Central American Avant-Garde Narrative by Adrian Kane analyzes the relation between cultural changes and experimental fiction written during the 1920s and 30s. This era, known in Latin America as the historical avant-garde, was characterized by a wave of literary and artistic innovation. By framing several Central American novels and short stories from this period within the highly dynamic political and intellectual cultures from which they emerge, this study analyzes the way in which novelists Miguel Ángel Asturias, Luis Cardoza y Aragón, Flavio Herrera, Rogelio Sinán, and Max Jiménez employ subversive narrative strategies that undermine previously dominant intellectual paradigms.
By identifying innovative Central American texts and demonstrating the ways in which they participate in the broader Latin American avant-garde movement, this study contributes to a more complete picture of this continental project of cultural renovation. The author challenges scholars to rethink the concept of the avant-garde as solely a group phenomenon and establishes a direct link between literary experimentation and the cultural contexts of these Central American countries. This book contributes to recent scholarship that has emphasized the importance of this brief period of radical experimentation in the development of subsequent literary movements in Latin America as well as to the ongoing dialogue in the humanities about the concept of modernity in relation to various forms of cultural representation.
Central American Avant-Garde Narrative is an important book for all Spanish and Latin American studies collections.
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