The Latin American writers Have been unknown until the beginning of the 20th century, where his work was totally strange and little known to the general public. However, there are authors of Latin American literature - poets, novelists, essayists - who have influenced the whole world for its beauty and originality.
The"Latin American boom"and the novel"postmacondiana"gained a place in the literary world and created an expectation thanks to its diverse currents, such as renovating realism, antinovel and magical realism, whose novel was published in 1967 by Gabriel García Márquez.
The One Hundred Years of Solitude Of the genius 'Gabo' marked a milestone in Latin American literature and meant the Nobel Prize for Literature for its author.
This article draws attention to 25 other writers, belonging to different literary currents and their works, which played an important role in Latin American literature in the twentieth century.
Ranking of 25 Latin American writers who have made history
From left to right: Leopoldo Marechal, Mario Vargas Llosa, Luis Rafael Sánchez, José Lezama and Octavio Paz
1 - Leopoldo Marechal
Leopoldo Marechal, was the author of Adam Buenosayres , A modern and classic work at the same time on the metaphysical sufferings of an avant-garde writer. It is an antinovel or contranovela as it can be read and interpreted from two points of view.
Marshal was also a playwright and essayist. After the fall of the Peronism in 1955, the works of Marechal were proscribed because of its support to the regime and they became popular only in the last decades of century XX.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Novelist and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2010, is also one of the most important representatives of the"Latin American boom".
His novels, like The city and the Dogs Y The party of the goat , Have been critically acclaimed and the last one was brought to the big screen. This tells the story of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and the butterflies, three sisters, who opposed his regime and were cruelly killed.
Vargas Llosa is a public figure very controversial for his political activity and his private life. In 1990 the writer tried unsuccessfully to reach the presidency of Peru, his country of origin.
3- Luis Rafael Sánchez
Luis Rafael Sánchez is the author The guaracha of the Macho Camach Or a novel that tells the story of people representing different social classes and their interactions while waiting for a traffic jam in the streets of a Puerto Rican city.
Sánchez is a storyteller, playwright and essayist. One of the central themes of his works is the Americanization of Puerto Rico. This fighter in defense of the roots of his people achieved that in 2016 the RAE added the term"Puerto Rican"to the dictionary.
José Lezama
The imaginary eras of José Lezama Lima are a literary theory of civilizations, which defend above all the uniqueness of the Latin American peoples. The works of Lezama Lima were characterized by their lyrics and the use of different metaphors.
He is considered the main representative of the American neobaroque. Another important work of Lima is Paradiso , Which was censored by the Cuban government, because it openly dealt with the issue of homosexuality.
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz, Mexican writer, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature, said the poet and essayist was also an ambassador for his country in India, but he resigned afterwards. Of the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968.
Paz was a daring poet , Who liked to experiment. This led him to study and write following canons of poetic genres from different countries, such as Japanese haiku. Many consider that to understand the poetry of Octavio Paz, is to understand the Mexican idiosyncrasy.
From left to right: José Donoso, Alejo Carpentier, Elena Poniatowska, Ernesto Sábato and Fernando del Paso
José José
Touching social problems such as prostitution, the works of José Donoso The place without limits Y The obscene bird of the night Show the complex interactions between the rich and the poor, the north and the south, the countryside and the city, scholars and rural communities and popular culture.
The play Run the thick fleece , Written by his adopted daughter Pilar Donoso, tells us how this formidable Chilean author wrote his works. This author's creative laboratory is incredible!
7- Alejo Carpentier
Another Latin American literary aspect is"the marvelous reality", which many confuse with magical realism, although they are different slopes.
Its main representative Alejo Carpentier and his novel The kingdom of this world Show us an x-ray of Latin American culture. This novel, which deals with historical themes such as the Haitian Revolution, is full of magic and romance.
Carpentier masterfully reflects in his work the African heritage of the peoples of the Caribbean. On the other hand, in his work Age of Enlightenment , Carpentier speaks of the influence of the French revolution in the Caribbean region. His works are not only fiction, but important historical sources.
8- Elena Poniatowska
The famous Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska Amor has been distinguished by its historical novels like The night of Tlatelolco: Testimony of oral history , Dedicated to the massacre of the students who protested in the Place of the Three cultures the 2 of October of 1968.
Elena's works are a journey through the history of Mexico since The flower of Lis , Where the author tells of her own childhood experiences in the Mexico of the 1940s, to the Dawn in the Zocalo . The 50 days that confronted Mexico , Where Elena recounts the protests of thousands of Mexicans in 2006 due to an alleged fraud in the country's elections.
9- Ernesto Sábato
The play About Heroes and Tombs Of Ernesto Sabato, who was partially taken to the cinema by its son Mario Sabato in the film The Power of Darkness , Is considered one of the best Argentine novels of Century XX. Like The tunnel , This novel of Sábato focuses on the subject of the solitude and how different people are confronted to her. It is recommended to lovers of terror.
10- Fernando del Paso
Another interesting author is Fernando del Paso, with his works Palínuro of Mexico , José Trigo Y News of the Empire . Del Paso pays special attention in his works to the history of Mexico. In 2015 he received the Cervantes Prize. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the new Latin American historical novel for the detailed of his works.
From left to right: Miguel Ángel Asturias, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Isaacs, José Eugenio Diaz Castro and Miguel Otero Silva
11- Miguel Ángel Asturias
The Nobel Prize for Literature 1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias, in his work Mr. president Denounces the cruelties, corruption and injustice of the dictatorship of Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who ruled the country from 1898 to 1920.
