The best books of Latin American literature

best books of Latin American literature

Latin American literature has always represented that most magical and peculiar aspect of letters. Defined largely by the so-called "Latin American boom" of the 60s, which found its main ambassador in magical realism, the other side of the pond is found in these best books of Latin American literature to the best representatives when it comes to delving into those stories of lost peoples, unique characters and political criticism.

Twenty love poems and a desperate song, by Pablo Neruda

Gabriel García Márquez said of him that he was the «greatest poet of the twentieth century«, And with time, we believe that he was not mistaken. Born in Chile, Neruda published this Twenty love poems and a desperate song with just 19 years making impeccable use of the Alexandrian verse and embodying his vision of love, death or nature in verses. For eternity remain his lyrics and the convulsed life of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo

After the publication of a first set of stories called El llanero en llamas, the Mexican Juan Rulfo helped lay the foundations of the magical realism thanks to this first novel published in 1955. Set in Comala, a town in the desert state of Colima, in Mexico, Pedro Páramo responds to the name of the father that Juan Preciado arrived looking for a too quiet place. One of the best-selling Latin American books in history is, in turn, the chronicle of an era, that of the years after the Mexican Revolution.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez

Inspired by Rulfo's work, Gabo would initiate a creative ascent in the 50s that would culminate in the publication (and success) in 1967 of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Possibly the most influential Latin American work of the XNUMXth century. The skeleton of a continent like South America was captured through the magical stamp of Macondo, a Colombian town where the Buendía family and their different generations served to tell the stories of passion, dominance and transition that define one of the most powerful novels of universal literature.

The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

Published in 1982, Isabel Allende's first novel, a writer who emigrated from her native Chile during its bloody dictatorship, became a bestseller and on the occasion of a film adaptation released in 1994. The story, which combines real and other more imaginary elements as a result of magical realism, narrates the life and misfortune of the four generations of the Trueba family in the turbulent periods of post-colonial Chile. Characters whose predictions, betrayals and romances define a Chile that the writer has tried to bare in many of her works.

The kingdom of this world, by Alejo Carpentier

After several years in Europe, Carpentier put in his backpack the influences of a surrealism that were unleashed when he arrived in his native Cuba and the voodoo ceremonies of nearby Haiti inspired the existence of the real-wonderful, a concept that despite resembling magical realism, is different. Proof of this is the story that is told to us in The Kingdom of this World, a story set in colonial Haiti seen through the eyes of the slave Ti Noél and a reality where the unexpected and supernatural intermingle with the daily life of an unjust world .

Hopscotch, by Julio Cortázar

Considered by many as «anti-light«, Or« contranovela »according to Cortázar himself, Hopscotch transfers old childhood games to the pages of a book in which magic, love and the disparate form a hypnotic whole. While defining the plot of Hopscotch is (almost) impossible given its peculiar structure and versatile style, one of the first surrealist novels in Argentine literature, follows the footsteps of Horacio Oliveira through a cosmos that Cortázar was about to encompass under the title of Mandala. The idea was always to disarm the reader.

The goat party, by Mario Vargas Llosa

Although the Peruvian-Spanish writer has more than twenty high-quality works to his credit, La fiesta del chivo endures due to its explicit nature and the good work of the author as he introduces us to one of the darkest political episodes in Latin America: the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Segmented into three stories and two different points of view, the novel published in 2000 addresses the impact of a dominance settled with men thrown at sharks, girls overshadowed by power or the thirst for revenge after a murder conspiracy settled in 1961.

Like water for chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

When magical realism seemed to have mutated into new currents, the Mexican Laura Esquivel arrived with a book whose success used the best ingredients to make the world fall in love: An impossible love story, a protagonist guided by the family cook and a traditional and revolutionary Mexico where fantasy and reality coexisted equally. Quite a triumph.

The wonderful short life of Óscar Wao, by Junot Díaz

Throughout the 2007st century, many of the best Latin American works came from the United States to enlighten us with the reality of the diaspora. The best example is that of the author Junot Díaz and his book The Wonderful Brief Life of Óscar Wao, which deals with the life of a Dominican family established in New Jersey and, especially, the young nerd that the girls did not want and the summers in Santo Domingo they were a sinister revelation. Published in XNUMX, the book won the Pulitzer Prize and was crowned # 1 in The New York Times for several weeks.

2666, by Roberto Bolaño

Tras the death of Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño in 2003, a novel divided into five installments was planned as a form of livelihood for the author's family. Finally, they were all published in a single book set in the fictional Mexican city of Santa Teresa, which could be Ciudad Juarez. United for the murder of various women, 2666, like other works such as The Savage Detectives, served to turn the writer into a legend and confirm the transformation of some Hispanic letters in a state of grace.

What are the best books of Latin American literature for you?


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  1.   Oscar Hernandez said

    Just a small clarification, it's "The Burning Plain" not the "The Llanero ..."

  2.   Maria scott said

    I would love to have more information on where to buy books in Phoenix Arizona

  3.   Luis said

    Hi Maria Scott. You can buy the books in amazon, there you find several Latin American authors either in English or Spanish. Greetings.

  4.   Scott bennett said

    Thanks for sharing the list. Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, not 1963.

  5.   Montserrat Moreno said

    Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes and Galeano are missing… ..

  6.   Julius Gallegos said

    «Conversation in the Cathedral» by Mario Vargas Llosa….

  7.   Em said

    You have missed my orange-lime plant and a Galeano book

  8.   Martha Palacios said

    Excellent recommendation! I would add the recently published novel: "Only kisses will cover our mouths" by Argentine writer Hernán Sánchez Barros. A truly extraordinary historical fiction.

  9.   adonay7mx said

    None from Octavio Paz or Carlos Fuentes?

  10.   Daniel said

    It is absurd that Junot Díaz who writes in English appears on the list and there are no Brazilians, Haitians, etc. Latin America is almost a linguistic definition: Spanish, French, Portuguese of America. Being the son of a Dominican or Brazilian does not make you Latin American.