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McOndo is a Latin American literary movement that breaks with the
magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
mode of narration, and counters it with languages borrowed from
mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...
. The literature of McOndo presents urban Latin American life, in opposition to the fictional rural town of
Macondo Macondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. It is the home town of the Buendía family. Aracataca Macondo is often supposed to draw from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracat ...
.De Castro, 2008, 106 Initiated by Chilean writers Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez in the 1990s, the movement claims to serve as an antidote to the Macondo-ism that demanded of all aspiring Latin American writers that they set their tales in steamy tropical jungles in which the fantastic and the real happily coexist. The realistic narratives of McOndo literature refer and allude to
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
as lived in the cities and suburbs of contemporary Latin American cities—thus the gritty,
hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...
depictions of poverty and crime, of the local economic consequences of
globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
, and of
social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...
and identity differences. Despite McOndo literature often depicting the social consequences of
political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
, the
narrative mode Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deli ...
is usually less
political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
than that of
magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
.


History


Etymology

The terms McOndo derives from
Macondo Macondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. It is the home town of the Buendía family. Aracataca Macondo is often supposed to draw from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracat ...
, the fictional town depicted in '' One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (1967) by
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...
. The term was coined by Chilean writers Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez in the 1990s, when they published the short-story anthology ''
McOndo McOndo is a Latin American literary movement that breaks with the magical realism mode of narration, and counters it with languages borrowed from mass media. The literature of McOndo presents urban Latin American life, in opposition to the fictio ...
'', playing with the terms, Macondo, McDonald's,
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
(computer), and
condo A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
.Fuguet, 2001, 70


