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Annotated Bibliography - McOndo

BOOK: Latin American Literature and Mass Media – Edited by Edmundo Paz-Soldán and Debra A. Castillo

This volume is a collection of articles written by authors, professors and Latin American literature specialists that give the reader an in-depth look into how mass media has impacted modern narrative and theory. Edited by Edmundo Paz-Soldán (a ‘member’ of the Mcondo group) and Debra A. Castillo, the book is separated into three parts; Revisions, Mass Culture, and Narrative Strategies on our Fin de Siglo), in which we are given clear evaluations of the evolution in addition to the implications of our culture dominated by mass media such as film, Internet and photography.

The introduction written by both editors, and the first revision Beyond the Lettered City, an article written by Fernando Unzueta, a nineteenth century specialist and professor of Latin American literatures and cultures, discuss the new media and alternate forms of discussions that have “invaded private homes and have taken control of public spaces.” Furthermore, both articles talk about the marginalization of world literature that has almost been erased through modernization and institutionalization of literature.

The fourth chapter, The Avant-Garde and Cinematic Imaginary written by Paz-Soldán, focuses on the narrowing gap between literature and technology in the first decades of the twentieth century due to technological advances. These advances have threatened the representational privilege of writing and transformed the ‘artisan practice’ into a ‘professional technique.’ In particular, Paz-Soldán focuses on Vicente Huidobro who he believes is the “Latin American writer most attuned to a technological utopia, our most conspicuous admirer of modernity.” Huidobro, one of the four most famous Chilean poets that created the notion of creationism, can attest to Jean Emar’s quote about the meager reception of cinema in Chile. “Cinema gives young countries devoid of tradition the possibility of showing the artistic value.” Paz-Soldán continues to say that Huidobro having lived in Europe and making a visit to Chile in 1925, noticed no advances at all in the state of evolution and acceptation to the new cinema culture. “To believe in advances here is to live on illusions. Always the same sad faces…South Americans, due to perhaps lack of temperament, ignorance or cowardice, I don’t know, live years behind in a sweet intellectual laziness.”

In the twelfth chapter of this volume, Ana Maria Amar Sanchez discusses the McOndo movement or group and delves into the different aspects of the texts written by authors that she indicates, can be read as “followers of the tradition that seek out new forms in mass culture.” According to Sanchez, in the McOndo texts, there is a coexistence of discourse that both synthesizes, and rejects the current ‘canon’ through their attempt to challenge the functions and key elements of the formulas. Moreover, this manipulation exposes the specified genres in a way that at times, ‘deceives’ the reader as the authors point out that a specific genre is something else. This deception leads to a certain tension and the more these authors test the boundaries of genres, the higher the tension is. Occasionally, says Sanchez, this results in the texts being read as parodies, other times like “minor works” which the McOndo clearly do not want held to their name. She also mentions the use of other currents such as La Onda from the 1960s, which is a group of Mexican writers who wrote about youth culture, such as slang, rock music and the mass media popular at the time. This received much criticism, some as extreme as ‘antiliterary’ and McOndo writers similary receive such reviews.

The McOndo movement is not mentioned throughout the volume explicitly, more so it is in mentioned in various chapters. However, it is necessary to take into consideration the developmental time frame and external factors that have allowed the group or movement to evolve into what it is today and thus, the entirety is of relevance. Paz-Soldán and Castillo conclude the volume with an article by Susana Pajares Tosca, in which she explores how new technologies and narrative strategies are applied to Latin American reality. In conclusion, the volume is an extension analysis of mass media, that Paz-Soldán calls “extensions of men,” to help transport the planet into a ‘utopian global village.'

Robertsk88 (talk) 08:14, 8 February 2010 (UTC)