Journalism and the development of Spanish American narrative

Aníbal González

"The relationship between literature and journalism is an important element in the literary history of all Spanish America. The very first Spanish American novelist, the Mexican Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi, was a journalist, and virtually all Spanish American writers, from Sarmiento though Marti, to Borges and Garcia Marquez, have, at one time or another, been involved in journalism. This book 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. Gonzalez 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, Gonzalez offers a broad historical panorama of the journalism-narrative interaction, and at the same time proposes an alternate theory of the development of the Spanish American narrative."--BOOK JACKET.