Origins

In the 1980s, Latin American novelists had generally diverted from
magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
; yet the McOndo literary movement did not coalesce as literature, nor constitute a genre, until the mid-1990s.Hidalgo, 2001, 1 In 1994, the Chilean novelist Alberto Fuguet participated in an international writing workshop at the University of Iowa, where he submitted for publication a
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
to the ''Iowa Review'' magazine; he expected prompt acceptance, translation to English, and publication, because Latin American writers then were an
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
vogue in trendy U.S. mainstream culture. Yet, upon reading the novelist Fuguet's submitted short story, the ''Iowa Review'' editor dismissed it as "not Latin American enough ... ecausethe story could have taken place right here, in
orth Orth can refer to: Places * Orth, Minnesota, an unincorporated community in Nore Township, Minnesota, United States * Orth an der Donau, a town in Gänserndorf, Lower Austria, Austria * Orth House, a historic house in Winnetka, Illinois, United S ...
America." Two years later, in 1996, in retort to the U.S. editorial rebuffing of realist fiction from and about Latin America, Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez in Spain published ''McOndo'' (1996) a short-story anthology of contemporary Latin American literature.Hidalgo, 2001, 2Fuguet, 2001, 66 The ''McOndo'' anthology comprised seventeen stories by Latin American and peninsular Spanish writers, all men whose literary careers had begun in the 1990s; each was of the generation born in the late 1950s. The ''McOndo'' writers ideologically distanced themselves from Magical Realism, because it misrepresented contemporary
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
— which, in the 1990s, comprised "shopping malls, cable television, suburbs, and pollution" — because literature had progressed beyond the "
banana republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...
" Latin America of the
dictator novel The dictator novel ( es, novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society. The theme of ''caudillismo''—the régime of a charismatic ''caudillo'', a political stron ...
and of the Magical Realism genre; the cultures of the 19th and of the 20th centuries. The McOndos presented the cultural effects and consequences of global commerce upon Latin American societies, of the erasure of cultural demarcations (among
nations A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
and countries), and the consequent reduction of identity that is cultural homogenization. In an essay, Fuguet criticized the creative limitations that are the "picturesque locale and
exotic Exotic may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Exotic R4, a differentiable 4-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean space R4 * Exotic sphere, a differentiable ''n''-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordina ...
characters" that publishers grew to ''expect'' of Latin American writers — because of the folkloric Macondo stereotype. Citing the Cuban writer
Reinaldo Arenas Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright known as a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban government. His memoir of the Cuban dissident movement and of being a ...
, the literary world (publishers and critics) ''expected'' Latin American novelists to tackle only two themes: (i) the celebration of economic underdevelopment and (ii) cultural
exoticism Exoticism (from "exotic") is a trend in European art and design, whereby artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and drew inspiration from them. This often involved surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fantas ...
. Hence, Fuguet concluded that, despite pretty people and pretty scenery, the contemporary Latin American city and world that he (Fuguet) inhabits, is too complicated for Magical Realism to grasp and effectively narrate. In the event, Sergio Gómez and Fuguet's publication of the ''McOndo'' (1996) anthology served a two-fold end: (i) the Fuguet "Introduction" as literary
manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
, and (ii) the supporting anthology of contemporary ''urban'' Latin American fiction; the Latin experience of town versus country. Meanwhile, in Mexico City, during the mid–1990s, whilst McOndo coalesced as a literary movement, "La generación del ''crack''" ( The Crack Generation
Jorge Volpi Jorge Volpi (full name Jorge Volpi Escalante, born July 10, 1968) is a Mexican novelist and essayist, best known for his novels such as ''In Search of Klingsor ( En busca de Klingsor)''. Trained as a lawyer, he gained notice in the 1990s wi ...
,
Ignacio Padilla Ignacio Padilla (November 7, 1968 – August 20, 2016) was a Mexican writer whose works were translated into several languages. Padilla helped found the Crack Movement, along with fellow writers Eloy Urroz, Jorge Volpi, and Pedro Angel Pa ...
, Eloy Urroz, Pedro Ángel Palou, and Ricardo Chávez-Castañeda) presented Mexican realist literature flouting the Magical Realism strictures of the
Latin American Boom The Latin American Boom ( es, Boom latinoamericano) was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is mo ...
; their ideologic advocacy emphasised that every writer find a voice, not a genre. Their initial publication was the ''Manifiesto Crack'' (Crack Manifesto, 1996) published a month earlier than the ''McOndo'' (1996) short-story anthology; the literary manifestos proved ideologically sympathetic.De Castro, 2008, 105 Nonetheless, despite shared ideologic antipathy to Magical Realism, McOndo and The Crack Movement were unalike; Edmundo Paz-Soldán observed that McOndo is "a moment in the celebration of the creative mixture of high- and popular- culture", whilst The Crack Movement has "proposed a sort of élitist re-establishment of values." Literary-world gossip postulates that the anti–magical militancy of McOndo and The Crack Movement derives more from commercial jealousy than from artistic divergence; nonetheless, the criticism might have been ideologically motivated by the international success that allowed magic realist fiction to establish the
exotic Exotic may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Exotic R4, a differentiable 4-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean space R4 * Exotic sphere, a differentiable ''n''-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordina ...
Macondo as ''the'' universal image of Latin America; hence, who controls the novel market controls the cultural image of Latino America that the globalized world perceives.De Castro, 2008, 109 As a literary movement, McOndo then included like ideologies of literature and technique with which to communicate the experience of being Latin American in McOndo. Yet, the McOndos are quasi-apolitical, unlike the mid–20th-century Magical Realist novelists, for whom political discourse was the ''raison d’être'' of being a
public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
.Hidalgo, 2001, 3 Nevertheless, the 21st-century modernity of McOndo orients it away from utopian
Left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
ideology (
national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...
,
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
,
colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
, et cetera) to the politics of the 20th century, which include "a global, mixed, diverse, urban, twenty-first-century-Latin America, bursting on TV; and apparent in music, art, fashion, film, and journalism; hectic and unmanageable."Fuguet, 2001, 69 In the 21st century, contemporary Latin America is an historico–cultural hybrid of the 19th and the 21st centuries (cf. the
dictator novel The dictator novel ( es, novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society. The theme of ''caudillismo''—the régime of a charismatic ''caudillo'', a political stron ...
and the
banana republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...
). In the event, the writers of the ''McOndo'' (1996) short-story anthology took discrete literary paths; Alberto Fuguet noted that "divergence, for certain, was expected, for McOndo was not a deal, nor a treaty, nor a sect." Later, some McOndos reneged their literary militancy against
Magical Realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
; Edmundo Paz Soldán observed that "today, it is very clear, for many of us, that it is naïve to renounce such a wonderful tradition of political engagement on the part of the Latin American writer".Arias, 2005, 141


