria Villagra Contemporary foreign literature Absent"An inspired sermon on inhumanity." “The amazing ability to see what is not there.” Latin American critics greeted this book with these words. The Chilean writer Jose Maria Villagra is still quite young and probably deserves not only flattering words, but, one way or another, “Antarctica” is a story that made people talk about him.
"Antarctica" is a classic utopia. And, like any utopia, it is nightmarish. People are dying of happiness! What could be more hopeless? Heaven, in essence, is also the end of the world. In any case, it’s heaven on earth. This is a world where there is no evil, which means there is no good. And where love is indistinguishable from brutality.
However, is all this really so fantastic? Despite the futurological orientation, the main idea of this story continues the theme to which, in fact, the entire World culture: everything around is not what it seems. Everything around only seems to us. And what has been said applies to the real world to a much greater extent than to the fictional one.
The characters in this book ask themselves a question that has been driving people crazy since the times of Plato and Aristotle. Why does life only seem to us? The escape from the unreality of existence begins with this question.
Spanish language. General course of grammar, vocabulary and conversation practice. Advanced Stage 2nd ed., IS
Marina Vladimirovna Larionova Educational literature Bachelor. Academic courseThe book is a continuation of the book “Esp@nol. hoy. Nivel B1. Spanish with elements of business communication for advanced students” by M. V. Larionova, N. I. Tsareva and A. Gonzalez-Fernandez. The textbook will help you understand the intricacies of using Spanish words, teach you how to use them correctly in various communication situations, introduce you to the peculiarities of the grammatical stylistics of the language, and also allow you to improve the art of conversational speech.
Diverse and fascinating texts will provide an opportunity to get in touch with modern Spanish and Latin American literature, which has given the world wonderful writers and poets. The textbook is the third of four books united under the title Esp@nol. hoy, and is addressed to students of linguistic and non-linguistic universities, foreign language courses, a wide range of people interested in the culture of Spanish-speaking countries and who have mastered the basics of normative grammar of the Spanish language.
About the literature and culture of the New World
Valery Zemskov Linguistics Russian PropylaeaIn the book of a famous literary and culturologist, professor, doctor philological sciences Valery Zemskov, the founder of the Russian school of humanitarian interdisciplinary Latin American studies, is still publishing the only monographic essay in Russian literary studies on the work of the classic 20th century, Nobel Prize winner, Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez.
Next, the history of culture and literature of the “Other World” (Christopher Columbus’s expression) – Latin America from its origins – “Discovery” and “Conquest”, chronicles of the 16th century is recreated. , Creole Baroque of the 17th century. (Juana Ines de la Cruz and others) to Latin American literature of the 19th-21st centuries.
– Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Jose Hernandez, Jose Marti, Ruben Dario and the famous “new” Latin American novel (Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Luis Borges, etc.). The theoretical chapters explore the specifics of cultural genesis in Latin America, which took place on the basis of intercivilizational interaction, the originality of Latin American cultural creativity, the role in this process of the phenomenon of “holiday”, carnival, and a special type of Latin American creative personality.
As a result, it is shown that in Latin America, literature, endowed with a creative innovative role, created the cultural consciousness of a new civilizational and cultural community, its own special world. The book is intended for literary scholars, cultural experts, historians, philosophers, as well as the general reader.
He went towards the sea. The secret of the WH project
Alexey Rostovtsev Historical literature AbsentWe present to your attention an audiobook based on the works of Alexei Rostovtsev (1934–2013), a retired colonel who served in Soviet intelligence for a quarter of a century, sixteen years of which abroad, a writer, author of many books and publications, a member of the Russian Writers' Union.
“GONE TO THE SEA” On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, the death of a South Korean Boeing over the Sea of Japan brought the world to the brink of disaster. All Western newspapers shouted about the barbarity of the Russians who shot down a peaceful plane. For many years, French plane crash specialist Michel Brun conducted an independent investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
Alexey Rostovtsev based the sensational conclusions of this investigation and Brun's argumentation as the basis of his story. “THE SECRET OF PROJECT WH” In one of the deep canyons of the Latin American country of Aurica, forgotten by God and people, the sworn enemies of humanity have built a top-secret facility where weapons are being developed, designed to provide their owners with dominance over the world.
Most of the stories could decorate any anthology, in best writer reaches Faulknerian heights. Valery Dashevsky is published in the USA and Israel. Time will tell whether he will become a classic, but before us, undoubtedly, is a master of modern prose, writing in Russian.
The victory over fascism entailed disruptions and the collapse of the colonial system in a number of formerly dependent countries of the African continent and Latin America. Liberation from military and economic domination and mass migrations during the Second World War led to an increase in national self-awareness. Liberation from colonial dependence in the second half of the 20th century led to the emergence of new literary continents. As a result of these processes, such concepts as the new Latin American novel, modern African prose and ethnic literature in the USA and Canada entered into reading and literary usage. Another important factor was the growth of planetary thinking, which did not allow for the “silence” of entire continents and the exclusion of cultural experience.
It is noteworthy that in the 1960s. In Russia, the so-called “multinational prose” is emerging - writers from among the indigenous peoples of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Siberia.
The interaction of traditional literatures with new realities has enriched world literature, gave impetus to the development of new mythopoetic images. Around the mid-1960s. It became clear that ethnic literatures, previously doomed to extinction or assimilation, could survive and develop in their own way within dominant civilizations. The most striking phenomenon of the relationship between the ethnocultural factor and literature was the rise of Latin American prose.
Even in the first half of the 20th century, the literature of Latin American countries could not compete with the countries of Europe (and even the East), because were mostly aesthetic epigones. However, starting from the second half of the 20th century, many young writers began to build their creative path, focusing on local traditions. Having absorbed the experience of the European experimental school, they were able to develop an original national literary style.
