Cinco episodios realistas: narrativas del Cono Sur (1965-1985)

In Angel Rama's La Novela Latinoamericana 1920-1980 (1982), the influential critic discloses a map of 20th century Latin American narrative. Rama stresses three literary styles merging into the phenomenon called Boom: fantastic, regional and realistic. On the other hand, another influential critic such as Nestor Garcia Canclini, in his article "Aesthetic Moments of Latin Americanism" suggests the 60's and 70's as a period in which art worked as a herald of utopia, trying to include in the present a future that seemed feasible. Rama's narrative map does not even mention writers as Manuel Puig and Rubem Fonseca. Both, the Argentine and the Brazilian, were censored by authoritarian governments. At the same time, their works deliver plastic representations of crime; therefore, I argue that these literary works, along with those created by Armonia Somers (Uruguay), Dalton Trevisan (Brazil) and Rodolfo Fogwill (Argentina) provides a representation of reality that confronts two mainstream discourses: one concerned with nationalism (authoritarian discourse) and another concerned with utopia (Boom discourse). The narratives I study disclose body and crime representations that do not address a symbolic conflict with modernity like the authoritarian and the Boom discourse do; yet modern elements are integrated into these narratives. This study focuses on Un Retrato para Dickens (1967) by Armonia Somers; O Vampiro de Curitiba by Dalton Trevisan; Feliz Ano Novo (1976) by Rubem Fonseca; The Buenos Aires Affair (1973) by Manuel Puig; and Los Pichy-cyegos (1983) by Rodolfo Fogwill. This study assumes that the technological/digital development has modified the perception of last sixty years in Latin American Literature. This work is engaged in developing a new perspective over 20th Century Southern Cone Narrative and it interprets the Boom as a symptom of a wider picture: the development of a global cultural market. Accordingly, this perspective might explain partially the rise of new identities and the present status of Southern Cone Narratives.