Themes

The thematic substance of McOndo is based upon its literary predecessors, yet its representations of the experience of
being In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
a Latin American man and a Latin American woman in an urban (city–suburban) world pervaded by U.S.
pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
, are in direct opposition to the politically metaphoric, rural narratives used as political discourse by the
Latin American Boom The Latin American Boom ( es, Boom latinoamericano) was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is mo ...
generation of writers, especially the magical-realists. Moreover, some novelists left their ''patrias'' (fatherlands), for the detached (foreign) perspective unavailable in the homeland. As a result, as exiles are wont to do, they idealized their ''patrias'' and wrote pithy novels of a land that should have been — yet always was ''there'' ... in the exiled writer's ''memory''; thus the well-crafted fiction did not portray the contemporary national reality that had displaced the country (''patria'') he departed. Unlike the magical realist writers, the McOndos wrote "here-and-now!" fiction, about the 21st-century metropolis they inhabit, and which surrounds them, and the homogenizing cultural-identity messages of pervasive mass communications media; to be Latin in an Anglo culture. Because contemporary Latin America is a cultural conflation of the 19th and 21st centuries, the McOndos substantive and technical divergence from Magical Realism (
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
, narrative mode, etc.) voided their predecessor traditions. Alberto Fuguet explains, "I feel
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
the great literary theme of ‘Latin American identity’ (who are we?) must now take a back seat to the theme of ‘personal identity’ (who am I?)." Whilst rejecting the resultant stereotype "Latin American Literature" derived from Magical Realism, the McOndos nonetheless respect the man; "I’m a really big fan of Márquez, but, what I ''really'' hate is the software he created, that other people use . . . they turn arrative fictioninto more of an aesthetic xerciseinstead of an ideology. Anybody who begins to copy ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' turns it into
kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...
."


