Latin American Literature

I

Introduction

Latin American Literature, any literature in the Americas written in one of the Romance languages, primarily Spanish, Portuguese, and French, from the 15th century to the present. These languages were brought to North, Central, and South America by European settlers who began to arrive at the end of the 15th century. Some studies of Latin American literature also include writings in the indigenous languages of Central and South America, dating from before the European conquest to the present.

Latin American literature is tremendously varied in its scope. It encompasses narratives by early explorers and settlers, which tell of their encounters with the land and people of the New World; satiric writings that comment on colonial society and its imitation of European trends; and works that incorporate Native American themes and imagery in an effort to express an experience that is uniquely Latin American. A continuing dilemma for writers arises from the desire to define a distinct Latin American identity while not appearing narrow or provincial in terms of European literary standards.

This article discusses literature of South America, Central America, and Mexico in Spanish as well as native languages. For information on Portuguese-language literature, see Brazilian Literature. For information on literatures of the Caribbean in French, English, Spanish, Dutch, and Native American languages, see Caribbean Literature.

Latin American writing can be divided into three broad periods: colonial literature, from the time of European conquest to independence; the literature of independence, which began in the early 1800s in most of Latin America; and modern literature, which began in the late 1800s and was accompanied by the realization of a distinctive national voice, sometime in the 1900s. Additionally, a native tradition, which began before the European conquest, consists of literature in Native American languages.

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II

Native American Literature

At the time of the European conquest, some Native American literature was written down. However, most of it was transmitted from one generation to the next by professional reciters who memorized texts and narrated them. Some countries accept this expression as part of a national literary tradition, most notably Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Many literary historians view it as a “literature of resistance” to the European languages of the conqueror or as a more “authentic” expression of a country’s original culture.

As in most cultures, this early literature includes creation stories that attempt to explain the origin of the universe, stories about gods and their activities that offer an explanation of the workings of the world, and histories that relate the genealogy of rulers. Creation stories were particularly prominent among the Tupí-Guaraní people of what is today Paraguay, northern Argentina, and southwestern Brazil, and they continue to influence writers of that region.

Poetry was also present in Native American literature. The Flor y Canto (Flower and Song) tradition in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs produced lyric verses associated with rituals, such as harvest ceremonies. These poems indicate that literature was appreciated for its own sake, apart from its use in religious and historical narratives.

Some native-language literature is exclusively oral, such as the Quechua-language play Ollantay of the Inca of Peru. Other traditional literature is both oral and written, including Aztec rituals in the Nahuatl language and sacred myths of the Maya in various Mayan languages and dialects. The Popul Vuh, of the Maya-Quiché of southern Mexico and Guatemala, is a collection of sacred myths that were first written down in the 16th century. Translations of these myths into Spanish in the 18th century considerably advanced the awareness of native literature in Middle America (Mexico and Central America). The oral material of the Incas was captured in writing in the 17th century, while the process of recording what survives of the oral traditions of other people of the Andes Mountains region continues today.

Native American literature played an important role for Latin American writers who sought a distinctively Latin American voice. Twentieth-century writers who incorporate Native American myth and folklore into their plots, characterizations, and social analyses include Guatemala’s Miguel Ángel Asturias, Peru’s José María Arguedas, and Paraguay’s Augusto Roa Bastos. Even writers with an international outlook, such as Mexico’s Carlos Fuentes and Chile’s José Donoso, draw on indigenous culture in contrasting modern urban societies with traditional rural ones.

III

The Colonial Period

The period of conquest and colonization started at the end of the 15th century and continued until the beginning of the 19th century. It includes writings by European settlers and their American-born descendants, known as Creoles. Literary histories of Spain and of Latin America each claim many of these writers.

During the colonial period much of the writing in Latin America by Spaniards and Creoles imitated Spanish literature, which then enjoyed a period of outstanding creativity now known as its Golden Age (see Spanish Literature: Renaissance and Golden Age). At the same time, numerous other works demonstrated that Latin American writers were already establishing their cultural independence from Europe. Universities, which were established in many areas of Latin America as early as the 16th century, guaranteed that erudition and learning flourished with little interruption throughout the colonial period.