For the 1960-70s. This is the period of the so-called “boom” of the Latin American novel. During these years, the term “magical realism” spread in European and Latin American criticism. In a narrow sense, it denotes a certain movement in Latin American literature of the second half of the 20th century. In a broad sense, it is understood as a constant of Latin American artistic thinking and a general property of the culture of the continent.
The concept of Latin American magical realism is intended to highlight and distinguish it from European mythology and fantasy. These features were clearly embodied in the first works of Latin American magical realism - the story by A. Carpentier “The Dark Kingdom” (1949) and the novel by M.A. Asturias "The Corn People" (1949).
In their heroes, the personal element is muted and does not interest the writer. The heroes act as carriers of collective mythological consciousness. It is this that becomes the main object of the image. At the same time, writers replace their view of a civilized person with that of a primitive person. Latin American realists highlight reality through the prism of mythological consciousness. As a result of this, the depicted reality undergoes fantastic transformations. Works of magical realism are built on the interaction of artistic resources. “Civilized” consciousness is comprehended and compared with the mythological one.
Throughout the 20th century, Latin America moved towards a flourishing of artistic creativity. A wide variety of trends have developed on the continent. Realism actively developed, an elitist-modernist (with echoes of European existentialism) and then a postmodernist direction arose. Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cartazar Octavio Paz developed techniques and methods of “stream of consciousness” borrowed from Europe, the idea of the absurdity of the world, “alienation”, and playful discourse.
Elite Latin American writers - Octavio Paz, Juan Carlos Onetti, Mario Vergas Llos - had a conversation with themselves, trying to identify personal uniqueness. They sought national identity within the confines of well-established European storytelling techniques. This gave them very limited fame.
The task of the “magical realists” was different: they directly addressed their message to humanity, combining the national and the universal in a unique synthesis. This explains their phenomenal success around the world.
Poetics and artistic principles Latin American magical realism was influenced by European avant-gardeism. The general interest in primitive thinking, magic, and primitive art that gripped Europeans in the first third of the 20th century stimulated the interest of Latin American writers in Indians and African Americans. In the bosom of European culture, the concept of the fundamental difference between pre-rationalistic thinking and civilized thinking was created. This concept will be actively developed by Latin American writers.
From the avant-garde artists, mainly the surrealists, Latin American writers borrowed some principles of the fantastic transformation of reality. The European abstract “savage” acquired ethnocultural concreteness and clarity in the works of magical realism.
Concept different types thinking was projected into the area of cultural and civilizational confrontation between Latin America and Europe. The European surreal dream was replaced by a real-life myth. At the same time, Latin American writers relied not only on Indian and South American mythology, but also on the traditions of American chronicles of the 16th and 17th centuries. and their abundance of miraculous elements.
The ideological basis of magical realism was the writer’s desire to identify and affirm the originality of Latin American reality and culture, which is combined with the mythological consciousness of an Indian or African American.
Latin American magical realism had a significant impact on European and North American literature, and especially on the literature of the Third World.
In 1964, Costa Rican writer Joaquín Gutiérrez wrote in an article “On the Eve of the Great Bloom” reflected on the fate of the novel in Latin America: “Speaking of characteristic features Latin American novel, it should first of all be noted that it is relatively young. A little more than a hundred years have passed since its inception, and in Latin America there are countries where the first novel appeared only in our century. During the three-hundred-year colonial period of Latin American history, not a single novel was published - and, as far as we know, not written!... Over the past twenty years, the Latin American novel has moved forward with great momentum... While remaining Latin American, our novel has recently become more universal. And I think we can safely predict that he is on the eve of an era of great prosperity... A colossal novelist has not yet appeared in our literature, but we are not trailing behind. Let’s remember what we said at the beginning - that our romance dates back a little over a hundred years - and let’s wait some more time.”.
These words became prophetic for the Latin American novel. In 1963, the novel “Hopscotch” by Julio Cortazar appeared, in 1967, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez, which became a classic of Latin American literature.
Topic: Japanese literature.
In 1868, events took place in Japan called the “Meiji Restoration” (translated as “enlightened rule”). There was a restoration of the power of the emperor and the fall of the system of samurai rule of the shogunate. These events led Japan to follow the path of the European powers. Foreign policy is changing sharply, the “opening of doors” is announced, the end of external isolation that has lasted more than two centuries, and the implementation of a number of reforms. These dramatic changes in the life of the country were reflected in the literature of the Meiji period (1868-1912). During this time, the Japanese have gone from excessive enthusiasm for everything European to disappointment, from boundless delight to despair.
A distinctive feature of the traditional Japanese method is the author's indifference. The writer describes everything that comes into view in everyday reality, without giving judgment. The desire to depict things without introducing anything from oneself is explained by the Buddhist attitude towards the world as non-existent, illusory. One's own experiences are described in the same way. The essence of the traditional Japanese method lies precisely in the author’s non-involvement in what is being discussed, the author “follows the brush,” the movement of his soul. The text contains a description of what the author saw or heard, experienced, but there is no desire to understand what is happening. There is no traditional European analyticism in them. The words of Daiseku Suzuki about Zen art can be attributed to all classical Japanese literature: “They sought to convey with their brush what moves them from within. They themselves were not aware of how to express the inner spirit, and expressed it with a cry or a blow of the brush. Maybe this is not art at all, because there is no art in what they did. And if there is, it is very primitive. But is it? Could we succeed in “civilization,” in other words, in artifice, if we strived for artlessness? This was precisely the goal and basis of all artistic quests.”
