World Literature and Its Times, Volume 1

Latin American literature attracted unprecedented global attention in the 1960s, a volatile period in the region, one in which many of its residents were upset or challenged by the success of revolution in Cuba. Debate raged furiously across national borders, calling into question relationships long regarded as inviolable, with writers factoring themselves into the political and social dialogue through the literary works they produced. Of course, authors had already engaged in such dialogue for decades. For them, as for many Latin Americans, literature has long been as legitimate a medium as any to explore the most compelling political, social, and spiritual concerns of the past and the present.

In keeping with this conviction, Latin American Literature and Its Times arises out of the notion that a grasp of historical events is fundamental to understanding Latin America's literary works.