Module 9: World Literature-Latin American Literature: (Links To An External Site.)
Module 9: World Literature-Latin American Literature: (Links To An External Site.)
American Literature
1. Compare and contrast the various 21st century literary genres and their elements, structures, and traditions from across
the globe
2. Discuss how different contexts enhance the text’s meaning and enrich the reader’s understanding
3. Write a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts, applying a reading approach, and doing an adaptation of
these, require from the learner the ability to identify: representative texts and authors from Asia, North America, Europe, Latin
America, and Africa
Latin America
Latin- America is the southern region of America which consists of 20 countries. The Latin American region is the home of
the romance languages. Romance Languages are languages derived from Latin such as Spanish, French and Portuguese. The
name Latin- America was first used in Paris in 1856 during a conference by Francisco Bilbao, a politician from Chile. It refers to the
territories in America that were once empires of Spain or Portugal. They are towards the south of America and they include islands
in the Caribbean such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobego, Barbados.
Latin American Literature
Over the course of this 60-year long period the evolution of the relationship between violence, ideology and Latin American
literature can be charted and understood, highlighting the way in which writers committed themselves to reflecting their various
contexts, situations which are often characterized by dictatorship, guerrilla warfare, neoliberalism, and later - drug trafficking,
migrations, gender violence and crime.
Latin American literature was linked to the ups and downs of national politics -although also regional and international- during
the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
Latin American literature was inclined towards the political left and social demands, and despite the diverse styles and
approaches -realist, magic realist, modernist, surrealist, etc- the militant burden did not diminish but progressively increased a
symbolic-social centrality. With the beginning of the 21st century, Latin American literature lost part of its traditional claims and
transformed them into new and current ones denouncing violence and inequalities in the continent
About the Author
Junot Diaz
He was born on 31 December 1968 (age 52) in the Dominican Republic and was raised in New Jersey.
He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize
and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award
finalist.
He is a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim
Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award.
He is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Historical Background of the Text
- In the modern period, few Caribbean populations have been more hostile to Haitians.
- In 1937 the dictator Rafael Trujillo launched a genocidal campaign against Haitians and Haitian Dominicans. Tens of thousands
were massacred; tens of thousands more were wounded and driven into Haiti, and in the aftermath of that genocide the relationship
between the two countries has never ended.
- Haitian immigrants experience widespread discrimination, abysmal labor conditions, constant harassment, mob violence, and
summary deportation without due process.
- Environmental issues in Haiti include a severe deforestation problem, overpopulation, lack of sanitation, natural disasters, and food
insecurity.
- Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan.
- The richest 1% of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti’s wealth.
- It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world.
- It has a healthy life expectancy of 55 years for women and 53 years for men.
- Its adult literacy is about 62%. 78% of Haitians live on less than $2 US per day.