In the Buddhist worldview underlying Japanese literature, there could be no desire to explore human life, understand its meaning, because the truth lies on the other side visible world and inaccessible to understanding. It can only be experienced in a special state of mind, in a state of highest concentration, when a person merges with the world. In this system of thinking there was no idea of creating the world; Buddha did not create the world, but understood it. Therefore, man was not looked at as a potential creator. From the point of view of Buddhist theory, a living being is not a being living in the world, but a being experiencing the world. In this system of values, a method of analysis that presupposes division could not appear. Hence the indifferent attitude towards what is depicted, when the writer feels himself both a participant and a spectator of the events described.
Therefore, traditional Japanese literature is not characterized by torment, lamentation, and doubt. There are no internal struggles in her, no desire to change fate, challenge fate, all that permeates European literature, starting from ancient tragedy.
For many centuries, the aesthetic ideal has been embodied in Japanese poetry
Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1975)- classic of Japanese literature. In 1968, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for “writing that expresses with great force the essence of Japanese thought.”
Yasunari Kawabata was born in Osaka into the family of a doctor. He lost his parents early, and then his grandfather, who raised him. He lived with relatives, feeling bitterly about being an orphan. During my school years I dreamed of becoming an artist, but my passion for literature turned out to be stronger. His first writing experience was “The Diary of a Sixteen-Year-Old,” which conveyed sentiments of sadness and loneliness.
His student years were spent at the University of Tokyo, where Kawabata Yasunari studied English and Japanese philology. At this time, an acquaintance with the works of the greatest Japanese and European writers and Russian literature took place. After graduating from university, he works as a reviewer, publishing reviews of published books. During these years, he was part of a group of “neosensualist” writers who were sensitive to new trends in the literature of European modernism. One of Kawabata Yasunari’s stories “Crystal Fantasy” (1930) was often called “Joycean”; in its structure and style of writing, the influence of the author of “Ulysses” was felt. The story is a stream of memories of the heroine, her whole life emerges in a series of “crystalline” moments flashing in her memory. Reproducing the stream of consciousness, conveying the work of memory, Kawabata was largely guided by Joyce and Proust. Like other writers of the 20th century, he did not ignore modernist experiments. But at the same time, he remains an exponent of the originality and originality of Japanese thinking. Kawabata maintains strong ties to the national Japanese tradition. Kawabata wrote: " Getting carried away modern literature West, I sometimes tried to imitate her images. But I am fundamentally an Eastern person and have never lost sight of my own path ».
The poetics of Kawabata Yasunari's works are characterized by the following traditional Japanese motifs:
Spontaneity and clarity of conveying a heartfelt feeling towards nature and man;
Merging with nature
Close attention to detail;
The ability to reveal enchanting beauty in everyday and small things;
Laconism in reproducing the nuances of mood;
Quiet sadness, wisdom bestowed by life.
All this allows you to feel the harmony of existence with its eternal secrets.
The originality of Kawabata Yasunari’s poetic prose was manifested in the stories “The Dancer from Izidu” (1926), “Snow Country” (1937), “A Thousand Cranes” (1949), “Lake” (1954), in the novels “The Moan of the Mountain” (1954), "Old Capital" (1962). All works are imbued with lyricism and a high level of psychologism. They describe Japanese traditions, customs, features of life and behavior of people. For example, in the story “A Thousand Cranes” the ritual of tea drinking, the “tea ceremony”, which is important in the life of the Japanese, is reproduced in every detail. The aesthetics of the tea ritual, as well as other customs that are always written out in detail, by no means isolate Kawabata from the problems of the modern era. He survived two world wars, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bomb explosions, and the Japanese-Chinese wars in his memory. Therefore, traditions associated with the concept of peace, harmony and beauty, and not with the exaltation of military power and samurai valor, are especially dear to him. Kawabata protects the souls of people from the cruelty of confrontation
Kawabata's work developed under the influence of Zen aesthetics. In accordance with the teachings of Zen, reality is understood as an indivisible whole, and the true nature of things can only be comprehended intuitively. It is not analysis and logic, but feeling and intuition that bring us closer to revealing the essence of phenomena, the eternal mystery. Not everything can be expressed in words and not everything has to be said to the end. A mention or a hint is enough. The charm of understatement has an impressive power. These principles, developed over the centuries in Japanese poetry, are also realized in the work of Kawabata.
Kawabata sees the beauty of the ordinary, his life surroundings. He depicts nature, the world of plants, and scenes of everyday life in a lyrical way, with the insightful wisdom of humanity. The writer shows the life of nature and the life of man in their commonality, in continuous interpenetration. This reveals a feeling of belonging to the absolute of nature, the universe. Kawabata has the ability to recreate the atmosphere of reality, for this he accurately selects authentic colors and smells of his native land.
One of the central aspects of the aesthetics of Japanese art is the idea of the sad charm of things. The beautiful in classical Japanese literature has an elegiac tone, poetic images imbued with a mood of sadness, melancholy. In poetry, as in a traditional garden, there is nothing superfluous, nothing unnecessary, but there is always imagination, a hint, a certain incompleteness and surprise. The same feeling arises when reading Kawabata's books; the reader discovers complicated attitude the author to his heroes: sympathy and sympathy, mercy and tenderness, bitterness, pain. Kawabata's work is full of traditional Japanese contemplation, humor, and a subtle understanding of nature and its impact on the human soul. It reveals the inner world of a person striving for happiness. One of the main themes of his work is sadness, loneliness, and the impossibility of love.
In the most ordinary, in a small detail of boring everyday life, something essential is revealed, revealing a person’s state of mind. Details are constantly in the focus of Kawabata's vision. However objective world he does not suppress the movement of character, the narrative contains psychological analysis and is distinguished by great artistic taste.
