The Literature Book

THE DEATH OF

ARTEMIO CRUZ

(1962), CARLOS FUENTES

One of the novels that helped bring

Latin American literature to wider

international recognition, The

Death of Artemio Cruz by Mexican

author Fuentes (1928–2012) is a

recollection of the life of fictional

main character Artemio Cruz, as he

lies on his deathbed. Through the

memories of Cruz, the reader joins

his greedy family, overbearing

priest, and not-too-loyal assistant in

revisiting over 60 years of Mexican

history, politics, and religion,

including the country’s foreign

policies, corruption, and betrayals.

THE BELL JAR

(1963), SYLVIA PLATH

This semiautobiographical novel by

American poet Sylvia Plath (1932–

63) retells events in the author’s life,

and was initially published under

a pseudonym. The text is made up

of multiple flashbacks to protagonist

Esther’s earlier life, as she interns

for a renowned magazine in New

York one summer. Esther, in search

of her own identity as a woman,

descends into a worsening mental

state, eventually ending up in a

hospital for the mentally ill and being

treated with electroshock therapy.

THE TIME OF THE HERO

(1963), MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

The heavily censored literary début

of Peruvian Nobel Prize winner

Mario Vargas Llosa (1936–), The

Time of the Hero is an experimental

work of fiction. Employing multiple

perspectives and a complex,

nonlinear chronology, the story is

set in a real-life military academy in

Lima. It exposes the techniques

used to train cadets, turning them

into loyal, silent, hypermasculine

drones, never questioning or

challenging imposed structures of

authority. In turn, these practices

are not solely seen as issues of the

academy, but also of more general

military structures, and of a state

that relies on military power to

maintain control—such as in Peru

from the 1930s to the 1980s. The

authorities attempted to prevent the

novel’s publication, condemning it

as a plot by neighboring Ecuador to

denigrate the nation of Peru.

THE CRYING OF LOT 49

(1966), THOMAS PYNCHON

Written by New Yorker and author

of speculative fiction Pynchon (see

p.296), this novella was hailed as

both a prime example and a harsh

parody of postmodern fiction and

psychoanalysis. It follows Oedipa

Maas and her discovery of a

worldwide conspiracy rooted in

a centuries-old feud between two

postal services, one real (“Thurn

und Taxis”), one fictional (“Trystero”).

The text is littered with cultural

and social references to popular

music, literature, and art.

WIDE SARGASSO SEA

(1966), JEAN RHYS

A powerful novel by Dominica-born

British writer Jean Rhys (1890–1979),

Wide Sargasso Sea explores feminist

and postcolonial themes through

relationships of power, especially

between men and women. The story,

a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane

Eyre (1847), follows white Creole

Antoinette and her troubled life

in Jamaica, as she is controlled,

oppressed, then dismissed as a mad

woman by her English husband,

before being forced to relocate to

England under the name of Bertha.

THE MASTER AND

MARGARITA

(1966–67), MIKHAIL BULGAKOV

Written by Russian author Bulgakov

(1891–1940) between 1928 and 1940

but only published almost 30 years

later, The Master and Margarita is

set both in 1930s’ Moscow and—as

told in a novel by lead character the

290 FURTHER READING

We stared at each other, blood

on my face, tears on hers. It

was as if I saw myself. Like

in a looking-glass.

Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys

I felt very still and very empty

... moving dully along

in the middle of the

surrounding hullabaloo.

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

US_286-291_FR_CH6.indd 290 08/10/2015 13:10