Historical, Critical, and Theoretical Work on the Latin American Novel

Abstract

Abstract This chapter argues that the reading of the novel in Latin American criticism was, since its origins in the nineteenth century, tied to a view of this genre as connected to the concept of the nation. In contrast to the emergence and popularity of the novel in the Anglo-European world, which was marked by the possibilities that the individualism of capitalist modernity created, Latin American critics have always emphasized the role of this literary form in expressing collective feelings and ideals. This tendency led to embracing and praising the type of novels that could lend themselves to this kind of allegorical interpretation and ignoring the contributions to the history of Latin American fiction of periods or styles (such as modernismo and the avant-garde) where narrations took more of an individually oriented form. Important changes came with the Boom phenomenon as the authors belonging to this group moved the novel away from representation through national content to an originality that was expressed using innovative writing techniques. However, the view that the Latin American novel must be assigned the task of representing the nation (or region) continued to be an important part of how the genre was read until the 1980s, when new theories begin to challenge traditional concepts of writing.