 |
| CARLOS FUENTES AT THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR, GUADALAJARA, MEXICO, 2009 (Photo: Ivan Garcia / AFP/Getty Images) |
The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes's top 10 lists of best Latin American novels were subjective but still worth a look for sure.
No, Bolaño was not on it. Nor were the "three or four best contemporary writers in Spanish language" he endorsed. That would be, in no order: Enrique Vila-Matas, César Aira, and Javier Marías. (I'm not sure who occupied the fourth spot. I'm almost sure it was Javier Cercas. But he was also very enthusiastic about Pedro Lemebel and Rodrigo Rey Rosa.)
The lists drawn by Fuentes were published in El País. I'm including the English titles when available.
20th century best Latin American novels:
El Aleph, Jorge Luis Borges (The Aleph)
Los pasos perdidos, Alejo Carpentier (The Lost Steps)
Rayuela, Julio Cortázar (Hopscotch)
Cien años de soledad, Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
Paradiso, José Lezama Lima (Paradiso)
La vida breve, Juan Carlos Onetti (A Brief Life)
Noticias del imperio, Fernando del Paso (News from the Empire)
Yo el supremo, Augusto Roa Bastos (I the Supreme)
Pedro Páramo, Juan Rulfo (Pedro Páramo)
Conversación en La Catedral, Mario Vargas Llosa (Conversation in The Cathedral)
Santa Evita, Tomás Eloy Martínez (Santa Evita)
21st century best Latin American novels:
Historia secreta de Costaguana, Juan Gabriel Vásquez (The Secret History of Costaguana)
En busca de Klingsor, Jorge Volpi (In Search of Klingsor)
Oír su voz, Arturo Fontaine
El desierto, Carlos Franz (The Absent Sea)
Las muertes paralelas, Sergio Missana
Amphitryon, Ignacio Padilla (Shadow Without a Name)
El síndrome de Ulises, Santiago Gamboa
Abril rojo, Santiago Roncagliolo (Red April)
See also: Fuentes's 1981 interview at the Paris Review. Also his recent interview (bilingual) at Literal magazine where he talked about Vlad, his latest book about vampires, and political issues in Mexico.
(via By the Firelight)
