Journalism and the Development of Spanish American Narrative

In Journalism and the Development of Spanish American Narrative, Anìbal González explores the impact of journalism and journalistic rhetoric on the development of Spanish American narrative, from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century to the testimonial and documentary novels of contemporary authors such as Miguel Barnet and Elena Poniatowska. González examines selected works from the Spanish American narrative tradition that exemplify moments in the history of the relationship between literature and journalism. He argues that Spanish American narrative has sought to work in consonance with journalism’s modernizing impulse, making strategic use of journalistic discourse to promote social or political change. In the course of the argument, González offers a broad historical panorama of the journalist/narrative interaction, and at the same time proposes an alternate theory of the development of the Spanish American narrative.

Acknowledgements; 1. Journalism, modernity, and narrative fiction in Spanish America; 2. Journalism and (dis)simulation in El Periquillo Sarmiento; 3. Sarmiento and sensationalist journalism: Facundo as crime story; 4. Journalism versus genealogy: Ricardo Palma’s Tradiciones peruanas; 5. Journalism and the self: the Modernist chronicle; 6. Journalism and the ethics of writing: Borges, Garcia Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Poniatowska; Notes; Bibliography of works cited; Index.