Global commerce

As novelistic dialogue, book title, and literary movement name, McOndo evokes the
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...
name and the place name
Macondo Macondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. It is the home town of the Buendía family. Aracataca Macondo is often supposed to draw from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracat ...
, the locale of '' One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (1967). Each variant term has a contemporary cultural denotation for
consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
, for "
banana republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...
", and for
dictator novel The dictator novel ( es, novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society. The theme of ''caudillismo''—the régime of a charismatic ''caudillo'', a political stron ...
literature; each denotes the cultural distortion of Hispanophone societies, by commercial
globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
and the psychological flattening that U.S. English-language
pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
impinges upon the cultures native to Latin America; nevertheless, this Anglo
cultural hegemony In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of t ...
is not exclusive to Latin American literatures, but also occurs in Europe, e.g. the Spanish science-fiction film '' Open Your Eyes'' (1997) by
Alejandro Amenábar Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos (born March 31, 1972) is a Spanish-Chilean film director, screenwriter and composer. He has won nine Goya Award for Best Director, Goyas—including a Goya Award for Best Director for his 2001 film ''The Othe ...
. McOndo literature partly arose to counter the world's uncritical perception of
Magical Realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
as the definitive literature ''from'' and ''about'' the societies and cultures of the Latin American countries, especially the novels of Colombian writer
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...
. McOndo novels and short stories transcend such ''rural'' limitations by examining, analysing, and comprehending the
power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...
dynamics among the Anglophone U.S. and the Hispanophone countries where "American"
cultural hegemony In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of t ...
maintains its politico-economic hegemony — by importing, to the subject countries, the
political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
concept and business practice of the
McJob "McJob" is a slang term for a low-paying, low-prestige dead-end job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of advancement. The term "McJob" comes from the name of the fast-food restaurant McDonald's, but is used to describe any lo ...
. McOndo fiction reports this contemporary, lived ''urban'' experience of such an economically unidirectional, Gringo business–Latin American labour "work relationship"; of what it is to be a Latin American man and a Latin American woman employed in a McJob in an unmagical city in an unmagical country pervaded with foreign
consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
and its irreconcilable discontents. Furthermore, unlike Magical Realism fiction, McOndo fiction reports the social consequences, at home (in ''Latinoamérica'') and abroad (in ''el Norte'') of this Anglo–Latin relationship; the exemplar book is the ''
McOndo McOndo is a Latin American literary movement that breaks with the magical realism mode of narration, and counters it with languages borrowed from mass media. The literature of McOndo presents urban Latin American life, in opposition to the fictio ...
'' (1996) short-story anthology. To the world, McOndo writers present the contemporary Latin America that no longer is "Macondo" the exotic land of
exotic Exotic may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Exotic R4, a differentiable 4-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean space R4 * Exotic sphere, a differentiable ''n''-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordina ...
people presented in the literature of Magical Realism. Despite some remaining banana republic dictatorship façades, the McOndo writer accepts the ''de facto''
geopolitical Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
reality of the integration of continental Latin America as a subordinate unitary economy of the globalized economic order. Salvador Plascencia’s
The People of Paper ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
and Giannina Braschi's
United States of Banana ''United States of Banana'' (2011) is a postmodern allegorical novel by the Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. It is a cross-genre work that blends experimental theatre, prose poetry, short story, and political philosophy with a manifesto o ...
explore how first world banking priorities wreak havoc on Latin American cultures. As an artist, then, his or her moral responsibility is communicating to the "globalized world" that the "new" (contemporary) Latin America is McOndo, ''not'' Macondo, and that its cultures are hybrid cultures — of headphones and baseball caps, not ''sombreros'' and ''machetes''. Many McOndo writers, U.S.A. city-born men and women (
chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
,
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
,
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
, ''et al.''), did not live the rural idyls of magical realist fiction, hence, they see
Macondo Macondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. It is the home town of the Buendía family. Aracataca Macondo is often supposed to draw from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracat ...
realistically, not romantically, and write about urban life.


The city and urban space

McOndo fiction shows the connections and relations among the mass communications media, Latin personal identity, and the consequences of their representation or non-representation of urban space; the City is an image that molds the viewer. From said connections derive politically engaged stories of lived experience and created Latino and Latina identities; thus the coinage "urban space" denotes and connotes the physical and virtual locales of a life of mistaken identity that cities have become for Latin Americans. In McOndo narratives, cities and city life are realistically portrayed as places and circumstances rendered virtual ("non-places") by the technologies of the Internet, cellular telephones, and cable television; virtual space has supplanted physical space in the city. To wit, the writer Ana María Amar Sánchez said that cities have become interchangeable, homogeneously indistinguishable from each other, especially when seen from a distance, whilst riding in a speeding automobile travelling a highway en route to a shopping center; seen so, the city appears virtual, an image in the screen of a computer or a television set.Amar Sánchez, 2001, 218 Unlike
Magical Realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
, most McOndo stories occur in cities, not the rural world of
Macondo Macondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. It is the home town of the Buendía family. Aracataca Macondo is often supposed to draw from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracat ...
; realism, not metaphor, is the
mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
. McOndo shows the contemporary, 21st-century Latin America of
Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...
hybrid tongues,
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
''hamburguesas'', and ''computadoras''
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
, that have up-dated the romanticised
banana republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...
worlds of the Latin American Literary Boom of the 1960s and 1970s.


