In the 1960s, Latin American literature became known worldwide
as never before. Writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and
Mario Vargas Llosa all became part of the general culture of
educated readers of English, French, German, and Italian. But
few know about the literary tradition from which these writers
emerged. This Very Short Introduction remedies this situation,
providing an overview of modern Latin American literature from
the late eighteenth century to the present. Roberto Gonzalez
Echevarria covers a wide range of topics, discussing the birth
of Modernismo, the first Latin American literary movement; how
the end of World War I and the Mexican Revolution produced the
avant-garde; and how the Cuban Revolution sparked a movement in
the novel that came to be known as the Boom. Within this
narrative, the author covers many of the major writers of Latin
American literature, from Andres Bello and Jose Maria de Heredia
through Borges and Garcia