Worldcrunch
The Russian author of “Crime and Punishment” thought plain-old realism was not good enough in art. Realism, he believed, must be but a tool to reveal a bigger, “hidden” and even implausible realities of earthly existence. The notion was expanded on a century later far away in South America.
Putting authors and artists in categories may help pinpoint their work in socio-cultural and stylistic terms, but is inevitably restrictive of literature’s essential universality. In South America, there is one, tiresome if profitable label literature seemingly cannot shake off, namely Magic Realism.
Carmen Balcells, literary agent to some of the greatest Spanish-language writers of our time, died this past weekend in Barcelona. One of the novelists she discovered, Isabel Allende, pays tribute.
Adios Gabo! From Bogota to Warsaw and beyond, the passing of the great Colombian writer is marked with Page One features.