Sex and sexual orientation

In accordance with the contemporary world in which it takes place, the McOndo literary movement addresses the themes of sex and sexuality in a rather modern and unapologetic way. Sex scenes tend to be described and explained realistically and are so detailed in some cases that they reach the point of coming off as vulgar. Sex is not a theme that is unnecessarily romanticized. Furthermore, consistent with McOndo's contemporary and
postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
foundations, gender roles and homosexuality are not ignored as relevant themes in modern society. While these roles and definitions are not shown or explained concretely, they are introduced and portrayed as real contemporary issues that also deal with the conflicts of identity that are ever present in modern Latin America.


Poverty, caste, and social class

The realistic presentation of the disparity between the rich and the poor of a society, and realistic depictions of poverty are fundamental to the McOndo literature that shows how the introduction of high technology gadgets and contemporary public infrastructure to the poor societies of Latin America result in a greater contrast between First-world wealth and Third-world poverty. Paz-Soldán explained that "In Bolivia there exist small islands of
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
in the middle of a great pre-modern ocean. The collision between
tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
and modernity interests me." These traits of contemporary Latin American life are directly related to the
globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
caused, in great part, by economic, political, and social influence of the U.S. In every way, this emphasis on the separation of wealth rom social responsibilityis perhaps one of the most important characteristics of life in contemporary Latin America" and its diapora. Hence, mass poverty, which is a fundamental political matter in every country of the
developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
, is a common theme in the McOndo literature that shows Latin American cities as decrepit, and composed of cramped ''barrios'' of houses, huts, and shacks.


Quotidian life

The short stories in the ''McOndo'' anthology depict the daily lives of the urban Latin American characters. The theme of ''la vida cotidiana'', quotidian life, is true to
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
, and the perspectives of the literature about contemporary Latin American life depict an urban McOndo, not rural Macondo. The world of the 21st-century Latin American lacks legends and magic, McOndo narrates the world of high technology, computers, and global business franchises.Fuguet, 1997


Notable writers

The most prominent and distinguished writers of the McOndo literary movement are: Alberto Fuguet,
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
, Edmundo Paz Soldán,
Hernán Rivera Letelier Hernán Rivera Letelier (born 11 July 1950 in Talca, Chile) is a Chilean novelist. Until the age of 11 he lived in the Algorta saltpeter mining town, in the north of Chile. When it was closed down, he and his family moved to Antofagasta, where h ...
, Jorge Franco,
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 27 January 1950, in Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban novelist. He grew up in Pinar del Río and began to work selling ice cream and newspapers when he was eleven years old. He was a soldier, swimming and kayak instructor, ...
, Pia Barros, Sergio Gómez. Fuguet, a leader of the movement, is credited for coining the term "McOndo" which began as a play on the name of Macondo, a town from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel '' One Hundred Years of Solitude''. But the term became known as a relief to the "Macondoism" that required all aspiring Latin American writers to set their tales in tropical jungles where the magical and real happily coexist.


