Interviews with Latin American Writers

The Latin American literature ``boom'' of the 1960s brought about a worldwide literary consensus that Latin American writers share a rich frame of reference. These post-boom interviews reinforce that opinion, while leaving certain broad issues unresolved (how, for example, a writer's nationalism fits within the broader Latin-American identity). The 15 writers interviewed in Gautier's first book range from the widely translated Isabel Allende, Carlos Fuentes, Luisa Valenzuela and Mario Vargas Llosa to less familiar fiction writers. The interlocutor elicits intricate statements about literature and the craft of writing, but even the most politically engaged authors tell us little about political or social concerns, except how alienation and exile affect them as artists. And it is a shock to learn how few reside in the country from which they claim to draw their inspiration. Several of the writers interviewed--Carlos Fuentes (Mexico), Guillermo Cabrera Infante (Cuba), Elena Poniatowska (Mexico)--are masterful, entertaining subjects, and only Vargas Llosa seems overly posed and packaged. Gautier is a professor of Spanish and Latin American literature at St. John's University in New York City. (July)