Many chapters of Kawabata’s works begin with lines about nature, which seem to set the tone for the subsequent narrative. Sometimes nature is just the backdrop against which the characters’ lives unfold. But sometimes it seems to take on an independent meaning. The author seems to encourage us to learn from her, to comprehend her unknown secrets, seeing in communication with nature unique ways of moral and aesthetic improvement of man. Kawabata's work is characterized by a sense of the grandeur of nature and the sophistication of visual perception. Through images of nature he reveals movements human soul, and therefore many of his works are multifaceted and have hidden subtext. Kawabata's language is an example of Japanese style. Brief, succinct, deep, it has imagery and impeccable metaphor.
The poetry of the rose, high literary skill, humanistic thought about caring for nature and man, for the traditions of national art - all this makes Kawabata’s art an outstanding phenomenon in Japanese literature and in the global art of words.
Latin American literature- this is the literature of Latin American countries, forming a single linguistic and cultural region (Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, etc.). The emergence of Latin American literature dates back to the 16th century, when during colonization the language of the conquerors spread across the continent. In most countries, Spanish is widespread, in Brazil - Portuguese, in Haiti - French. As a result, the beginning of Latin American Spanish-language literature was laid by the conquerors, Christian missionaries, and, as a result, Latin American literature at that time was secondary, i.e. had a clear European character, was religious, preaching or was of a journalistic nature. Gradually, the culture of the colonialists began to interact with the culture of the indigenous Indian population, and in a number of countries with the culture of the black population - the mythology and folklore of slaves taken from Africa. The synthesis of various cultural models continued even after the beginning of the 19th century. As a result of liberation wars and revolutions, the independent republics of Latin America were formed. It was at the beginning of the 19th century. refers to the beginning of the formation of independent literatures in each country with their inherent national specifics. As a result, the independent oriental literatures of the Latin American region are quite young. In this regard, there is a distinction: Latin American literature is 1) young, existing as an original phenomenon since the 19th century, based on the literature of settlers from Europe - Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc. and 2) ancient literature of the indigenous inhabitants of Latin America: Indians ( Aztecs, Incas, Maltecs), who had their own literature, but this original mythological tradition has now practically broken off and is not developing.
The peculiarity of the Latin American artistic tradition (the so-called “artistic code”) is that it is synthetic in nature, formed as a result of the organic combination of the most diverse cultural layers. Mythological universal images, as well as reinterpreted European images and motifs in Latin American culture are combined with original Indian and own historical traditions. A variety of heterogeneous and at the same time universal figurative constants are present in the work of most Latin American writers, which constitutes a single foundation for individual art worlds within the framework of the Latin American artistic tradition and forms a unique image of the world, which has been formed over the course of five hundred years since the discovery of the New World by Columbus. The most mature works of Marquez and Fuentos are built on the cultural-philosophical opposition: “Europe - America”, “Old World - New World”.
The literature of Latin America, existing mainly in Spanish and Portuguese, was formed through the interaction of two different rich cultural traditions - European and Indian. Native American literature continued to develop in some cases after the Spanish conquest. Of the surviving works of pre-Columbian literature, most were written down by missionary monks. Thus, to this day, the main source for the study of Aztec literature remains the work of Fray B. de Sahagún, “The History of Things of New Spain,” created between 1570 and 1580. Masterpieces of Mayan literature written shortly after the conquest have also been preserved: the collection of historical legends and cosmogonic myths “Popol Vuh” and the prophetic books “Chilam Balam”. Thanks to the collecting activities of the monks, examples of “pre-Columbian” Peruvian poetry that existed in the oral tradition have reached us. Their work in the same 16th century. supplemented by two famous chroniclers of Indian origin - Inca Garcilaso de La Vega and F. G. Poma de Ayala.
The primary layer of Latin American literature in Spanish consists of diaries, chronicles and messages (so-called reports, i.e. reports on military operations, diplomatic negotiations, descriptions of military operations, etc.) of the pioneers and conquistadors themselves. Christopher Columbus outlined his impressions of the newly discovered lands in his “Diary of his First Voyage” (1492-1493) and three letters-reports addressed to the Spanish royal couple. Columbus often interprets American realities in a fantastic way, reviving numerous geographical myths and legends that filled Western European literature from antiquity to the 14th century. The discovery and conquest of the Aztec Empire in Mexico is reflected in five letters-reports of E. Cortes sent to Emperor Charles V between 1519 and 1526. A soldier from Cortes's detachment, B. Diaz del Castillo, described these events in The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (1563), one of the best books of the Conquest era. In the process of discovering the lands of the New World, in the minds of the conquistadors, old European myths and legends, combined with Indian legends ("The Fountain of Eternal Youth", "Seven Cities of Sivola", "Eldorado", etc.) were revived and reinterpreted. The persistent search for these mythical places determined the entire course of the conquest and, to some extent, the early colonization of the territories. A number of literary monuments of the Conquest era are represented by detailed testimonies of participants in such expeditions. Among works of this kind, the most interesting are the famous book “Shipwrecks” (1537) by A. Cabeza de Vaca, who, during eight years of wandering, was the first European to cross the North American continent in a western direction, and “The Narrative of the New Discovery of the Illustrious great river Amazons" by Fray G. de Carvajal.
Another body of Spanish texts from this period consists of chronicles created by Spanish and sometimes Indian historiographers. The humanist B. de Las Casas was the first to criticize the conquest in his History of the Indies. In 1590, the Jesuit J. de Acosta published the Natural and Moral History of the Indies. In Brazil, G. Soares de Souza wrote one of the most informative chronicles of this period - “Description of Brazil in 1587, or News of Brazil.” The Jesuit J. de Anchieta, the author of chronicle texts, sermons, lyric poems and religious plays (auto), also stands at the origins of Brazilian literature. The most significant playwrights of the 16th century. there were E. Fernandez de Eslaya, author of religious and secular plays, and J. Ruiz de Alarcón. The highest achievements in the genre of epic poetry were the poem “The Greatness of Mexico” (1604) by B. de Balbuena, “Elegies on the Illustrious Men of the Indies” (1589) by J. de Castellanos and “Araucana” (1569-1589) by A. de Ersilly-i- Zúñiga, which describes the conquest of Chile.
