Assignment:
For this assignment, you are to read a Latin American literary work and discuss the themes, topics, plot, etc. of a novel of your choice from a prominent Latin American novelist. There are a multitude of novelists to select from, and I have a list of suggest authors and titles below these instructions, as well as a nuts-and-bolts video about the assignment.
The report is to be 5 to 7 pages in length and is to be double-spaced.
In terms of the content of the report, I am looking for two main points of discussion. First, you should devote the first half of the report to a summary of the main points in the novel that you selected. To help you to address this issue, consider some of these questions: Who are the main characters in the story? What era is the story set in? Which historical figures, if any, are present in the story? What types of literary elements are present in the story (i.e. flashbacks, magical realism, first-person point of view, etc.)?
As for the second point of discussion, this is where you analyze and discuss the various literary and historical elements of the story. For example, how did this novel contribute to your understanding about Latin American culture and society? How did this novel compare to your previous experiences with reading novels, especially those from American authors? I encourage you to be creative with your response in this portion of the assignment. Should you have any questions or concerns, please check with me, or feel free to consult your English instructors for any suggestions regarding literary elements. Finally, I have some novel suggestions by various Latin American masters such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, and many others. You can select any of these titles, or another title from a suggested author from the list, or even a title and author not on the list. I do request that you inform me of the book you have chosen before spring vacation before you begin writing your review.
Some books by Mario Vargas Llosa:
"The Storyteller"
"Death in the Andes"
"The War at the End of the World"
"The Bad Girl"
"Conversation in the Cathedral"
"The Green House"
Some books by Carlos Fuentes:
"Where the Air is Clear"
"Old Gringo"
"The Death of Artemio Cruz"
Some books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
"One Hundred Years of Solitude"
"The General in his Labyrinth"
"Love in the Time of Cholera"
"The Autumn of the Patriarch"
"Chronicle of a Death Foretold"
Some books by Isabel Allende
"The House of the Spirits"
"The Infinite Plan"
"Eva Luna"
"Daughter of Fortune"
"Portrait in Sepia"
Other suggestions:
"Men of Maize" by Miguel Angel Asturias
"Widows" by Ariel Dorfman
"Huasipungo" by Jorge Icaza
"Yawar Fiesta" by Jose Maria Arguedas
"Os Sertoes" by Euclides Da Cunha
"The Underdogs" by Mariano Azuela
"Imagining Argentina" by Lawrence Thornton
"El Indio" by Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes
"One Day of Life" by Manlio Argueta
"Birds Without a Nest" by Clorinda Matto de Turner
"Don Segundo Sombra" by Ricardo Guiraldes
"Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village" by Victor Montejo
"Broad and Alien is the World" by Ciro Alegria
"The Obscene Bird of Night" by Jose Donoso
"Explosion in a Cathedral" by Alejo Carpentier
"Kiss of the Spider Woman" by Manuel Puig
"I, the Supreme" by Augusto Roa Bastos
"In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
"Distant Star" by Roberto Bolaño
"The Lizard's Tail" by Luisa Valenzuela
"The Seven Madmen" by Roberto Arlt