TOPICS: NEW LATIN AMERICAN FICTION in Fall 2023 (CL3091A)

The so-called Boom lifted an entire generation of Latin American authors - represented foremost by Columbian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982 - to worldwide fame. In time it became shorthand for a particular approach to fiction: “magical realism.” Two decades later, Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño's posthumous novel 2666 heralded a new era of writing. Like the authors of the generation that preceded him, Bolaño drew upon the continent’s violent political history for his material. Yet in so doing he appropriated a host of different literary influences and cleared the path forward for new ways of telling a story. Today, Latin American fiction is being renewed by an exciting new wave of authors, many of whom are women. Diverse in their subject matter and styles, these writers have made the region one of the most innovative and robust in all of contemporary fiction worldwide. After an introduction situating the context sketched above, we will focus on recently published translations - usually titles published within the past calendar year in either the UK or the US. Whenever possible, visiting authors, editors, publishers and translators will be integrated into the course. Countries and writers represented may include, among others, Argentina (César Aira, Mariana Enriquez, Pola Oloixarac, Samanta Schweblin); Bolivia (Liliana Collanzi); Brazil (Julián Fuks, Tatiana Salem Levy); Chile (Nona Fernández, Alia Trabucco Zeran, Alejandro Zambra); Cuba (Carlos Manuel Álvarez) Columbia (Pilar Quintana, Juan Gabriel Vásquez); Costa Rica (Carlos Fonseca); Ecuador (Mónica Ojeda); Mexico (Fernanda Melchor, Guadalupe Nettel) and Peru (Miluska Benavides). Students who wish to read assigned work in the original for classroom discussions and papers may do so.