Vanguardism in Latin American Literature

Book excerpt: Throughout the twentieth century, authors from Latin American countries have contributed some of the freshest and most original works to world literature. Foremost among these contributions are the works of the Latin American vanguardists, to whom this bibliography serves as a research guide. Rather than listing everything ever written by and about the vanguardists, this volume narrows its focus to a fundamental 15 year period, 1920 through 1935, and selects, assesses, and annotates both primary and secondary materials from those years. Secondary materials published since 1935 are also included as part of the listings. The guide is organized in four major parts. An introductory essay is first, formulating a multi-national working synthesis of vanguardism in Latin America and providing a conceptual background for the bibliographic listings. This is followed by a general list that is an annotated gathering of critical and bibliographic materials that documents and supports the multi-national approach established in the introduction. It offers a detailed overview of the general material available on vanguardism. The largest of the sections is the national lists, which provide categorized information on vanguardist groups, major figures, individual works, and literary journals, organized in a geographic framework. Both the general and national lists divide sources into those of the 1920-1935 time period and those critical studies written since 1935. The entries in these sections follow standard bibliographic formats, with titles maintained in their original languages and annotations in English. The volume concludes with a detailed, cross-referenced index that utilizes the unique designating numbers assigned in the bibliographic listings. For courses in Latin American and twentieth century literature, this work will be an essential reference source, and both public and academic libraries will certainly find it to be a valuable addition to their collections.