LIBRARIES AND THE COMING OF AGE OF LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE

THE VAST PORTIONS of land south of the United States, commonly known as Latin America, form a political, social and cultural structure which—with very few exceptions—owes its singularity to its spiritual ties with Spain and Portugal. Although sharp social and cultural contrasts among the Latin American nations do exist, the Spanish language is a formidable link which has helped to overcome many differences. Latin American literature, despite its very distinctive voices, proclaims in unison a literary wealth which ignores political and geographic boundaries. The development of modern Latin American literature springs from the modernista movement, which roughly spans the period between the late 1880's and the 1930's. The Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867–1916) is considered the focal point of this new literary school which led to “the discovery of the emotional life made by the romantic, the almost professional awareness of what literature and its latest fashions are” and “the pride of belonging to an Hispanic American generation which, for the first time, is able to specialize in art”. By the time Latin American literature reached European and North American shores during the late 1920's, a vigorous regionalist novel developed. Its basic themes were played against the background of the Argentinian pampa, the Venezuelan plains, the Andean mountains, the villages of revolutionary Mexico or the jungle of Brazil. In essence, this literature was concerned more with nature than with the social and cultural realities of city life. Writers sought to present exotic materials to the urban dwellers.