This surreal and magical novel captures in its leaves the relative passage of time during the dictatorship, in which"nothing really changed".
The story presents how only the President could decide what was true and what not, and how other characters assumed this truth although this contradicts what their eyes see.
12- Carlos Fuentes
The The most transparent region , The death of Artemio Cruz And other novels by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes are mandatory reading! This novelist, scriptwriter and politician was one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century in Latin America.
His novels are full of cultural references that allow the reader to soak up Mexican and Latin American culture. His novels are avant-garde and complex.
13- Jorge Isaacs
The romantic novel and costumbrista Maria Of the Colombian writer Jorge Issacs tells the story of two teenagers in love and their adventures, set in a region that could be anywhere in Colombia, and even Latin America.
This novel talks about love idyllic and unreachable and is full of little stories about other couples, hunting and other economic activities.
In general the novel is a chant to love and lovelessness, but it shows the way of life in a hacienda of the new world and important aspects, that qualify it as costumbrista.
14- José Eugenio Diaz Castro
Another romantic novel is Manuela , Written by Colombian author José Eugenio Diaz Castro. The novel tells the story of a peasant woman who went to work for a tobacco company. This novel was taken to the small screen and its director tried hard to recreate the customs described in the book with rigor.
This story is considered as a historical source for its rich and detailed description of the time. The novel was one of the most acclaimed of its time and was well received internationally.
15- Miguel Otero Silva
One of the most outstanding social novels is When I want to cry I do not cry Of the Venezuelan writer Miguel Otero Silva. Silva tells the story of three young people with the same name, date of birth and day of death, but with very different life histories.
One is a common criminal, another is a guerrilla and the latter is a member of a band of"riquitos". This story does not lose momentum and reflects the inequality that still prevails in the region.
Another novel by Silva is Dead Houses , Which reflects the transformation of the Latin American peoples due to the interests of foreigners.
From left to right: Pablo Neruda, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Jorge Icaza, Gabriela Mistral and Isabel Allende
16- Pablo Neruda
The poet who sang to you! Pablo Neruda is one of the most influential 20th century poets, being also Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. His work Twenty love poems and a desperate song Is one of the best-selling books written in Spanish.
Another important work is General sing In which Neruda reflects the cosmogony of the American peoples. He is considered one of the most versatile poets, since his works went from love to humor, as, for example, his Elementary Odes .
17- Jorge Enrique Adoum
The Ecuadorian writer Jorge Enrique Adoum highlighted by his work Between Marx and a naked woman , Which deals with different social issues. The work of Adoum, also political and diplomatic, was brought to the big screen by the Ecuadorian director Camilo Luzuriaga. It's a movie that every Latin American must see!
18- Jorge Icaza
The novel by the Ecuadorian writer Jorge Icaza Colonel of title Huasipungo Is one of the main ones of the indigenista movement, that precedes the magical realism. The story reflects the life of the huasipungos Indians in the first half of the 20th century.
The huasipungos were the Indians entrusted to a territory and its owner. This novel shows the cruelty of colonization and Christianization in Latin America.
19- Gabriela Mistral
The Chilean Gabriela Mistral is the only woman from a Spanish-speaking country that has received the Nobel Prize for Literature (1945). In his works he dealt with themes such as love, death and motherhood. He distinguished himself by the use of colloquial language in his works, which he preferred over the formal use of language.
20- Isabel Allende
Another outstanding Chilean writer is Isabel Allende. Your bestseller The House of Spirits Has sold more than 56 million copies. This writer, now living in California, lived in Venezuela after her family went into exile when Salvador Allende died.
The play Paula Is the story of the Allende family, which Isabel wrote to her daughter when she became ill and later died in Spain. Two of his works, The House of Spirits Y Of love and shadow , Have been brought to the big screen.
From left to right: Juan Rulfo, Augusto Roa Bastos, Juan Carlos Onetti, Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar
21- Juan Rulfo
The novel Pedro Páramo Of Juan Rulfo has been one of the most influential in Latin American literature. Although the Mexican Juan Rulfo, did not write many novels and stood out mainly by the cited Pedro Páramo Y The Burning Plain , It is considered that his work put an end to the Latin American revolutionary novel.
Rulfo was also a screenwriter and photographer. Scholars consider that the reason why he stopped writing novels was to avoid the suffering of evoking reality.
22- Augusto Roa Bastos
Author of the"Paraguayan Trilogy", Augusto Roa Bastos, was one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th Century in Latin America. In his novel I the Supreme , Roa relates the life of the Paraguayan dictator Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, who ruled the country for 26 years. Roa's works claim Paraguay as a bilingual country, whose second language is Guaraní.
23- Juan Carlos Onetti
In the novels The hole Y The brief life , The Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti shows us how people escape from reality. Her characters, who live in the fictional city of Santa Maria, do their utmost to escape their reality.
In their novels, the heroes and their nemesis represent the clear and dark sides of the human being. He died in Spain, where he lived his last years in exile.
24- Jorge Luis Borges
The Argentine Jorge Luis Borges was essayist, storyteller and poet. It is considered that his unorthodox positions did not allow him to win the Literature Nobel, to which he was nominated for more than 30 years.
He is considered a scholar by the variety of his works, ranging from stories and novels to studies and essays on history, literature and politics. His most outstanding book is Fiction , Which was considered one of the best 100 of the XX Century.
25- Julio Cortázar
La Rayuela , Top work of the genre of the antinovel, plays with the reader. It tells the story of Horacio Oliveira's relationship with La Maga. The Argentine author, emblematic where there are them, made of his surreal works an invitation to choose a style of reading and an end.