Sunday NY Times has an intersting article, A3, on the new novelists in post-Garcia-Marquez Colombia. Garcia's masterpiece, 100 Years of Solitude, was written in 1967 and introduced "Magical Realism" to the Latin American literature scene. The idea was to first examine the fantastic aspects of Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar (who reads like a bad acid trip), and others who wrote stories that brought mythology and surrealism to a Latin American setting. Then, combine these styles with the more straightforward stories of European authors, as well as a few Latin writers like Nicolas Guillen (before he sold himself and his talent to Castro.) The resulting fusion was called Magical Realism, and is said to have ushed in the vanguard of 60's and 70's Latin writers: Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, etc. Then came Isabel Allende, Rosario Ferre, blah blah blah. I like Garcia-Marquez and love Fuentes, (in a very non-sexual way, the guy is like 73 now...twenty years ago maybe...)but like all literary movements, magical realism is giving way.
The Times article focuses on a few Colombian writers, none of whom I've heard of. This guy Mario Mendoza and his book Satanas sounds interesting, as do Jorge Franco and his book Rosario Tijeras. The gist of the article is that these guys have not grown up in the Colombia of Garcia-Marquez, i.e. Colombia is far more fucked up now. So the novels are all those things that book reviewers like to use such as "gritty," and "raw." In sum, an interesting article that also gives its due to the origiinal Colombian master. Read it if your into this kind of thing.
I guess I did learn something from all those Spanish Lit classes I've taken here. Ain't that some shit? Not damn near enough, but maybe I can fool some artsy chick at a bookstore or something. I wonder if I should mail this to my old Colombian boss Juan? Oh wait...he's too busy snorting coke. (This is not meant to be an ethnic slur, Juan did snow a whole lot, even on the job, and I doubt he's got a new hobby. Like reading.
New Generation of Novelists Emerges in Colombia