During the colonial period, Latin American literature was focused on literary trends, popular in Europe (i.e. in the metropolis). The aesthetics of the Spanish Golden Age, particularly the Baroque, quickly permeated the intellectual circles of Mexico and Peru. One of the best works of Latin American prose of the 17th century. - the chronicle of the Colombian J. Rodriguez Fraile “El Carnero” (1635) is more artistic in style than a historiographical work. The artistic attitude manifested itself even more clearly in the chronicle of the Mexican C. Sigüenza y Góngora, “The Misadventures of Alonso Ramírez,” fictional story shipwrecked sailor. If the prose writers of the 17th century. were unable to reach the level of full-fledged artistic writing, stopping halfway between a chronicle and a novel, then the poetry of this period reached a high degree of development. The Mexican nun Juana Ines de La Cruz (1648-1695), a major literary figure of the colonial era, created unsurpassed examples of Latin American baroque poetry. In Peruvian poetry of the 17th century. philosophical and satirical orientation dominated over the aesthetic, as manifested in the works of P. de Peralta Barnuevo and J. del Valle y Caviedes. In Brazil, the most significant writers of this period were A. Vieira, who wrote sermons and treatises, and A. Fernandez Brandon, author of the book “Dialogue on the Splendors of Brazil” (1618).
The process of formation of Creole identity by the end of the 17th century. acquired a distinct character. A critical attitude towards colonial society and the need for its reconstruction are expressed in the satirical book of the Peruvian A. Carrió de La Vandera, “The Guide of the Blind Wanderers” (1776). The same educational pathos was asserted by the Ecuadorian F. J. E. de Santa Cruz y Espejo in the book “New Lucian from Quito, or Awakener of Minds,” written in the genre of dialogue. Mexican H.H. Fernandez de Lisardi (1776-1827) began his career in literature as a satirist poet. In 1816, he published the first Latin American novel, Periquillo Sarniento, where he expressed critical social ideas within the picaresque genre. Between 1810-1825 The War of Independence broke out in Latin America. During this era, poetry achieved the greatest public resonance. A notable example of the use of the classicist tradition is the heroic ode “Song of Bolivar, or Victory at Junin” by the Ecuadorian H.H. Olmedo. A. Bello became the spiritual and literary leader of the independence movement, who strove in his poetry to reflect Latin American issues in the traditions of neoclassicism. The third of the most significant poets of that period was H.M. Heredia (1803-1839), whose poetry became a transitional stage from neoclassicism to romanticism. In Brazilian poetry of the 18th century. the philosophy of enlightenment was combined with stylistic innovations. Its largest representatives were T.A. Gonzaga, M.I. da Silva Alvarenga and I.J. yes Alvarenga Peixoto.
In the first half of the 19th century. Latin American literature was dominated by the influence European romanticism. The cult of individual freedom, the rejection of Spanish tradition and a renewed interest in American themes were closely associated with the growing self-awareness of developing nations. The conflict between European civilizational values and the reality of the American countries that have recently thrown off the colonial yoke is entrenched in the opposition “barbarism - civilization”. This conflict was most acutely and deeply reflected in Argentine historical prose in the famous book by D.F. Sarmiento, Civilization and Barbarism. The Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga" (1845), in the novel "Amalia" by J. Marmol (1851-1855) and in the story "The Massacre" by E. Echeverria (c. 1839). In the 19th century In Latin American culture, many romantic works were created. The best examples of this genre are “Maria” (1867) by the Colombian H. Isaacs, the novel by the Cuban S. Villaverde “Cecilia Valdez” (1839), dedicated to the problem of slavery, and the novel by the Ecuadorian J. L. Mera “Cumanda, or Drama among the Savages” ( 1879), reflecting the interest of Latin American writers in Indian themes. In connection with the romantic fascination with local color, an original movement arose in Argentina and Uruguay - gauchi literature (from gáucho). The gaucho is a natural man ("man-beast") who lives in harmony with the wild. Against this background is the problem of “barbarism - civilization” and the search for the ideal of harmony between man and nature. An unsurpassed example of Gauchista poetry was the lyric-epic poem by the Argentinean J. Hernandez “Gaucho Martin Fierro” (1872). The theme of the gaucho found its full expression in one of the most famous works of Argentine prose - the novel Don Segundo Sombra by Ricardo Guiraldez (1926), which presents the image of a noble gaucho teacher.
In addition to Gauchista literature, Argentine literature also contains works written in the special genre of tango. In them, the action is transferred from the pampa and selva to the city and its suburbs and as a result a new marginal hero appears, the heir of the gaucho - a resident of the outskirts and suburbs of a big city, a bandit, a cumanec compadrito with a knife and a guitar in his hands. Peculiarities: mood of anguish, changes in emotions, the hero is always “out” and “against”. One of the first to turn to the poetics of tango was the Argentine poet Evarcito Carriego. The influence of tango on Argentine literature of the first half of the twentieth century. significantly, representatives of various movements experienced his influence, the poetics of tango manifested itself especially clearly in the work of the early Borges. Borges himself calls his early work “the mythology of the suburbs.” In Borges, the previously marginal hero of the suburbs turns into a national hero, he loses his tangibility and turns into an archetypal image-symbol.
The founder and largest representative of realism in Latin American literature was the Chilean A. Blest Gana (1830-1920), and naturalism found its best incarnation in the novels of the Argentinean E. Cambaceres “Whistling the Rogue” (1881-1884) and “Without a Purpose” (1885).
