This document provides an overview of 21st century Latin American and North American literature. It discusses prominent authors and literary styles from both regions. In Latin America, it highlights Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Mario Vargas Llosa, Patricio Pron, and Rodrigo Hasbun. For North America, it mentions Jonathan Safran Foer, Sara Gruen, and Margaret Atwood. It also summarizes some of the major literary movements and award-winning works from each region.

1. 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
PRESENTATION

2. Consist of oral & written literature in
several languages
(Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous
languages of the Americas as well as literature of
the United States written in the Spanish language)
Rose to particular prominence globally
during the second half of the 20th century,
largely due to the international success of
the style known as magical realism.

3. As such, the region's literature is often
associated solely with this style, with the
20th Century literary movement known as
Latin American Boom, and with its most
famous exponent, Gabriel García Márquez.
Latin American literature has a rich and
complex tradition of literary production that
dates back many centuries.

4. 21ST CENTURY NORTH AMERICAN
LITERATURE

6. Pre-Columbian Literature
• Primarily oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans
Colonial literature
• When Europeans encountered the New World, early explorers
and conquistadores produced written accounts and crónicas of
their experience, such as Columbus's letters or Bernal Díaz del
Castillo's description of the conquest of Mexico
Nineteenth-century literature ("foundational fictions“)
• Novels in the Romantic or Naturalist traditions that attempted to
establish a sense of national identity, and which often focused
on the indigenous question
or the dichotomy of "civilization or barbarism“
• Additionally, a gradual increase in women's education and writing during
the 19th century brought more women writers to the forefront

8. 1. The Fantastic — odd, remarkable or bizarre;
grotesque and highly unbelievable or unrealistic
events occur in fiction. The Fantastic tests and
often bends the limits of reality. Authors most often
associated with the “Fantastic” are Borges and
Cortázar.
2. Magical realism — there is argument between those
who see magical realism as a Latin American
invention and those who see it as the global product
of a postmodern world
— when magical or supernatural elements are
introduced into an otherwise realistic fictional setting;
magical realism will depict believable settings,
characters, and circumstances, but the supernatural or
magical is incorporated into the fiction. Carpentier coined
the term “lo real maravilloso.” Authors associated with

9. 3. Social realism — dark and often
depressing depictions of life in Latin America;
sometime the literature reflects the violent
history of the region: “Torrents of blood.”
Authors associated w/social realism are Novas
Calvo, Rulfo, and Arias.
4. Female discourse — fiction that makes its
main theme gender role as it critiques
marianismo and machismo in Latin American
society. Authors associated w/female discourse
or feminist themes include Allende,
Castellanos. and Ferré.

10. AWARD-WINNING 21ST CENTURY
NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE
1. “Everything Is Illuminated” and
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly
Close” by JONATHAN SAFRAN
FOER
2. “At The Water’s Edge” by Sara
Gruen
3. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret
Wood

11. Jonathan Safran Foer
• Author of two bestselling, award-winning
novels, “Everything is Illuminated and
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and
as bestselling work of non-fiction, “Eating
Animals”.
• He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

12. Sara Gruen
• Sara Gruen is the #1 New York
Times and USA Today bestselling
author of five novels: “At The
Water’s Edge”, “Ape House”,
“Water for Elephants”, “Riding
Lessons”, and “Flying Changes”.

13. Margaret Wood
• Canadian author Margaret Wood
has numerous critically acclaimed
novels to her credit.
• Her best-selling titles are “Oryx and
Crake” (2003), “The Handmaid’s
Tale”, (1986), AND “The Blind
Assassin” (2000).

14. Margaret Wood
• She is best known for her feminist
and dystopian political themes, and
her prolific themes, and her prolific
output of work spans multiple
genres, including poetry, short
stories, and essays.

15. Valeria Luiselli
• Award winning, translated into
numerous languages, Luieselli’s
playful, mesmeric novels, have
pushed the boundaries of distortion
between the real and the imagined.

16. Valeria Luiselli
• Works such as “Faces in The Crowd”
(2012) and “The Story of My Teeth”
(2015) have seen her casts one of the
bright lights of contemporary Mexican
fiction, and her collection of non-
fiction essays “Sidewalks” (2013),
demonstrates the versatility and deft
touch of an interesting new literary

17. Carmen Boullosa
• Poet, playwright, and novelist,
Carmen Boullusa’s thoughtful and
eclectic works such as “Leaving
Tabasco” (2001), and “Texas: The
Great Theft” (2014), have cemented
the reputation of her powers.
• Weaving through a wide range of
topics, and eras.

18. Carmen Boullosa
• Boullosa’s imaginative power and
craft have allowed her to jump from
one project to another, without being
typecast or pigeon holed.

19. 21ST CENTURY LATIN
LITERATURE

20. AWARD-WINNING 21ST CENTURY LATIN
LITERATURE
1. Isabel Allende
2. “100 Years of Solitude” and “Love
in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel
Garcia
3. “The Storyteller” by Mario Vargas
Llosa
4. Patricio Pron
5. Rodrigo Hasbun

21. Isabel Allende
• Chilean-American novelist.
• Allende, who writes in the “magic
realism” tradition, id considered one of
the first successful woman novelists in
Latin America.
• She has written novels based in part on
her own experiences, often focusing on
the experiences of women, weaving
myth and realism together.

22. Isabel Allende
• Her best known works
include the novels “The
House of the Spirits and
City of the Beasts”.

23. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• 1927 to 2014 was a
Colombian writer,
associated with the
Magical Realism genre of
narrative fiction and
credited with reinvigorating

24. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• He won the Nobel Prize for
literature in 1982, for the
body of work that included
novels such as “100 Years
of Solitude” and “Love in
the Time of Cholera”.

25. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• He won the Nobel Prize for
literature in 1982, for the
body of work that included
novels such as “100 Years
of Solitude” and “Love in
the Time of Cholera”.

26. Gabriel García Márquez
• Novelists that’s perhaps the most prominent
author to emerge from Latin America in the 20th
century
• Author of the Cien Años de Soledad (1967), one of the
most important works in world literature of the 20th
century
• Won the Nobel Prize for Literature 1982
• Márquez’s magical realist world blends beautifully
the magically quotidian (ice, magnets) with

27. Marion Vargas Llosa
• Peru’s foremost author and the
winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize
in Literature.
• 1994 he was awarded the
Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-
speaking world’s most
distinguish literary honor.

28. Marion Vargas Llosa
• 1995, he won the Jerusalem Prize.
• His many distinguished works
include “The Storyteller”, “The Feast
of the Goat”, “Aunt Julia and the
Scriptwriter”.
• He lives in Lodon.
• He is National Book Criterics Circle
Award winner.

29. Patricio Pron
• Born in 1975
• He is the author of seven novels
and six story collections, and he
also works as a translator and critic.
• His fiction has appeared in Granta,
Zoetrope: All Story, and The
Review, and he has received
numerous prizes,

30. Patricio Pron
• Including the Alaguarra Prize, the
Juan Rulfo Prize, the Premio
Literario Jaen de Novela award.
• 2008, Jose Manuel Lara Foundation
for one of the five best works
published in Spain that year.

31. Rodrigo Hasbun
• In 2010, he was named one of
three novels, a volume of
personal essays, and three
collections of short stories, two
which have been made into films.