Media


Books

''McOndo'' by Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez, is an anthology of short stories of new Latin American literature which was first published in Spain in 1996. The authors criticize the genre of Magic realism claiming that it is no longer representative of the situation of modern Latin America and that as they do not live in the same world as the likes of Gabriel García Márquez they should not be expected to write on the same material. '' Cortos'' by Alberto Fuguet examines the complexity of the cultural exchange between north and south in an emotionally charged narrative. "It is a collection of stories which discuss the American phenomenon at its height with characters who search to reinvent themselves as well as find their own identity in their battle against a quarrelsome reality." '' Películas de Mi Vida'' also by Alberto Fuguet "is a novel about cinema and about how the movies that we see become part of who we are" The main character, Beltrán Soler, is on a plane ride home when all of a sudden fifty films that were greatly influential to him in adolescence and childhood come to his mind. He reconstructs his history with memories of the movies and the events and people surrounding the cinema and realizes how much these films have come to impact who he is. The ''
Empire of Dreams ''Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Kevin Burns and narrated by Robert Clotworthy. It documents the making of the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy: ''Star Wars'' (1977), ''The Empire Stri ...
'' urban trilogy by
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
attacks Magic Realism as a literary dementia that propagates negative stereotypes of Latin American people. The protagonist of the section, "The Intimate Diary of Solitude" is Mariquita Samper, a Macy's makeup artist, who shoots to kill the narrator of '' One Hundred Years of Solitude'' for exploiting intimacy and solitude. ''
Yo-Yo Boing! ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) is a postmodern novel in English, Spanish, and Spanglish by Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. The cross-genre work is a structural hybrid of poetry, political philosophy, musical, manifesto, treatise, memoir, an ...
'' by
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
chronicles with a violent tempo and sardonic wit the day-to-day realities of millions of Latin American immigrants living in New York, which is portrayed as the Darwinist capital of Latin America. The novel unfolds as a hybrid structurally and linguistically; it is written in a mesh and flow of Spanish, English, and Spanglish. ''
United States of Banana ''United States of Banana'' (2011) is a postmodern allegorical novel by the Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. It is a cross-genre work that blends experimental theatre, prose poetry, short story, and political philosophy with a manifesto o ...
'' by
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
foretells the disintegration of the United States due to obsessive capitalism: "
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
will be the first half-and-half banana republic state incorporated that will secede from the union. Then will come Liberty Island, then Mississippi Burning, Texas BBQ, Kentucky Fried Chicken—all of them—
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
, Jersey Devils—you name it—will want to break apart—and demand a separation—a
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
. Things will not go well for the banana republic when the shackles and chains of
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
break loose and unleash the dogs of war. Separation—divorce—disintegration of subject matters that don’t matter anymore—only verbs—actions. Americans will walk like chickens with their heads cut off." United States of Banana novel offers a scathing critique of neoliberal economic and social reforms. '' El Rey de la Habana'' by
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 27 January 1950, in Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban novelist. He grew up in Pinar del Río and began to work selling ice cream and newspapers when he was eleven years old. He was a soldier, swimming and kayak instructor, ...
"is the story of a young adolescent who lets loose on the streets of La Habana in the 90s."La Editorial In the style of ‘dirty realism’, the novel discusses such topics as poverty and
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
, and depicts people who have hit rock bottom who have nowhere to turn. "It is the voice for those without a voice." ''
Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...
'' by Alonso Salazar delves into the life of Pablo Escobar through unpublished testimonials of family, friends and enemies. It depicts how Colombia became an empire of drug trafficking and focuses specifically on Escobar, both hated and adored for his past.


Critical studies

''Latin American Literature and Mass Media'', by Edmundo Paz Soldán and Debra A. Castillo, is an article anthology in four parts: "Revisions", "Mass Culture", "Narrative Strategies in our ''Fin de siglo''", and "The Digital Wor(l)d", that "examines Latin American literature in the context of a complementary audiovisual culture dominated by mass media, such as photography, film, and the Internet." ''Cuerpos Errantes: Literatura Latina y Latinoamericana en Estados Unidos'', by Laura Loustau, studies the narrative systems of Latin American literature and Latina literature in the U.S., concentrating upon the novels and poems of
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
. The subject is the displacement of people, and the consequent process of continual construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of one's identity — cultural, national, writer's, that occurs upon crossing either a physical or a metaphoric border; the themes are geographic, national, linguistic, psychologic, textual, corporal, historical, and cultural displacements. Loustau's pithy précis is: "In this project we study the narrative and poetic systems, as if they are cultural representations, of Latin American and Latina literature in the United States." ''De Macondo a McOndo'', by Diana Palaversich, documents Latin American literature from after the Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, to the rise of
neo-liberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
. Describing, in context, the literary genres that explicitly discussed controversial topics, such as homosexuality in a
macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...
culture, and the dirty realism of McOndo, the contemporary Latin American world. ''"Magical Realism and the History of the Emotions in Latin America"'' by Jerónimo Arellano sheds light on the rise and fall of the
Boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfi ...
generation through popular sentiments that are recalibrated by McOndo writers Sergio Gomez, Alberto Fuget, and
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
. ''Puerta al tiempo: literatura latinoamericana del siglo XX'', by Maricruz Castro Ricalde is a panorama of Latin American literature of the 20th century, comprising authors such as María Luisa Bombal,
Nicolás Guillén Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista (10 July 1902 – 17 July 1989) was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.
,
Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French an ...
,
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...
,
Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...
,
Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
,
Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
, and
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
, providing context via stylistic and thematic diversity.


