Concept in Definition ABC

Like the rest of artistic manifestations, the literature it evolves from currents and trends that are happening over time. In the 60s of the 20th century, a literary phenomenon occurred in Latin America that received the name of the Hispanic American Boom, a movement whose most relevant representatives were Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes and other writers, especially novelists.

The authors that make up the Boom were distinguished by their technical innovations, magical realism as a sign of identity and for its connections with the social and political coordinates of its time. In another sense, we must not forget that the Boom was a successful strategyeditorial of marketing.

In the literary world, a new term has been coined to refer to the current that has replaced the Boom, the Post Boom, a phenomenon that provokes an intense controversy and that focuses on the narrative that emerged from 1970 to the present in all the countries of Hispanic America.

Post Boom Features

Literature scholars argue that this current abandons the magical realism of the tradition above, giving priority to testimonial narratives and existential stories.

Antonio Skármeta's novel "I Dreamed that Snow Burned", published in 1975, is considered to be the beginning of the Spanish-American Post Boom.

The term used to refer to this current is not unique, since others are also used (newest generation, infra-realism, hyper-realism ...).

Among the strictly literary characteristics we can highlight the following: the disappearance of the rural and telluric themes and the resurgence of urban themes, a narrationmetaphysics, reality is described outside the magical dimension and there is a attitude rebel against moral taboos. The creators maintain a political commitment to their reality and musical and television references appear in their works that are far from the previous literary tradition.

Regarding the formal aspects of the Post Boom, a linear and logical structure is not followed in the narrative, there is usually more than one narrator, the classic omniscient narrator disappears and symbolic elements abound to refer to the reality.

Most significant representatives of the Post Boom

The Chileans Roberto Bolaño and Isabel Allende, the Colombian Rafael Chaparro, the Peruvian Bryce Echenique, the Puerto Rican Luis Rafael Sanchez, the Cuban Reinaldo Arenas or Mexicans Elena Poniatowska and Fernando del Paso (these two authors received the Cervantes Prize in 2013 and 2015 respectively).

Photos: Fotolia - auremar / aerogondo