Social and Political Realities

Posted by William on October 13, 2011

Following World War II, there was a worldwide economic expansion. In Latin America, from 1960 through the end of the 1970s was a period of phenomenal growth in industry and oil, and the entire region experienced an economic boom. The hope, on the part of people in Latin America, was that democratic political institutions would flourish in this economic atmosphere, and that the old order of tyrannical leaders would pass away.

What happened, though, was almost exactly the opposite. Even in countries with established constitutional traditions such as Chile and Uruguay, authoritarian civilian and military regimes took hold, oppressing the majority of the people who continued to live in severe poverty.

“This was the first time Remington rifles were used in the Argentine, and it tickles my fancy to think that the firm that shaves me every morning bears the same name as the one that killed my grandfather.” – Jorge Luis Borges, Autobiographical essay 1970

Out of this period of economic boom and political repression came an incredible flowering of literature, which dealt with the social and political realities of Latin America in inventive and complex ways. This topic is difficult to discuss because it overlaps with both magical realism (which also deals with social and political realities) and with other trends in Latin American literature. But it is a critical period in modern Latin American history, the result of which is a host of excellent political novels.