The death last month of Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes at the age of 83 marked a significant moment in Latin American literature. Fuentes, along with Colombia's Gabriel García Márquez, Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa and Argentina's Julio Cortázar, spearheaded the 1960s Latin American Boom that saw literature from South America reaching across the continent's borders to touch readers around the globe. But with Fuentes gone and Márquez and Vargas Llosa approaching old age, the echoes of the Boom begin to fade. In this week's podcast, we cast an eye over Latin American literature's past, and look to where it's now heading.
Richard Lea speaks to Peruvian novelist Alonso Cueto about his prize-winning novel The Blue Hour, first published in 2005 but available in English translation for the first time this month. While Sarah Crown speaks to poet Fiona Sampson about the continent's verse, and Latin American expert Ingrid Bejerman about the what the future holds for Latin American literature.
Reading list
Ingrid Bejerman's recommendations
Mexico (the "crack" generation)
In Search of Klingsor by Jorge Volpi
Amphitryon by Ignacio Padilla
Diorama by Vicente Herrasti
The Host by Guadalupe Nettel
Peru
Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcón
Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo
The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto
Don't Tell Anyone by Jaime Bayly
Etiqueta Negra magazine (narrative journalism; only available in Spanish)
Chile (the McOndo literary movement)
Bad Vibes by Alberto Fuguet
The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra
Colombia
The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Brazil
Mastroianni Day by João Paulo Cuenca
Symphony in White by Adriana Lisboa
Argentina
The Year of the Desert by Pedro Mairal
Traveller of the Century by Andrés Neuman
Puerto Rico
Yo-Yo Boing! by Giannina Braschi
Fiona Sampson's poetry recommendations
César Vallejo: The Complete Poetry ed Clayton Eshleman (University of California Press)
The Essential Neruda ed. Mark Eisner (Bloodaxe)
The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, ed Eliot Wienberger (New Directions)
Against Heaven by Dulce María Loynaz trans. James O'Connor (Carcanet)
Migrations by Gloria Gervitz trans Mark Schafer (Shearsman)
Anima by José Kozer trans Peter Boyle (Shearsman)
The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry ed Mark Weiss (University of California Press)
World literature tour recommendations
