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McOndo
File:Mcondo.gif
The cover of the short-story anthology McOndo
AuthorAlberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez eds.
LanguageSpanish
GenreRealist
PublisherGrijalbo Mondadori
Publication date
1996
Publication placeSpain
Media typePrint Paperback
Pages262 pages


McOndo is a Latin American literary movement that breaks away from the long-dominant magical realist literary tradition by strongly associating itself with mass media culture [1] and the modernity of urban living [2]. Often closely associated with Mexico`s Crack Movement[3], McOndo attempts to contextualize being Latin American in a world dominated by American pop culture [4]. The movement challenges the natural or rural, magical world typically depicted by the Magical Realism genre.[5] McOndoists maintain that magical realism perpetuates the exoticism of Latin America while propagating “reductionist essential-isms that everyone in Latin America wears a sombrero and lives on trees.”[6] The works within the McOndo movement are often characterized by realism, with references to American and Latin American popular culture, using contemporary urban or suburban settings, and often contain hard boiled and gritty depictions of crime, poverty, globalization, class differences, sex, and sexuality. Though McOndo works often deal with the underlying consequences of politics, they are usually less overtly political than those of the magical realists. According to McOndo writer Edmundo Paz-Soldán, the new narrators of this movement "move with ease in a world of fast food and fast culture...they are the first generation of writers more influenced by mass media than by literary tradition." [7]


History

Origins

Plaza de Armas -Santiago Chile

Although many Latin American authors began to shift away from the fantastical styles of Magical Realism during the 1980`s, the inception of the McOndo movement is believed to have begun in 1994.[8] During this time, Chilean writer Alberto Fuguet participated in an International Writer's Workshop which took place at the University of Iowa.[9] While attending the workshop, Fuguet attempted to present a short-story to the Iowa Review for publication.[10] As the works of Latino authors were very popular at the time, Fuguet believed that his chances of getting his works translated and published were quite good.[11] However, upon reading Fuguets work, the editor was convinced that the lack of magical realist or fantastical components in the narrative made it seem as if, "the story could have taken place right there in [North] America."[12] Consequently, the story was rejected on the grounds that 'it was not Latin American enough'.[13] In response to the rejection of North American editors, a short-story anthology was compiled dawning the title McOndo.[14] Edited and introduced by Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez, the anthology of new Latin American literature was first published in Spain in 1996.[15] The work compiled 17 short stories written by authors, all who were from either Latin America or Spain.[16] All of the contributors were males who had primarily commenced their literary careers in the 1990s and all were born after the late 1950s.[17] The contributing authors distanced themselves from the magical realism genre as they believed it did not correctly represent modern Latin America, which in the 1990's was full of, "shopping malls, cable television, suburbs, and pollution."[18] Alternately, the authors wished to focus on the erasure of nations borders and geographical identities as a result of expanding transnational networks while exploring the effects of globalization on economy and culture.[19] In one essay, Fuguet railed against the picturesque, exotic stereotypes the publishing world had come to expect of Latin writers, citing well-known Cuban author-exile Reinaldo Arenas's pronouncement that the literary world expected Latin American novelists to tackle only two themes: underdevelopment and exoticism. Fuguet wrote that he does not deny that there are picturesque, colorful, or quaint aspects to Latin America, but that the world he lives in is too complicated and urban to be bound by the rules of magical realism.[20] In the end, the primary focus of the anthology was the introduction, which was considered to be more in the vain of an essay rather than a literary work.[21]

With advancements in technology and communications, the McOndo group would discover a similar movement in Mexico initiated by Jorge Volpi and Ignacio Padilla.[22] Because the inaugural work of the movement possessed the title "Manifesto Crack," the authors would come to be known as the Crack writers.[23] The "Crack Manifesto" was published only one month previous to the publication of McOndo and shared similar beliefs concerning the rejection of magical realism.[24] Although the two movements shared a commonality with their dislike of the long standing Latin American literary tradition, it is important to note that there are notable distinctions between the two.[25] For example, Edmundo Paz-Soldán characterizes McOndo as "a moment in the celebration of the creative mixture of high and popular culture,"[26] while expressing that the Crack movement has, "proposed a sort of elitist reestablishment of values."[27] It must also be noted that the assaults on magical realism may have been heavily influenced by international literary markets.[28] It is possible that the critiques began because of the large international commercial success of the works written in the magical realism genre.[29] However, it was by control of this market that the folkloric image of Latin america was propogated. [30]

