READIN

🦋 After García Márquez

I find very interesting the idea (which I found at La Bloga's interview with Daniel Alarcón, on the occasion of Zoetrope: All-Story's publishing its new Latin American Issue) that Latin American literature has fallen captive (at least as it is seen from North America) to the legacy of García Márquez -- that diverse strands of work are "interpreted through the single, constricting and somewhat outdated lens of magical realism." This issue looks like it will do something to push back against that tendency; I'm looking forward to reading it and perhaps to looking at Diego Trelles Paz' anthology of new authors (authors under 40, those born after Cien años de soledad), El futuro no es nuestro.

Alarcón and Trelles Paz have more to say about the legacy of Cien años de soledad (which "we would describe -- without exaggeration -- as perfect") in the editor's note to the Latin American issue.

posted evening of Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
➳ More posts about Cien años de soledad
➳ More posts about Gabriel García Márquez
➳ More posts about Readings
➳ More posts about Zoetrope: All-Story
➳ More posts about Short Stories

Ever heard of McOndo? check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McOndo

posted evening of March 26th, 2009 by Jorge López

Huh, that's interesting. So the ideas that Alarcón is expressing there have pretty deep roots from the looks of it.

posted evening of March 26th, 2009 by Jeremy

Mil gracias for mentioning my interview with Daniel Alarcón. I think he made some excellent and thoughtful points about the great diversity of Latin American literature. I think this is also true for the group of writers that I belong to: Chicano authors who are pigeonholed by the "mainstream" publishing industry. Many of us have been rejected by larger publishing houses either because we're: (1) good writers but not "commercial" enough; (2) too much like estabished writers such as Sandra Cisneros; (3) not enough like established writers such as Sandra Cisneros; (4) not Chicano enough; or (5) too Chicano. Luckily, we have found homes with smaller independent or university-affiliate presses who are more focused on publishing quality literature rather than striking it rich.

posted morning of March 29th, 2009 by Daniel Olivas

And thank you, for helping draw my attention to this issue of Zoetropia -- I'm definitely looking forward to reading it.

posted afternoon of March 29th, 2009 by Jeremy

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