Hispanic Fiction in the 20th Century: Trends and Authors

Trends in 20th Century Hispanic Fiction

Two major trends shaped the vision of authors in 20th-century Hispanic fiction:

• The Realistic Trend: Aimed to objectively reflect perceived reality.
• The Narrative Trend: Broke with the realistic view, influenced by Jorge Luis Borges and surrealism. This trend solidified in the 1960s, manifesting in various forms, including magical realism (integrating marvelous elements) and fantastic realism (incorporating irrational elements).

Later developments included testimonial literature of protest and denunciation in the late 1970s, postmodernism (experimental and anti-realist), and a resurgence of realism with elements of humor, feminism, and love, as seen in the works of Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel.

Features of the New Narrative

• Themes: Fantasy integrated into reality (magical realism), the everyday intertwined with the irrational, the search for identity through geographical or historical journeys, an environment of pessimism, authorial concern for literary creation within the novel itself, and the use of humor (ranging from lighthearted jokes to satire and metaphysical humor).
• Techniques: Shift from narrator to protagonist-narrator, perspectivism, manipulation of time (flashbacks, prolepsis, temporal chaos, simultaneity), a tendency towards baroque language, and the prominence of neologisms.

The Beginning of the New Narrative

Magical Realism

This movement integrated the marvelous into the novel. Key authors include:

• Miguel Ángel Asturias: The President, a novel highlighting Hispanic dictator history.
• Alejo Carpentier: Known for his surreal, intellectual, and linguistically rich works like The Cathedral and The Kingdom of This World.

Fantastic Realism

This genre introduced unexplained elements into the narrative. Its most prominent representative is:

• Jorge Luis Borges: Constructed fictional worlds that undermined the logic of reality. His key themes are metaphysical, such as the search for meaning in the world and time. Notable works include the short story collections Ficciones and El Aleph.

Development of the New Narrative

Julio Cortázar

Cortázar based his stories on his unique conception of introducing the unexpected and irrational to find meaning in existence. He began as a short story writer (Bestiary, Octahedron) and later wrote the important novel Hopscotch. His themes include the meaning of life, play, and creative writing. Hopscotch is divided into three parts and uses language as a source of play and recreation.

Gabriel García Márquez

All of García Márquez's earlier works culminated in One Hundred Years of Solitude. The town of Macondo represents both the stages of Hispanic-American history and a mythical place where the mysterious, fantastic, hyperbolic, and popular beliefs converge. The final stage of Macondo is marked by a flood and its ruin. Themes include the loneliness of individuals, the search (for power, family, etc.), and love. The story's progression is apparently linear. Other notable works include The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother, Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The General in His Labyrinth.

Mario Vargas Llosa

Vargas Llosa's novels coincided with the 1960s Latin American literary boom. His works, such as The Time of the Hero, depict the lives of military school students, exploring themes of lack of individuality, violence, and loneliness due to a lack of feelings. He contrasts the city (present) with the past (childhood and adolescence) and the school (present). Technical features include interior monologue and temporal manipulation. Other notable works include The Cubs, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The War of the End of the World, and The Storyteller.

Juan Rulfo

Rulfo's The Burning Plain anticipated magical realism. Its themes are fate, misery, violence, death, and guilt. His novel Pedro Páramo is a model for the new narrative, featuring a fragmentary structure, temporal disarray, complex narrative plans, intertwined stories, and a blurred treatment of real and fantastic time.

Carlos Fuentes

Fuentes's The Death of Artemio Cruz provides an overview of the protagonist's life, centered on his desire for power. The novel features a fragmented structure and perspectivism.

Other notable authors include Juan Carlos Onetti, Ernesto Sabato, Augusto Roa Bastos, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Augusto Monterroso, among others.