With the turn of the century, McOndo had broaden its spectrum to include what Alberto Fuguet describes as, "a global, mixed, diverse, urban, 21st-century Latin America, bursting on TV and apparent in music, art, fashion, film, and journalism, hectic and unmanageable." [31] Latin America had evolved into an odd combination of the 19th and 21st centuries.[32] As for the writers featured in the short-story anthology, many have garnered critical acclaim, however, many have diverged from their works within McOndo following their individual literary paths.[33] Fuguet explains that the "divergence, for certain, was expected, for McOndo was not a deal, nor a treaty or a sect."[34]

Influences

It is a common belief that the McOndo movement has been greatly influenced by a previous literary current from the 1960s in Mexico known as "La Onda". The movement, literally known as 'the wave,' was originally associated with the changing styles and rebellious attitudes originating from the introduction of Rock music to Mexico.[35] International groups such as the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles began to exemplify a generation's desire to rebel against tradition.[36] As a result of the large influence of foreign mass culture,[37] the Mexican middle class youth began to associate themselves with international hippie movements.[38] Subsequently, Mexico developed its own counter cultural movement, strongly based in an amalgamation of domestic and foreign rock music, literature, language, and fashion.[39] As Eric Zolov describes, "this was a new transnational and trans-cultural era."[40] With the release of José Agustín's novels La tumba (1964) and De perfil (1966), a new breed of writers was born.[41] Titled literatura de La Onda, the works were initiated by an independent publishing house known as Joaquín Mortiz.[42] This style of writing provided the Mexican youth with reading material that related to their own personal experiences resulting in the generation of new readers.[43] This group of Mexican writers focused on popular mass media and the qualities of youth culture, including the language and music of the time.[44] Written to provoke reaction; there were critics, much like with the McOndo movement which criticized their work as being ‘anti-literary,’ while others applauded their dynamic work and viewed the group as popular or alternative literature.[45] Furthermore, the writers of this movement are believed to have influenced a wide variety of writers and journalists, comparable to the establishment of new journalism by Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe in the United States.[46] Notable works from La Onda authors include Gustavo Sainz’s Gazapo in which he discusses the contradictory and volatile world of adolescence, in addition to José Austín’s De perfil, which follows the life of a young uninterested student, and the adolescent experiences he endures. [47]

Etymology

The term “McOndo” was created by the Chilean writer Alberto Fuguet which first found its way into one of his novels[48] and eventually became the title to short-story anthology of the same name; subsequently the name became associated with the literary movement.[49]. The term itself began as a play on the name of Macondo, a town featured in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.[50] The title, that resembles the name of the global corporation McDonald's, embodies strong images of urban and popular culture while referencing to the effect that consumerism has had on the modernization of the Latin American world.[51]. This is clearly expressed in Fuguet's description of McOndo as being "a world of McDonald's, Macintoshes and condos,"[52]

Critics and supporters

Critics of McOndo such as Chilean author Ricardo Cuadros argue that its irreverence for Latin American literary tradition, its focus on American culture, and its apolitical tone tend to dismiss important ideas about writing developed by older Latin American writers who lived under, opposed, and were often suppressed by dictatorial regimes; Cuadros also critizes one of the lead authors, Alberto Fuguet, in The New York Times article, New Era Succeeds Years of Solitude: "Fuguet makes a cariacture out of Latin American literature, which is very rich and complex and which comes from a very painful literary process."[53] The movement has been criticized for replacing natural landscapes and animals with a 'wild jungle of cell phones, McDonald's, malls, drugs and an unintelligible slang' according to Bolivian critic Centa Reck. Additionally, critics such as Ignacio Valente who is a professor at the University of the Andes complains that the book, McOndo, compiled by Fuguet and Gómez, was not about expression or commentary on Chilean life, but moreso, an imitation of American culture. Fuguet has also been called a "sell out to American culture, a spoiled product of globalization and an irresponsible countryman" according to New York Times article, New Era Succeeds Years of Solitude. [54]