The largest figure in Latin American literature of the 19th century. became the Cuban H. Marti (1853-1895), an outstanding poet, thinker, and politician. He spent most of his life in exile and died while participating in the Cuban War of Independence. In his works, he affirmed the concept of art as a social act and denied any form of aesthetics and elitism. Martí published three collections of poetry—Free Poems (1891), Ismaelillo (1882), and Simple Poems (1882). His poetry is characterized by intensity of lyrical feeling and depth of thought with external simplicity and clarity of form.
In the last years of the 19th century. Modernism made itself known in Latin America. Formed under the influence of the French Parnassians and Symbolists, Spanish-American modernism gravitated towards exotic imagery and proclaimed the cult of beauty. The beginning of this movement is associated with the publication of the collection of poems "Azure" (1888) by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dari"o (1867-1916). Among his many followers, the Argentinean Leopold Lugones (1874-1938), author of the symbolist collection "Golden Mountains" (1897) stands out ), Colombian J. A. Silva, Bolivian R. Jaimes Freire, who created a landmark book for the entire movement “Barbarian Castalia” (1897), Uruguayans Delmira Agustini and J. Herrera y Reissig, Mexicans M. Gutiérrez Najera, A. Nervo and S. Diaz Miron, the Peruvians M. Gonzalez Prada and J. Santos Chocano, the Cuban J. del Casal. The best example of modernist prose was the novel “The Glory of Don Ramiro” (1908) by the Argentinean E. Laretta. In Brazilian literature, the new modernist self-awareness found its highest level. expression in the poetry of A. Gonçalves Di'as (1823-1864).
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. The genre of the story, short novel, novella (household, detective) has become widespread, which have not yet reached high level. In the 20s XX century the so-called the first novel system. The novel was represented mainly by the genres of social-everyday and socio-political novels; these novels still lacked complex psychological analysis and generalization, and as a result, the novel prose of that time did not produce significant names. The largest representative of the realistic novel of the second half of the 19th century. became J. Machshado de Assis. The deep influence of the Parnassian school in Brazil was reflected in the work of the poets A. de Oliveira and R. Correia, and the influence of French symbolism marked the poetry of J. da Cruz i Sousa. At the same time, the Brazilian version of modernism is radically different from the Spanish American one. Brazilian modernism arose in the early 1920s at the intersection of national sociocultural concepts with avant-garde theories. The founders and spiritual leaders of this movement were M. di Andradi (1893-1945) and O. di Andradi (1890-1954).
Deep spiritual crisis European culture at the turn of the century forced many European artists to turn to the countries of the “third world” in search of new values. For their part, Latin American writers who lived in Europe absorbed and widely disseminated these trends, which largely determined the nature of their work after returning to their homeland and the development of new literary trends in Latin America.
Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) was the first Latin American writer to receive the Nobel Prize (1945). However, against the background of Latin American poetry of the first half of the 20th century. her lyrics, simple thematically and in form, are perceived rather as an exception. Since 1909, when Leopold Lugones published the collection “Sentimental Lunarium”, the development of L.-A. poetry took a completely different path.
In accordance with the fundamental principle of avant-gardeism, art was considered as a creation of a new reality and was opposed to an imitative (here - mimesis) reflection of reality. This idea formed the core of creationism, a movement created by the Chilean poet Vincente Huidobro (1893-1948) after his return from Paris. Vincent Huydobro was actively involved in the Dada movement. He is called the forerunner of Chilean surrealism, while researchers note that he did not accept the two foundations of the movement - automatism and the cult of dreams. This direction is based on the idea that the artist creates a world different from the real one. The most famous Chilean poet was Pablo Neruda (1904, Parral -1973, Santiago. Real name - Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basualto), Nobel Prize winner in 1971. Sometimes they try to interpret the poetic legacy (43 collections) of Pablo Neruda as surreal, but this is a controversial issue. On the one hand, there is a connection with the surrealism of Neruda’s poetry, on the other hand, he stands outside of literary groups. In addition to his association with surrealism, Pablo Neruda is known as an extremely politically engaged poet.
In the mid-1930s. declared himself the greatest Mexican poet of the 20th century. Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Nobel Prize laureate (1990). In his philosophical lyrics, built on free associations, synthesizes the poetics of T. S. Eliot and surrealism, Indian mythology and Eastern religions.
In Argentina, avant-garde theories were embodied in the ultraist movement, which saw poetry as a collection of catchy metaphors. One of the founders and the largest representative of this movement was Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). In the Antilles, the Puerto Rican L. Pales Matos (1899-1959) and the Cuban N. Guillen (1902-1989) stood at the head of Negrism, a continent-wide literary movement designed to identify and establish the African-American layer of Latin American culture. The Negrist movement was reflected in the work of the early Alejo Carpentier (1904, Havana - 1980, Paris). Carpentier was born in Cuba (his father is French). His first novel, Ekue-Yamba-O! was begun in Cuba in 1927, written in Paris and published in Madrid in 1933. While working on the novel, Carpentier lived in Paris and was directly involved in the activities of the surrealist group. In 1930, Carpentier, among others, signed Breton’s pamphlet “The Corpse.” Against the backdrop of the surrealist fascination with the “wonderful,” Carpentier explores the African worldview as the embodiment of an intuitive, childish, naive perception of life. Soon Carpenier was ranked among the “dissidents” among the surrealists. In 1936, he facilitated the departure of Antonin Artaud to Mexico (he stayed there for about a year), and shortly before World War II he himself returned to Cuba, to Havana. Under the rule of Fidel Castro, Carpentier enjoyed a distinguished career as a diplomat, poet and novelist. His most famous novels are The Age of Enlightenment (1962) and The Vicissitudes of Method (1975).
