thebooklands:
About four years ago I fell in love with Roberto Bolaño. Although I feel like we connect on a personal level, and I know him uniquely, as he knows me, I also know our love is very common. He’s one of the most respected, lauded, and generally fawned over writers of the last however many years.
Something else happened though. Last week I read a book by Juan Gabriel Vásquez – The Sound of Things Falling – and LOVED it. Then, after having it hit certain notes within me that Bolaño had previously been playing, along with new and differently complex notes, I saw At Night We Walk In Circles by Daniel Alarcón sitting on my shelf. I bought it two years ago? I’ve read two chapters and it’s already amazing. And I already love Junot Díaz, and only need to read one more to have read all of his books. So.
It seems I’m either in a phase of reading writers from Latin America, Spanish language writers translated into English (I’m working on reading Spanish and Portuguese, specifically Brazilian Portuguese), and/or Hispanic writers, or I have found out I’m in love with these writers and always will be. It feels like the second thing, but love often does. Also, apologies if I have misused terms or mislabeled entire cultures. I’m still learning, which is fun but scary.
What I need are female writers similar to those mentioned above. Not necessarily in style or tone, just females writing from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, etc. - I’ve looked up plenty of lists about writers similar to Bolaño but they are very rarely populated with women. I plan on reading The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli, and I do have some ideas thanks to these lists, but I’d love more. Any and all recs are much appreciated!
And I’m thinking I might get some awesome recs from @cat-thecatlady (no pressure!) so everyone else has her to compete with.
Thank you thank you!
I don’t think it’s possible to read contemporary female authors of Latin American Literature without paying respect to Isabelle Allende. I would recommend “House of Spirits” and “Of Love and Shadows” as they’re the titles I’m most familiar with. Lots of magical realism and talk about the Dirty War.
It’s also imperative that you read Borges, post-haste, specifically “Labyrinths” and “The Aleph”, although you can access “Dream Tigers” online here. He’s such an enormous influence, not just on Latinx writers, but internationally and beyond the field of literature, with Mark Danielewski citing his work as a cornerstone for the inspiration behind “House of Leaves”. He was an absolute genius.
I have a Latin American tag with some other recommendations here, from about a year ago, but they might be authors you’ve already found and plan to read.