In contrast, the supporters, including some magic realists such as Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, argue that McOndo is capturing the Latin America of today rather than yesterday and that McOndo writers have not completely forgotten the past. In Giannina Braschi's mock diary, "The Intimate Diary of Solitude" (published in Empire of Dreams), the narrator of the Latin American Boom is shot by a lonely make-up artist who works at Macy's and despises the commercialization of her solitude. Even Fuguet, in his 2003 novel The Movies of My Life, captures some of the terror of the Augusto Pinochet regime in his depictions of a grim Pinochetist boarding school, his mention of a pro-Salvador Allende cousin who disappeared and his caricature of a mean-spirited pro-Pinochet grandmother (out of the mold of Charles Dickens's Madame Defarge). Latin American professor Verónica Cortínez at the University of California ,Los Angeles is a supporter of the McOndo movement that allows freedom of expression: "The McOndo writers reject the idea that Latin American writers need to ascribe to certain topics or ways of being."[55]

Themes

McOndo is a movement that was founded with an established connection to previous Latin American works and responses to said works. The messages, portrayals and themes of Latin American society in the art and literature of McOndo have arisen in contrast to works of the "boom generation" and especially Magical Realism. Many authors who constituted this generation of writers believed they had to leave their countries of origin in order to write about them.[56] As a result, an idealization of their home countries occurred which often influenced the writers to generate an image which did not exist.[57] Contrarily, the writers of the McOndo movement write about the world that surrounds them and the manner in which it is presented to them, through various types of mediums.[58] Subsequently, the focus of literary themes shifted from the earlier traditions.[59] As Fuguet explains, "I feel the great literary theme of Latin American identity (who are we?) must now take a back seat to the theme of personal identity (who am I?)."[60] While rejecting the resulting stereotype of Latin American literature that stems from magical realism, McOndo authors still maintain a respect for the authors themselves. "I'm a really big fan of Márquez, but what I really hate is the software he created that other people use," says Fuguet "they turn it into more of an aesthetic instead of an ideology. Anybody who begins to copy `One Hundred Years' turns it into kitsch." [61]

Relationship between Latin America and the United States

Part of the McOndo movement, as a response to the global reception of Magical Realism works such as those by Gabriel Garcia Marquez especially, deals with the reality of the power relationship between Latin America and the United States. This relationship is also relevant in seeing the influence of globalization and corporate imposition on Latin America. The appearance of the idea of the McJob is directly connected in several ways to the connection between the United States and the rest of Latin America, both through immigration and results of globalization and expanding quantities of corporations providing many low-paying jobs in Latin America. This relationship between the United States and Latin America in modern times is visible in McOndo through various depictions.

The narratives and texts of these writers show another Latin America, one that is no longer exotic or strange (as it was once viewed in the Magical Realism era). McOndo writers accept the integration that Latin America has with the globalized world and fight to impose a new and different view of Latin America. Furthermore, it is important to note that the United States is home to many of these McOndo writers. The chicano population is extremely important within the McOndo movement and modern Latin America in itself. This is relevant in modern times as the United States is also home for an enormous Latin American population and can be considered a Latin American country in some aspects.

