Latin American literature

[Liam]

Didn't know where else to put this, as we don't have a separate thread on Latin American literature. But these, according to Granta, are the Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists. I've only heard of one writer from this list, namely Andrés Neuman. Interesting coincidence: there's another Coelho in the making, but this time he's Argentine and his name is Oliverio.

[Daniel del Real]

I've heard about Andrés Barba, Antonio Ortuño, Patricio Pron, Samanta Schweblin and I've read Andrés Neuman, Santiago Roncangliolo & Alejandro Zambra.

[Liam]

I guess, like me, you haven't read/heard of Coelho, Dan?

[Daniel del Real]

Nope, note at all! Probably Stiffy can tell us something about him.

[Stiffelio]

Never heard of Oliverio Coelho. Maybe he lives abroad and is not very well known in the Argie literary circles. I have heard of the other Argies, though: Falco, Oloixarac, Pron, Neuman, Puenzo, Schweblin. I've read Schweblin, Puenzo, Pron and Neuman, all of whom are quite interesting in their own ways. Pron lives in Europe and he writes more like a European than a LatAm writer. Schweblin has publsihed two exquisite and intriguing short story collections, very much in the mold of Silvina Ocampo and she admits to being influenced by Dino Buzzati. Neuman is the most established of the lot, having won the Alfaguara Prize with his novel El viajero del siglo (already publishe din English as Traveler of the Century). Puenzo is also a fairly original movie director. From among the non-Argentines I've read two books by Zambra: I didn't quite get into Bonsai but I loved Formas de volver a casa.

[Daniel del Real]

I've wanted to read Pron and Schweblin since long time ago. Anything you recommend from both?

Bonsai is a very interesting exercise of imagination + literature, very Oulipian attempt of telling a story. Same happened with his second novel La Vida Privada de los Arboles. However I agree with you Zambra needed to create a more solid novel for his third delivery something he successfully did with Formas de Volver a Casa.

[Stiffelio]

P.Pron: El mundo sin las personas que lo afean y lo arruinan - Mondadori 2010

S. Schweblin - Pájaros en la boca - Emecé 2010

Both are collections of stories.

If you want to read a really good Argentine young writer, try Félix Bruzzone, inexplicably absent from the Granta list. He has published two bold and very well written novels: Los Topos ('08) and Barrefondo ('10), both by Mondadori. His background is rather unique, as he is the son of "desaparecidos": both his parents were kidnapped and killed by the military in the late seventies when he was a baby.

[Eric]

This Granta obsession with hauling young writers out of oblivion is getting ridiculous. I looked at all the names when they did it with Brazil, but I don't feel like ploughing through a list of wannabes again.

The key question in both cases is: who does the choosing, and by what criteria? They mention "a distinguished panel of six judges". Has anyone heard of them, or do we even know who they are?

[Liam]

I don't feel like ploughing through a list of wannabes again.

Eric, Andrés Neuman, the one writer I know from the list, is no wannabe.

And Garcia Marquez was also a young wannabe once. From young wannabes do great talents rise. We should carefully watch these young authors (and yeah, you're right, without the hype), because any one of them could be the next leading novelist of Latin America.

[Liam]

^But looking at the original list, one obvious thing that jumps out at you is how unevenly the countries are being represented. Spain, Argentina and Chile are well represented, for instance, but Mexico only gets one name. Is it because there are less talented writers currently writing in Mexico, or does Granta simply zero-in on the best ones?

Also, no Guatemala, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, etc--is no one writing anything in those counties? I would have liked to see at least one name.

[Daniel del Real]

Thanks Stiffelio, I'll try to find something by Bruzzone; won't be an easy task as you know Mondadori has a very uneven distribution through Latin America. They have this stupid idea that Argentinian writers are only read in Argentina, Mexicans in Mexico etc. It's hard to benefit from large distribution publishing groups when they have this archaic business model going on.

[Daniel del Real]

Well, about Mexico I have to tell there is no big deal going on right now with really young writers. There is a regular to good movement from writers going from 40 to 50 years old, but the young talent is very limited nowadays.

[Stiffelio]

I agree with the fact that the publishing business of Spanish language literature is ridiculously fragmented. You tell me! I could only buy a novel by Yuri Herrera because he happened to visit Argentina for the FIl festival and as of today I still cannot find Edmundo Paz Soldán's latest novel Norte. Not even Carlos Fuentes is well distributed throughout Latin America. When he died I had the urge to stock up on some of his books that I hadn't read, only to find but a few.

[Stiffelio]

I cannot speak about the Brazilian selection as none of the names rings to me. But in the case of the Spanish language selection the appear to have done a good job. Most of the authors have made themselves known beyond the stage of being mere "wannabes"

[Stiffelio]

The fact is Argentina, Spain and Chile ARE undergoing a noticeable literary boom from both novice young writers and also from the established 40-to-60 y.o. age group of writers. Mexico also has terrific writers such as Jorge Volpi, the recently deceased Daniel Sada and the young Yuri Herrera.

Liam, could you please move the latest string of posts on this thread to the one on Latin American fiction? I think they have more to do with that region than with Spanish literature. Thanks.

[Daniel del Real]

Well, even here in Mexico it's hard to find Yuri Herrera's books! Great you remind me of this young talent I definitely need to read.

[Liam]

Another short piece in response to the Granta article.

[Daniel del Real]

Also curious to read Antonio Ortuño now. This guy is actually from my city, Guadalajara, and little by little, without too much noise he as achieved a name and some prestige in the national literary circles.

[Eric]

I was reading an essay about Latin American literature late last night, and came across several names of authors I'd never heard of, which is hardly surprising as Latin-American literature is not my central field of interest. But I wonder what people in the know, such as Daniel and Stiffelio, have to say about the following names, and how many of them have been discussed before in detail here on the WLF:

Oscar Collazos
Juan Carlos Piñeyro
Ignacio Echevarría (critic)
Nicanor Parra (poet)
David Toscana
Daniel Sada
Roger Bartra (anthropologist)
Rubén Darío (poet)
Fernando Iwasaki (lives in Seville, Spain)
Augusto Roa Bastos
Rodrigo Rey Rosas
Evilio José Rosero
Alonso Cuetos
Juan Villoro
Ricardo Piglia
Graciella Fainstein
Horacio Castellanos Moya
María Negroni
Alejandro Zambra
Antonio Ungar

It strikes me that there is a great deal of literary activity in Latin-America, and I wonder how many of the above are available in English translation.

[Cleanthess]

Rubén Darío (poet)

Sorry to butt in. But I know a funny anecdote about Ruben Dario (1867-1916), reputedly one of the three greatest Latin American poets of the 20th Century (Neruda and Vallejo completing the Trinity). Dario was the Paul Verlaine of Latin American literature, he even wrote a great, great poem dedicated to Verlaine, that begins: "Padre y maestro magico, liroforo celeste" (Father and magical master, celestial lyre-bearer); for what it's worth, that poem is my favorite poem of the Spanish language. Anyway, Ruben Dario wrote about his one meeting with Paul Verlaine, how he approached him in the middle of the Parisian night, how much he wanted to thank Verlaine for his poetry, how much he wanted to tell Verlaine how much he loved him. Well, Dario concludes, funny how Verlaine's enormous, rich and sophisticated vocabulary, when he answered me, seemed to have been reduced to one little French word: "Merde, merde, merde."