Many writers of Spanish origin chronicled the European conquest of Latin America. Among these writings is a work by Dominican missionary Bartolomé de Las Casas, Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1542, 1552; The Devastation of the Indies, 1974). Most historians view this piece as a defense of the native peoples and their way of life, and therefore as the first major text about the Latin American resistance to European culture. At the same time, however, it documents the struggle between those who wanted to use the Indians as slave labor and those like Las Casas who saw them as souls to be converted to Christianity. Also notable is a three-volume history of the conquest of Mexico written by conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (written 1568-1580; published 1632;translated as The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1800). La Araucana (1569-1589; translated 1945) is an epic poem about the conquest of Chile written by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, a soldier. It is noteworthy for its portrayal of the indigenous peoples as courageous and worthy opponents of the Spaniards.

Two cultural centers developed in the Spanish Empire in the Americas during the 16th century: Lima, the capital of the region known as the vice-royalty of Peru, and Mexico City, the capital of the vice-royalty of New Spain. Peru produced two highly significant writers during the colonial period. Garcilaso de la Vega, of royal Inca lineage on the side of his mother and Spanish ancestry on the side of his father, was a military official. Known as El Inca Garcilaso, Garcilaso de la Vega interpreted in Spanish the oral legends of Inca culture, which he published in Spain as Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609 and 1617; TheRoyal Commentaries of Peru, 1688). In this way he bridged the pre-Columbian and Creole cultures and made an aspect of Latin American culture accessible to Spaniards. The other significant writer to emerge in Peru was Juan del Valle Caviedes. His Diente de Parnaso (The Tooth of Parnassus, published posthumously in 1873) is a collection of biting, satirical poetry about the pretensions and foibles of colonial society. The outrageousness of his writing led to its censorship and little of it was published during his lifetime.

In Mexico City, scholar Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora published a novel that also made light of the supposed glories of Spanish society in the Americas, Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez (The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez, 1690). But all writing from this cultural center pales in comparison to the poetry, drama, and intellectual discourses produced in a convent by Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She stands out not only as the foremost literary figure of the Latin American colonial period, but as the forerunner of feminist writing in Latin America. In addition to philosophical poetry, exquisite sonnets, and brilliant dramas, Sor Juana wrote Respuesta a Sor Filotea (written 1691; published in Spain in 1701; translated as A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual Biography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 1982). This essay, marked by an exceptionally subtle level of irony, analyzes discrimination against women, especially women artists and intellectuals. Sor Juana defends the creative rights of women with dazzling displays of ingenuity and learning. Respuesta has achieved legendary status in Latin America, as both a document of resistance to the authority of the Spanish church and a founding document of feminism.

Another literary giant of the colonial period is Mexican-born dramatist Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza, who achieved recognition in Spain as one of the key figures of Spanish Golden Age drama (see Spanish Literature: Drama). Known primarily for comedies of manners that offer moral lessons, he is claimed by both Spanish and Mexican literary histories.

The 18th century produced a number of intellectual luminaries who followed European intellectual and cultural currents; it is remembered for the development of a popular culture with distinctly regional colorations. The best known work in this vein is the travelogue El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (The Guide for Blind Wayfarers, 1776), attributed to Spanish-born author Concolorcorvo. In it, Concolorcorvo describes a journey by a Spanish colonial inspector from Buenos Aires, Argentina (at that time considered to be a cultural backwater), to Lima, Peru, then a political and cultural center of the Spanish Empire. The work uses humor to criticize Spain’s colonial government.

IV

The Period of Independence

The second period of Latin American literature was a time of defining an independent national identity. It continues from the time of independence from Spain, which for most of Latin America occurred from 1810 to 1830, to the modern period, beginning in the 1880s. Although Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until 1898, their cultures attained a national identity about the same time other Latin American countries established themselves as independent republics.