Urban Space and Cities

The authors of the McOndo movement link together the representation of urban space (or the absence of its representation) with mass culture. This bond between city and media is a way in which the authors can represent experience, construct identities and create politicized narratives. Urban space is a term coined to represent the mistaken identities that cities have become. In the narratives of the McOndo movement, cities are represented in a modern demeanor and have become 'non-places,' in which technology and cable (Por favor, rebobinar by Fuguet) have replaced the city. Cities are becoming interchangeable according to some authors such as Ana María Amar Sánchez, and are now seen at a distance or at high speed, from the perspective of a highway, shopping center or screen. [62] It is also important to note that unlike magical realism, most if not all McOndo texts are situated in an urban environment, rather than in the magical jungles or the simpler farm lands. In this manner, McOndo authors are able to show that there is more to Latin America than just tales of nature or hidden treasures; that there is a real world beyond the tales from the boom era of magical realism, a world influenced by the mass culture and media.

Sex and Sexuality

In accordance with the contemporary world in which it takes place, the McOndo literary movement addresses the themes of sex and sexuality in a rather modern and unapologetic way. Sex scenes tend to be described and explained realistically and are so detailed in some cases that they reach the point of coming off as vulgar. Sex is not a theme that is unnecessarily romanticized. Furthermore, consistent with McOndo's contemporary and postmodern foundations, gender roles and homosexuality are not ignored as relevant themes in modern society. While these roles and definitions are not shown or explained as concrete, they are introduced and portrayed as real contemporary issues that also deal with the conflicts of identity that are ever present in modern Latin America.

Crime and Violence

As part of the realistic modern Latin American world and everyday life, there is a natural inclusion of the crime and violence in the works of McOndo. Guns, knives, rape, murder and physical violence have a presence in these book; as well as a detailed descriptions of violence that's very realistically, graphic and disturbing and comes off as quite grotesque. As Andrea Montejo describes in his article Breaking Free - Colombian writers get personal "Indeed, the violence that has for several decades shaken the country’s major cities is at the heart of such bestselling novels as Vallejo’s La Virgen de los Sicarios (Alfaguara, 1999; Our Lady of the Assassins, Serpent’s Tail, 2001) and Franco’s Rosario Tijeras (Siete Cuentos, 2004). Although very different in their stylistic approach, both portray the harsh reality of an underworld ridden with drug lords, merciless hit men, and the overabundance of easy money—all of which have come to be associated with Colombian literature. The latest batch of writers is well aware of their country’s reality, but they have refrained from portraying it in similar terms."[63] The depictions of the violence that is ever-present in contemporary Latin America and especially in countries such as Columbia and Mexico has evolved, it is now a part of literature and something that is simply an aspect of everyday life. However horrific the portrayals and real life examples of traffickers, hit men and other criminals may be; the violence has lost the impact it once carried in the past.

Poverty and Class Differences

In continuity with the aim of McOndo to depict the reality of modern Latin America, the representation of the disparity of wealth and poverty has a fundamental presence in the works of the movement. Also, the infusion of technology and contemporary infrastructure within the impoverished societies of Latin America result in a greater highlighting of this disparity of wealth and globalization. For example, as Emiliano Paz Soldan explains in an interview, "In Bolivia there exists small islands of modernity in the middle of a great pre-modern ocean. The collision between the tradition and modernity interests me." [translated by: Kantor, Jeremy][64] These traits of modern life in Latin America are directly related to the globalization caused in great part by the influence of the United States. In every way this emphasis on the separation of wealth is perhaps one of the most important characteristics of life in contemporary Latin America.

Mediums

Books

Works of the movement

McOndo by Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gomez as previously stated, is an anthology of short stories of new Latin American literature which was first published in Spain in 1996. (citation needed) The authors distance themselves from the magical realism genre saying that it is no longer representative of the situation of modern Latin America and that as they do not live in the same world as the likes of Gabriel García Márquez they should not be expected to write on the same material.

Cortos by Alberto Fuguet examines the complexity of the cultural exchange between north and south in an emotionally charged narrative. “It is a collection of stories which discuss the American phenomenon at its height with characters who search to reinvent themselves as well as find their own identity in their battle against a quarrelsome reality.” (citation needed)

Peliculas de Mi Vida also by Alberto Fuguet “is a novel about cinema and about how the movies that we see become part of who we are” (citation needed) The main character, Beltrán Soler, is in on a plane ride home when all of a sudden fifty of the most influential films come to mind that he has seen in his adolescence and childhood. He reconstructs his history with memories of the movies and the events and people surrounding the cinema and realizes how much these films have come to impact him.