Journalism

''Magical Neoliberalism'' and ''I am not a magic realist'' by Alberto Fuguet are both commentaries by the author on the modernization of Latin American and Latina culture today as well as on the departure from
magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
to Mcondo that has occurred - greatly due to his steps into publicizing the changing attitudes of Latin American authors. He states that "The quaint, folkloric sensibility of magical realism has given way to a gritty, urban frenetic-ism in fiction, music, and film." ''Macondo y otros mitos'' by Diana Palaversich is a short commentary and criticism of the McOndo movement.


Comics

''Road story: Una novela gráfica'' by Gonzalo Martínez and Alberto Fuguet is part of a larger volume of short stories by Fuguet. It is a graphic interpretation of the story of a Chilean man trying to find himself in the middle of the barren landscapes of the border between the US and Mexico. It was published in 1961 in antiago, Chile Joakim Lindengren and
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
co-created the graphic novel of
United States of Banana ''United States of Banana'' (2011) is a postmodern allegorical novel by the Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. It is a cross-genre work that blends experimental theatre, prose poetry, short story, and political philosophy with a manifesto o ...
.


Film

In the genre of art films, photographer
Michael Somoroff Michael Somoroff is a conceptual artist, director, and photographer. Somoroff has directed and created work for advertising agencies, publications and cultural institutions. He is also a teacher and cultural commentator who has worked for Stony Br ...
directed a series of
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s based on
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
's ''
United States of Banana ''United States of Banana'' (2011) is a postmodern allegorical novel by the Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. It is a cross-genre work that blends experimental theatre, prose poetry, short story, and political philosophy with a manifesto o ...
'' in 2011.