Following independence, Latin American literature began to take on distinct national characteristics. Such factors as geographic boundaries, the ethnic composition of the population, and differing political visions contributed to the establishment of these national characteristics. The internal political upheaval that shook most Latin American nations during the early and mid-19th century affected their literary status in one of three ways. Chile and Argentina, for example, adopted aggressive programs to establish cultural institutions that thrust them to the literary forefront, despite their earlier cultural insignificance. The thriving capitals of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru (Mexico City, Bogotá, and Lima, respectively) remained cultural centers. Other countries, including Paraguay, Bolivia, and the Central American republics, slipped into backwater status for most of the 19th century, producing little notable literature.

Many 19th-century authors attempted to give European literary trends a uniquely Latin American flavor. The European cultural movement that dominated the first half of the century was romanticism, which emphasized individual experience, the expression of emotion, and the role of the imagination in creativity. In the Americas, romanticism expressed itself in fervent nationalism and an emphasis on native themes.

Argentina played a large role in setting 19th-century literary trends. wrote the influential short story “El matadero” (written about 1840; published 1874; translated as “The Slaughterhouse,” 1948). Especially significant is its use of allegory in portraying Argentina’s dictatorial regime of the 1830s and 1840s: Internal political conflicts are described in terms of the violence of a slaughterhouse in which cattle replace the sacrificial sheep of the Bible. (Cattle raising and beef processing are major industries in Argentina.)

Argentine writer and statesman Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who established education systems in Chile and Argentina before becoming president of Argentina in 1868, also published trendsetting work. His pamphlet criticizing Argentina’s dictator, Facundo: civilización y barbarie (1845; translated 1868), established the opposition between barbarism (barbarie) and civilization as a recurrent motif in Latin American literature. Sarmiento contrasts the “barbarism” of the Hispanic, rural, uneducated culture with a European tradition that is urban, intellectual, and sophisticated. While this opposition does not sustain close scrutiny, it established a powerful model for the subsequent analysis of Argentine culture and, with some revision, Latin American culture as well. One result has been a literature viewed as “authentic” and nationalist pitted against a literature that is internationalist and modern.

A distinctive Argentine culture emerges in the 19th-century epic El gaucho Martín Fierro (1872; The Departure of Martin Fierro, 1935) and its sequel La vuelta Martín Fierro (1879; The Return of Martín Fierro, 1935) by poet José Hernández. The central character of these epics represents the common people, who are victims of modernization and the fencing in of the Pampas (plains). The first poem concentrates on the noble resistance to modernization by the nomadic gaucho (cowboy) Martín Fierro. The second poem proclaims the gaucho, who has become a salaried cowhand, as a partner in helping convert the Pampas into a source of wealth from cattle production. Hernández’s portrait of the free-wheeling gaucho reduced to a hired hand is disturbing, yet Fierro’s rustic wisdom and countrified sayings also serve as a means for extolling both the people and the land of Latin America’s rural past.

Another great figure of Latin American romanticism is Venezuelan poet and educator Andrés Bello. Although Bello wrote an epic in praise of the natural beauty of South America, Silvas americanas (American Wood, 1826-1827), one of his most significant works is the first Spanish grammar designed specifically for Latin Americans. In Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos (1847), Bello attempts to sort out the competing regional language differences and proposes a single educated linguistic standard for the entire continent. Although controversies on the subject rage to the present day, Bello’s text continues to be recognized as a founding text of Latin American culture.

The other work of Latin American romanticism still widely read today is María (1867; Maria, a South American Romance, 1890) by Colombian writer Jorge Isaac. It is one of many works in which essentially middle-class women are the point of departure for complex nationalistic allegories. In Isaac’s novel, the central figure has traditionally been interpreted as a symbol of nostalgia for a premodern innocence and as an authentic characterization of an unblemished nature. Read today in feminist terms (with Jewish resonances), the novel offers an eloquent criticism of the inadequacies of a patriarchal society that tramples human sentiment as embodied in women.

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