The work of one of the most original Latin American poets of the 20th century was formed on an avant-garde basis. - Peruvian Cesar Vallejo (1892-1938). From his first books - "Black Heralds" (1918) and "Trilse" (1922) - to the collection "Human Poems" (1938), published posthumously, his lyrics, marked by purity of form and depth of content, expressed a painful sense of man's loss in the modern world , a mournful feeling of loneliness, finding solace only in brotherly love, focus on the themes of time and death.
With the spread of avant-gardeism in the 1920s. Latin American dramaturgy was guided by the main European theatrical trends. The Argentinean R. Arlt and the Mexican R. Usigli wrote a number of plays in which the influence of European playwrights, in particular L. Pirandelo and J.B. Shaw, was clearly visible. Later in L.-A. The influence of B. Brecht prevailed in the theater. From modern l.-a. Among the most prominent playwrights are E. Carballido from Mexico, the Argentinean Griselda Gambaro, the Chilean E. Wolff, the Colombian E. Buenaventura and the Cuban J. Triana.
The regional novel, which developed in the first third of the 20th century, was focused on depicting local specifics - nature, gauchos, latifundists, provincial politics, etc.; or he recreated events national history(for example, the events of the Mexican Revolution). The largest representatives of this trend were the Uruguayan O. Quiroga and the Colombian H. E. Rivera, who described the cruel world of the selva; Argentinean R. Guiraldes, continuer of the traditions of Gauchista literature; the founder of the Mexican novel of the revolution, M. Azuela, and the famous Venezuelan prose writer Romulo Gallegos (was president of Venezuela in 1947-1948). Rómulo Gallegos is known for his novels Dona Barbara and Cantaclaro (according to Márquez, Gallegos's best book).
Along with regionalism in prose of the first half of the 19th century. Indichianism developed - literary direction, designed to reflect the current state of Indian cultures and the peculiarities of their interaction with the world of white people. The most representative figures of Spanish-American indigenism were the Ecuadorian J. Icaza, author of the famous novel “Huasipungo” (1934), the Peruvians S. Alegria, creator of the novel “In a Big and Alien World” (1941), and J.M. Arguedas, who reflected the mentality of modern Quechuas in the novel “Deep Rivers” (1958), the Mexican Rosario Castellanos and the Nobel Prize winner (1967) Guatemalan prose writer and poet Miguel Angel Asturias (1899-1974). Miguel Angel Asturias is known primarily as the author of the novel “Señor President.” Opinions about this novel are divided. For example, Marquez believes that this is one of the worst novels created in Latin America. In addition to large novels, Asturias also wrote smaller works, for example, “Legends of Guatemala” and many others, which made him worthy of the Nobel Prize.
The “new Latin American novel” began in the late 1930s. twentieth century, when Jorge Luis Borges in his work achieves a synthesis of Latin American and European traditions and comes to his own original style. The foundation for uniting various traditions in his work is universal human values. Gradually, Latin American literature acquires the features of world literature and becomes less regional; its focus is on universal, human values, and as a result the novels become increasingly philosophical.
After 1945, a trend progressed associated with the intensification of the national liberation struggle in Latin America, as a result of which the countries of Latin America gained true independence. Economic success of Mexico and Argentina. Cuban People's Revolution of 1959 (leader - Fidel Castro). It was then that a new Latin American literature emerged. For the 60s account for the so-called the “boom” of Latin American literature in Europe as a logical consequence of the Cuban Revolution. Before this event, people in Europe knew little or nothing about Latin America and perceived these countries as distant, backward countries of the “third world.” As a result, publishing houses in Europe and Latin America itself refused to publish Latin American novels. For example, Márquez, having written his first story, Fallen Leaves, around 1953, was forced to wait about four years for it to be published. After the Cuban revolution, Europeans and North Americans discovered not only previously unknown Cuba, but also, in the wake of interest in Cuba, all of Latin America and with it its literature. Latin American fiction existed long before the boom in it. Juan Rulfo published Pedro Páramo in 1955; Carlos Fuentes presented "The Edge of Cloudless Clarity" at the same time; Alejo Carpentier published his first books long before that. In the wake of the Latin American boom through Paris and New York, thanks to positive reviews from European and North American critics, Latin American readers discovered that they had their own, original, valuable literature.
In the second half of the twentieth century. the local novel system is replaced by the concept of an integral system. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez coins the term “total” or “integrative novel.” Such a novel should include a variety of issues and represent the syncretism of the genre: a fusion of elements of a philosophical, psychological, and fantasy novel. Closer to the beginning of the 40s. In the twentieth century, the very concept of new prose was theoretically formalized. Latin America is trying to recognize itself as a kind of individuality. New literature includes not only magical realism, other genres are developing: social-everyday, socio-political novel, and non-realistic directions (Argentines Borges, Cortazar), but still the leading method is magical realism. “Magical realism” in Latin American literature is associated with a synthesis of realism and folklore and mythological ideas, and realism is perceived as fantasy, and fabulous, wonderful, fantastic phenomena as reality, even more material than reality itself. Alejo Carpentier: “The multiple and contradictory reality of Latin America itself generates the “wonderful” and you just need to be able to reflect it in the artistic word.”
