The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel: Bolano and After

Description

The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel provides an accessible introduction to an important World literature. While many of the authors covered-Aira, Bolano, Castellanos Moya, Vasquez-are gaining an increasing readership in English and are frequently taught, there is sparse criticism in English beyond book reviews. This book provides the guidance necessary for a more sophisticated and contextualized understanding of these authors and their works. Underestimated or unfamiliar Spanish American novels and novelists are introduced through conceptually rigorous essays. Sections on each writer include: *the author's reception in their native country, Spanish America, and Spain *biographical history *a critical examination of their work, including key themes and conceptual concerns *translation history *scholarly reception The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel offers an authoritative guide to a rich and varied novelistic tradition. It covers all demographic areas, including United States Latino authors, in exploring the diversity of this literature and its major themes, such as exile, migration, and gender representation.

Will H. Corral has taught at Stanford and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is the author of recent books on the Latin American novel, Bolano, and Vargas Llosa, and co-author of the seminal Theory's Empire. Juan E. De Castro is an Associate Professor in Literary Studies at Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, New York, USA, where he teaches courses in Latin American, Latino, Peninsular, and Inter-American literature. He has published articles in MLN, Latin American Research Review, and Aztlan, among other journals. He is the author of three books, the most recent of which is Mario Vargas Llosa: Public Intellectual in Neoliberal Latin America (2011). Nicholas Birns is Associate Teaching Professor at Eugene Lang College, the New School for Liberal Arts, New York, USA, where he concentrates in general humanities, fiction in English from 1700 as well as literary theory. His books include Understanding Anthony Powell (2004), the co-edited Companion To Australian Fiction since 1900 (2007). The latter was named a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2008. He is also the author of Theory After Theory (2010), Willa Cather: Critical Insights (2011) and Vargas Llosa and Latin American Politics, co-ed. Juan E. de Castro. He has published essays and reviews in The New York Times Book Review, the Australian Literary Review, the Australian Book Review, Arizona Quarterly, and Exemplaria; Studies in Romanticism, Symbiosis, College Literature, and European Romantic Review.

"The contemporary Spanish American novel is much talked about," claims the introduction to the book, but all too little seriously understood. This book seeks to remedy this situation by providing an in-depth guide to recent outstanding fiction from the Spanish-speaking Western Hemisphere. In this, The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel fulfills its goals ... In addition to the three main editors, a good number of academics make up the team, and the critical overview of the new literature in Spanish of the Americas is overjoying due to its evident richness, intelligence and originality. Perhaps the main usefulness of this project resides in the group of authors studied ... When the United States began to be interested in what was being published in the remote Latin America, the authors who were worth reading were not many; today, if we believe the study, they occupy a large room in the universal library. -- Alberto Manguel * El Pais (Bloomsbury translation) * What has been happening in Latin American fiction in recent years? A very full answer is provided in this invaluable book. The combination of regional overviews (by the editors) and author essays (by a variety of critics, including the editors) brings the reader up-to-date, especially the English-only reader. Most of the novels discussed here have not been translated into English-and the few that have only spottily reviewed-which makes this book a revelation for those of us north of the border interested in new developments in the novel. The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel belongs in all academic libraries. -- Steven Moore, author of The Novel: An Alternative History This book sheds light on our knowledge of contemporary Latin American narrative, which is already entering the twenty-first century with great vitality and innovativeness. Through its pages we can understand what is new and original, the authors who have arrived and stayed. A serious and well- thought study. -- Sergio Ramirez, author of Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea Picking up the story of the Spanish-American novel from after the Boom, this book has everything you could ever want to know about McOndites, Crackites, Donositos, Bolanites, urban neorealism, desert storytellers, sicaresque narratives, all dizzying, shifting parts in what is inarguably the most vibrant body of writing in the Americas today. -- Siddhartha Deb, author of The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India This unique collection of essays by fifty scholars and writers on the work of sixty-nine contemporary novelists from Spanish-America is a valuable resource for scholars and readers alike. [...] This study presents the diverse nature of the contemporary Spanish American novel and the attempts by successive generation of writers to both receive and break with the influence of the strong novelists of the past. [...] The contributors have approached their authors from their own unique critical approaches and points of view. The result is a highly readable work that is both informative and stimulating. Readers of this volume will discover that the Spanish American novel is not only alive and well, but that it is in a process of continual renewal and enrichment. -- Edward Waters Hood, Northern Arizona University * World Literature Today, Vol. 88, No. 6, November 2014 * This versatile volume, obviously the result of years of preparation, has two great merits: not only does it serve as a thoughtful and thorough summary of the achievement of two generations of Spanish American novelists; it also introduces the reader to writers that she or he may have never read, and in more than a few instances, never heard of (I am speaking for myself, of course). In this respect, the book is an excellent guide for further reading in recent Spanish American fiction. -- Gustavo Perez-Firmat * Romance Notes *