Rosario Tijerras by Jorge Franco is a novel depicting the violence of 1980s Medellín, Colombia. Commencing with the shooting of Rosario Tijeras herself, the story is narrated by Antonio as Rosario lays on a hospital bed. We discover through him the history of Rosario, including her friendship with the narrator, her love story with Emilio and her life as a contract killer. “A work in the Latin American social realist tradition, the story of Rosario Tijeras is told in fast and vibrant prose, and poetic flourish.” (citation needed)

El Rey de la Habana by Pedro Juan Gutierrez “is the story of a young adolescent who lets loose on the streets of La Habana in the 90s.” (citation needed) In the style of ‘dirty realism’, the novel discusses such topics as poverty and prostitution, and depicts people at rock bottom with nowhere to turn. “It is the voice for those without a voice.” (citation needed)

Cuerpos Errantes: Literatura Latina y Latinoamericana en Estados Unidos by Loustau Laura Rosa is a study of the systems of Latin American and Latina literature in the United States. This book focuses on the displacement of people and the process of continuous construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of cultural, national and writing identity which occurs when people cross borders. Whether a physical border, such as the one between Mexico and the US, or a metaphorical one, this book studies from a conceptual point of view geographical, national, linguistic, psychological, textual, corporal, historical and cultural displacement. More specifically, “In this project we study the narrative and poetic systems as if they are cultural representations of Latin American and Latina literature in the United States.” (citation needed)

Pablo Escobar by Alonso Salazar delves into the life of Pablo Escobar through unpublished testimonials of family, friends and enemies. It depicts how Colombia became an empire of drug trafficking and focuses specifically on Escobar, both hated and adored for his past.


Works studying the movement

Latin American Literature and Mass Media by Edmundo Paz-Soldán and Debra A. Castillo “examines Latin American literature in the context of a complimentary audiovisual culture dominated by mass media such as photography, film, and the Internet.” (citation needed) A collection of articles, it is divided into four parts: Revisions, Mass Culture, Narrative Strategies in Our ‘Fin de siglo’ and The Digital Wor(l)d.

Puerta al tiempo: literatura latinoamericana del siglo XX by Maricruz Castro Ricalde provides a panoramic view of Latin American literature of the 20th century. It includes authors such as María Luisa Bombal, Nicolás Guillén, Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Rubén Darío, Pablo Neruda y Jorge Luis Borges among others, with the intention of giving the reader a view of the diversity and context of this literature. (citation needed)

De Macondo a McOndo by Diana Polversich documents Latin American literature from postboom to neoliberalism. It contextualizes the genres that emerge and views issues openly, covering even the more controversial topics such as homosexuality and the ‘dirty realism’ of the present world.

Articles

Magical Neoliberalism and I am not a magic realist by Alberto Fuguet are both commentaries by the author on the modernization of Latin American and Latina culture today and on the move from magical realism to Mcondo that has occurred - greatly due to his first steps into publicizing the changing attitudes of Latin American authors. He states that "The quaint, folkloric sensibility of magical realism has given way to a gritty, urban freneticism in fiction, music, and film." (citation needed)

Macondo y otros mitos by Diana Polversich

Graphic Novels

  • [[Road story : una novela gráfica de Gonzalo Martínez / Alberto Fuguet. Main Author: Fuguet, Alberto. Other Author(s): Martínez, Gonzalo, 1961- Published: [Santiago de Chile] : Alfaguara, 2007.]]

