Spanish American Literature
Spanish American poetry flourished in the twenti-
eth century with such authors as Nobel laureates
Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957) and Pablo Neruda
(1904–1973) from Chile, Nobel laureate Octavio
Paz from Mexico (1914–1998), Nobel laureate
Juan Ramo ́nJime ́nez, an Andalusian transplanted
to Puerto Rico (1881–1958), Argentinean poet
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Nicola ́s Guille ́n
from Cuba (1902–1989) and Peruvian, Ce ́sar Val-
lejo, (1892–1938). These poets experimented with
surrealism (illogical or subconscious images) and
other avant-garde styles setting the trends for
Spanish American poetry in the early 2000s.
Fiction writers have been equally celebrated
with Uruguayan writer Felisberto Herna ́ndez
(1902–1964), the father of magic realism in fiction
(a realistic style with magical or illogical elements)
influencing other writers such as Gabriel Garcı ́a
Ma ́rquez, Julio Corta ́zar, and the writers of the
Latin American Boom (Boom Latinoamericano).
The Boom was a literary movement of the 1960s
and 1970s initiated when Latin American novelists
began getting published in Europe. The Boom is
associated with Julio Corta ́zar of Argentina, Car-
los Fuentes of Mexico, Mario Vargas Llosa of
Peru, and Gabriel Garcı ́aMa ́rquez of Colombia.
The Cuban Revolution influenced these authors
who were part of Pablo Neruda’s circle. Nobel
laureate Gabriel Garcı ́aMa ́rquez (born in 1927)
from Columbia wroteOne Hundred Years of Sol-
itudeandLove in the Time of Cholera. Julio Corta ́-
zar (1914–1984) from Argentina is known for the
film adaptation of his short story, ‘‘Blowup’’ and
fornovelssuchasHopscotch. Mexican writer Car-
los Fuentes (born in 1928) wroteThe Death of
Artemio Cruz, and Mario Vargas Llosa (born in
1936) wroteTheTimeoftheHero. Once little
known in the United States because of language,
culture, and political barriers, these poets and nov-
elists are mainstream worldwide in both transla-
tion and in Spanish. They are part of the political
and artistic circle Neruda knew and influenced. He
mentions his meetings and collaborations with
them in hisMemoirs.
Historical Context
The Spanish Civil War (1836–1839)
On the eve of World War II, the Spanish Civil
War erupted and drew in supporters for both
sides as a sort of prelude to the full world conflict
brewing in Europe. Pablo Neruda was serving as
a Chilean diplomat in Madrid, accompanied by
his second wife, Delia del Carril. His many gov-
ernment and artist friends were socialists or com-
munists, sympathetic to the Republican cause.
The ruling Republican government of liberals
was shaky and had outraged the conservative
Spanish by its attacks on the Catholic Church.
The Nationalist rebels, including the monar-
chists, Spanish nationalists, the fascist Falange,
Catholics, the army, landowners, and most con-
servatives, staged a bloody coup. They wanted
centralization of state power. The Republicans
included socialists, liberals, communists, anar-
chists, urban workers, peasants, and much of
the educated middle class. Atrocities were com-
mitted on both sides, with major destruction of
cities and the countryside.
Russia and Mexico supported the Republic.
Fascist Italy and Germany supported the Nation-
alists and General Francisco Franco, who eventu-
ally won the war and became dictator. Volunteers
from other countries joined the International Bri-
gades to help the Republicans. Ernest Hemingway
was a member of the Brigades and a war corre-
spondent, writing his famous version of the con-
flict in the novel,For Whom the Bell Tolls(1940).
Neruda was permanently scarred by what he wit-
nessed. When his friend and fellow avant-garde
poet, Federico Garcı ́a Lorca, was assassinated in
1936 by Nationalists, Neruda left the country
shaken and determined to join the Communist
cause. His poetry became politicized, and his con-
cern for the general welfare of the workers and
lower classes never left him. Even the love poetry
he wrote changed from its earlier self-centered
macho point of view to a more universal view.Communism and Exile
Neruda returned to Chile with a new political
conscience. He went on a diplomatic mission to
relocate Spanish exiles to Chile and became a
political organizer founding Spanish American
Aid and the International Writers’ Conference
with other writers such as Ce ́sar Vallejo. He read
everywhere he went fromSpaininMyHeart,his
chronicle of the Spanishwar. His poetry took on
an epic and historical tone. His wife Delia del
Carril was a painter and already a Communist.
Neruda joined the party in 1945 and was elected
as a Communist senator in Chile the same year.
After the Spanish War, poetry and politics were
thesameforNeruda.HebecameaCommunist,he
says in theMemoirs, because Communists were theSonnet LXXXIX