Twentieth-Century Spanish American Novel

A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic BookSpanish American novels of the Boom period (1962-1967) attracted a world readership to Latin American literature, but Latin American writers had already been engaging in the modernist experiments of their North American and European counterparts since the turn of the twentieth century. Indeed, the desire to be "modern" is a constant preoccupation in twentieth-century Spanish American literature and thus a very useful lens through which to view the century's novels.In this pathfinding study, Raymond L. Williams offers the first complete analytical and critical overview of the Spanish American novel throughout the entire twentieth century. Using the desire to be modern as his organizing principle, he divides the century's novels into five periods and discusses the differing forms that "the modern" took in each era. For each period, Williams begins with a broad overview of many novels, literary contexts, and some cultural debates, followed by new readings of both canonical and significant non-canonical novels. A special feature of this book is its emphasis on women writers and other previously ignored and/or marginalized authors, including experimental and gay writers. Williams also clarifies the legacy of the Boom, the Postboom, and the Postmodern as he introduces new writers and new novelistic trends of the 1990s.

A truly comprehensive overview of the Spanish American novel from 1900 to 1999., In what undoubtedly will be a very useful guide for students and established scholars alike, Williams presents a panoramic picture of the Latin American novel in the 20th century, a picture that is utterly convincing not only for its impressive breadth but also for the way Williams organizes it. Working with the category of ‘the modern’ and identifying the various responses to it from novelists throughout the region, the book’s five sections span the range from early post–Ruben Darian fiction to post-postmodern novels. In between, Williams presents a succinct and useful reading of both canonical and marginalized but aesthetically relevant writers from all periods. Particularly adroit is his discussion of the hegemony and ulterior demise of masculinist aesthetics as feminist and queer fiction emerged, particularly toward the end of the century. Additionally, discussion of Chicano writing attests to the book’s breadth and inclusiveness. Summing up: Essential., This book would be of great value to any scholar in the area of Latin American literature.  It is an exhaustive overview of the major works of the twentieth century, an dit also provides severeal more in-depth analyses of major works.

Raymond Leslie Williams is Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of California, Riverside. His previous publications include The Writings of Carlos Fuentes, The Postmodern Novel in Latin America, and The Colombian Novel, 1844–1987.