Since the 1940s. Europeans Kafka, Joyce, A. Gide and Faulkner began to have a significant influence on Latin American writers. However, in Latin American literature, formal experimentation, as a rule, was combined with social issues, and sometimes with overt political engagement. If regionalists and Indianists preferred to depict a rural environment, then in the novels of the new wave an urban, cosmopolitan background predominates. The Argentinean R. Arlt showed in his works the inner failure, depression and alienation of the city dweller. The same gloomy atmosphere reigns in the prose of his compatriots - E. Maglie (b. 1903) and E. Sabato (b. 1911), author of the novel “On Heroes and Graves” (1961). A bleak picture of city life is painted by the Uruguayan J.C. Onetti in the novels “The Well” (1939), “A Brief Life” (1950), “The Skeleton Junta” (1965). Borges, one of the most famous writers of our time, plunged into a self-sufficient metaphysical world created by the play of logic, the interweaving of analogies, and the confrontation between the ideas of order and chaos. In the second half of the 20th century. l.-a. literature presented an incredible wealth and variety of artistic prose. In his stories and novels, the Argentine J. Cortazar explored the boundaries of reality and fantasy. Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936) revealed the internal connection of L.-A. corruption and violence with a “machisto” complex (macho). The Mexican Juan Rulfo, one of the greatest writers of this generation, in the collection of stories “Plain on Fire” (1953) and the novel (story) “Pedro Paramo” (1955), revealed a deep mythological substrate that determines modern reality. Juan Rulfo's novel "Pedro Páramo" Márquez calls, if not the best, not the most extensive, not the most significant, then the most beautiful of all the novels that have ever been written in Spanish. Marquez says about himself that if he had written “Pedro Paramo,” he would not have cared about anything and would not have written anything else for the rest of his life.
The world-famous Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes (b. 1929) dedicated his works to the study of national character. In Cuba, J. Lezama Lima recreated the process of artistic creation in the novel Paradise (1966), while Alejo Carpentier, one of the founders of “magical realism,” combined French rationalism with tropical sensuality in the novel The Age of Enlightenment (1962). But the most “magical” of l.-a. writers is rightfully considered the author of the famous novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (1967), the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez (b. 1928), Nobel Prize winner in 1982. Such literary works have also become widely known. novels such as “The Betrayal of Rita Hayworth” (1968) by the Argentinean M. Puig, “Three Sad Tigers” (1967) by the Cuban G. Cabrera Infante, “The Indecent Bird of the Night” (1970) by the Chilean J. Donoso and others.
The most interesting work of Brazilian literature in the genre of documentary prose is the book “Sertans” (1902), written by journalist E. da Cunha. Contemporary Brazilian fiction is represented by Jorge Amado (b. 1912), the creator of many regional novels marked by a sense of involvement in social problems; E. Verisima, who reflected city life in the novels “Crossroads” (1935) and “Only Silence Remains” (1943); and the greatest Brazilian writer of the 20th century. J. Rosa, who in his famous novel “Paths of the Great Sertan” (1956) developed a special artistic language to convey the psychology of the inhabitants of the vast Brazilian semi-deserts. Other Brazilian novelists include Raquel de Queiroz (The Three Marys, 1939), Clarice Lispector (The Hour of the Star, 1977), M. Souza (Galves, Emperor of the Amazon, 1977) and Nelida Piñon (Heat things", 1980).
Literature:
Kuteyshchikova V.N., Roman of Latin America in the 20th century, M., 1964;
Formation of national literatures of Latin America, M., 1970;
Mamontov S.P., Diversity and unity of cultures, "Latin America", 1972, No. 3;
Torres-Rioseco A., Great Latin American Literature, M., 1972.
Let's move on to another equally talented literature - Latin American. Edition The Telegraph created a selection of 10 best novels writers from Latin America and works set there. The selection is truly worth summer reading. Which authors have you already read?
Graham Greene "Power and Glory" (1940)
This time, a novel by British writer Graham Greene about a Catholic priest in Mexico in the 1920s and 30s. At the same time, brutal persecution of the Catholic Church by the military organization “Red Shirts” took place in the country. The main character, contrary to the orders of the authorities, under pain of execution without trial or investigation, continues to visit remote villages (his wife and his child live in one of them), serve masses, baptize, confess and give communion to his parishioners. In 1947, the novel was filmed by John Ford.
Ernesto Che Guevara "The Motorcycle Diaries" (1993)
The story is about how a young Che Guevara, a 23-year-old medical student, sets off from Argentina on a motorcycle trip. He returns as a man with a mission. According to his daughter, he returned from there even more sensitive to the problems of Latin America. The journey lasted nine months. During this time he covered eight thousand kilometers. In addition to motorcycles, he traveled by horse, boat, ferry, bus, and hitchhiking. The book is a story of a journey of self-discovery.
Octavio Paz "Labyrinth of Loneliness" (1950)
“Loneliness is the deepest meaning of human existence,”- wrote the Mexican poet Octavio Paz in this famous collection of poems. “A person is always longing and searching for belonging. Therefore, every time we feel like a person, we feel the absence of another, we feel lonely.” And many more beautiful and deep things about loneliness were comprehended by Paz and turned into poetry.
Isabel Allende "House of Spirits" (1982)
Isabel Allende's idea for this novel began when she received news that her 100-year-old grandfather was dying. She decided to write him a letter. This letter became the manuscript of his debut novel "House of Spirits" In it, the novelist created the history of Chile using the example of a family saga through the stories of female heroines. "Five years", Allende says, I was already a feminist, but no one knew this word in Chile.” This novel is written in the best traditions of magical realism. Before becoming a bestseller in the world, it was rejected by several publishers.
Paulo Coelho "Alchemist" (1988)
A book that was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of translations by a modern author. The allegorical novel by the Brazilian writer tells the story of the journey of an Andalusian shepherd to Egypt. main idea books - if you really want something, it will happen.
Roberto Bolaño "Wild Detectives" (1998)
“Born in 1953, the year Stalin and Dylan Thomas died,” Bolaño wrote in his biography. This is the story of the search for a Mexican poet in the 1920s by two other poets - Arturo Bolaño (the prototype of the author) and the Mexican Ulises Lima. For it, the Chilean author received the Romulo Gallegos Prize.
Laura Esquivel "Like water for chocolate" (1989)
“We are all born with a box of matches inside, and since we cannot light them ourselves, we need, as happens during the experiment, oxygen and a candle flame,” writes Esquivel in this charming and realistic Mexican melodrama. main feature works is that emotions main character Tits get into everything delicious dishes which she prepares.