Movies

Notable Authors

Writers associated with the McOndo literary movement include: Alberto Fuguet, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Hernán Rivera Letelier, Jorge Franco, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Pia Barros, Sergio Gomez

Of these writers the most prominent and distinguished is the Chilean writer Alberto Fuguet who in the year 2000 won Spain’s most prestigious literary prize for his book “Rosario Tijeras” and was the creator of the term “McOndo”. [65]

Notes

  1. ^ Amar Sánchez, 2001, 207
  2. ^ De Castro, 2008, 106
  3. ^ De Castro, 2008, 105
  4. ^ Arias, 2005, 142
  5. ^ De Castro, 2008, 106
  6. ^ Arias, 2005, 140
  7. ^ Amar Sánchez, 2001, 218
  8. ^ Hidalgo, 2001, 1
  9. ^ Ibid
  10. ^ Ibid
  11. ^ Fuget, 1997
  12. ^ Hidalgo, 2001, 1
  13. ^ Ibid
  14. ^ Hidalgo, 2001, 2
  15. ^ Fuguet, 2001, 66
  16. ^ Hidalgo, 2001, 2
  17. ^ Ibid
  18. ^ Ibid
  19. ^ Ibid
  20. ^ Fuget, 1997
  21. ^ Fuguet, 2001, 70
  22. ^ Ibid
  23. ^ De Castro, 2008, 105
  24. ^ Ibid
  25. ^ Ibid
  26. ^ 'un momento de celebración de la mezcla creativa entre la cultura alta y la popular' Qtd. in De Castro, 2008, 106-107
  27. ^ 'una suerte e elitista reestablecimiento de valores' Qtd. in De Castro,2008, 107
  28. ^ De Castro, 2008, 108
  29. ^ De Castro, 2008, 109
  30. ^ Ibid
  31. ^ Fuguet, 2001, 69
  32. ^ Ibid
  33. ^ Ibid
  34. ^ Fuguet, 2001, 70
  35. ^ Zolov, 1999, 113
  36. ^ Zolov 1999, 112.
  37. ^ Zolov, 1999, 102
  38. ^ Zolov, 1999, 104
  39. ^ Zolov 1999, 114.
  40. ^ Ibid
  41. ^ Zolov, 1999, 113
  42. ^ Zolov, 1999, 159
  43. ^ Elena Poniatowska Qtd in Zolov, 1999, 113
  44. ^ Amar Sánchez, 2001, 209
  45. ^ Ibid
  46. ^ Zolov, 1999, 159
  47. ^ Paz-Soldán and Castillo, 2001, 8
  48. ^ Fuguet, 2001, 70
  49. ^ Klemann
  50. ^ Barr, 2008
  51. ^ Ibid
  52. ^ Fuget, 1997
  53. ^ LaForte, 2003
  54. ^ LaForte, 2003
  55. ^ LaForte, 2003
  56. ^ Fuget, 1997
  57. ^ Fuget, 1997
  58. ^ Fuget, 1997
  59. ^ Fuget, 1997
  60. ^ Fuget, 1997
  61. ^ LaForte, 2003
  62. ^ Amar Sánchez, 2001, 218
  63. ^ Andrea Montejo, 2
  64. ^ Paz Soldan, 2006, 244
  65. ^ Kleman

References

  • Amar Sánchez, Ana María (2001). "Deserted Cities: Pop and Disenchantment in Turn-of-the-Century Latin American Narrative". In Edmundo Paz-Soldán and Debra A. Castillo(eds.) (ed.). Latin American Literature and Mass Media. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 207–221. ISBN 0-8153-3894-5. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  • De Costa, Juan E (2008). The Spaces of Latin American Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-230-60625-3.
  • Fuguet, Alberto (2001). ""Magical Neoliberalism"". Foreign Policy (125): p66-73. Retrieved March 30, 2010. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  • Paz-Soldán, Edmundo and Debera A. Castillo (2001). "Deserted Cities: Beyond the Lettered City". In Edmundo Paz-Soldán and Debra A. Castillo(eds.) (ed.). Latin American Literature and Mass Media. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 1–18. ISBN 0-8153-3894-5. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  • Roncagliolo, Santiago; Paz Soldan, Emiliano (2006), Arizona journal of Cultural Hispanic Studies, 10: 232–249 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)

See also

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