Influences

In Latin American literature, the realistic representation of urban (city–suburban) life, and of
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
began in the 1960s, with ''
La Onda ''La Onda'' (The Wave) was a multidisciplinary artistic movement created in Mexico by artists and intellectuals as part of the worldwide waves of the counterculture of the 1960s and the avant-garde. Pejoratively called as ''Literatura de la Onda'' ...
'', a Mexican literary movement whose writers realistically presented 20th-century life in the City — where most Mexicans lived and worked — because
pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
(rural) Mexico was past, gone with the wind of industrial modernization; its influence upon McOndo was stylistic. "La Onda" was a literary consequence of the introduction of Anglophone
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
to the culturally
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
,
socially Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
rigid Mexican society of the 1960s.Zolov, 1999, p. 113 In the event, the cultural (generational) non-conformity inherent to the music of bands and singers such as
The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
,
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
,
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
, and
Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
, gave
form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...
(thought and action) to the cultural, societal, and generational discontents of Mexican young people — from every Mexican social class — to openly rebel against limiting
tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
. Consequent to that great foreign-culture influence, the Mexican
Middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
began to
intellectually In the study of the human mind, intellect refers to, describes, and identifies the ability of the human mind to reach correct conclusions about what is true and what is false in reality; and how to solve problems. Derived from the Ancient Gre ...
, then culturally, associate with the
Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
social movements of the U.S. and Europe. Mexican artists subsequently developed a national counter culture, based upon an amalgamation of foreign and domestic
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
, literature, language, and fashion, an example of which was the rock concert ''
Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro The Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro (also known as the Festival de Avándaro or simply Avándaro) was a historic Mexican rock festival held on September 11–12, 1971, on the shores of Lake Avándaro near the Avándaro Golf Club, in a hamlet c ...
'' (11 September 1971); a time that Prof. Eric Zolov said "was a new transnational and trans-cultural era". The adolescent angst novels '' La Tumba'' (The Tomb, 1964) and ''
De Perfil ''De Perfil'' (''Profile view'') is a 1966 novel by José Agustín. Like his first novel, '' La Tumba'', ''De Perfil'' was a best-seller, and furthered Agustin's reputation as a writer. Set in Mexico City, specifically in an urban middle-class ne ...
'' (Profile View, 1966), by
José Agustín José Agustín Ramírez Gómez (born 19 August 1944) is a Mexican novelist, short story writer, essayist and screenwriter. He is considered as one of the most influential and prolific Mexican writers of the second half of the 20th century. Career ...
, stylistically announced a new generation of novelist, writing in the contemporary popular idiom of society, presenting stories of life as lived. The styles of writing of ''La Onda'' provided Mexican young people with a literature pertinent to their Latin American cultural experience of life ''en la ciudad''. The writers were published under the library title ''Literatura de La Onda'' (Literature of The Wave), by the Joaquín Mortiz publishing house. ''La Onda'' literature focused upon the contemporary Mexican-identity cultural representations of 20th-century
youth culture Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community. An emphasis ...
(language, music, fashion, etc.) produced by the mass communications media, and their cultural impact upon ''México'' and being ''mexicano'', and being ''mexicana''.Amar Sánchez, 2001, 209 The fiction was provocatively written, meant to ''provoke'' a response, and literary critics obliged the writers, calling the ''literatura de La Onda'' anti-literary literature; nonetheless, it proved popular as an alternative literature to the national literary canon established by tradition. Moreover, beyond fiction, the writers who were ''La Onda'' influenced the writers and journalists who established the Mexican
new journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...
, analogous to Hunter S. Thompson and
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
in U.S. journalism. Notable works from ''La Onda'' include ''Gazapo'', by Gustavo Sainz, about the contradictory, volatile world of
adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...
; and ''De Perfil'' (Profile View), by José Agustín, about the life of an indifferent student, and the adolescence he endures. Despite being a literary precursor to McOndo, the ''La Onda'' literary movement was particular to its Mexican time, place, and purpose. Unlike McOndo literature, the initial "Life in the City" alternative literature of ''La Onda'' then progressed to blending
High culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society cons ...
with
Low culture In sociology, the term Low culture identifies the forms of popular culture that have mass appeal, which is in contrast to High culture, which has a limited appeal to a smaller proportion of the populace. Culture theory proposes that both high ...
in addressing the demands of Mexican national social movements seeking to eliminate the
hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
created by
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
. Whereas the McOndo literary movement focused its modernism to address the societal effects upon Latin America of the
political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
of the amalgamation of culture (identity) and capitalism.


Critics and supporters

The Chilean writer Ricardo Cuadros said that McOndo irreverence for Latin American literary tradition, its thematic–stylistic concentration upon the
pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
of the United States, and the literatures’ apolitical tone, are dismissive of the literary ideas,
writing style In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. As Bryan Ray notes, however, style is a broader concern, one that can describe "readers' relationships with, t ...
, and narrative techniques of the generation of Latin American writers (
García Márquez García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pampl ...
,
Vargas Llosa Vargas Llosa is the surname of two prominent Peruvian intellectuals who are father and son. *Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), ...
,
Carpentier Carpentier is a Norman- Picard surname, variant form of French Charpentier and is similar to the English Carpenter, that is borrowed from Norman. In Basse Normandie, the most common form is Lecarpentier. The words ''carpentier, charpentier, c ...
, Fuentes, et al.) who lived under, opposed, and (occasionally) were repressed by
dictators A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...
. In the ''New York Times'' newspaper article "New Era Succeeds Years of Solitude" Cuadros said that " Alberto Fuguet makes a caricature out of Latin American literature, which is very rich and complex, and which comes from a very painful literary process."LaForte, 2003 He further accused McOndo Movement literature of preoccupation with the
Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
, rather than with the contemporary 21st-century culture it superficially presents, and he styled McOndo originator Alberto Fuguet a "sell-out to American culture, a spoiled product of globalization, and an irresponsible countryman." About the ''McOndo'' (1996) short-story anthology, University of the Andes Prof. Ignacio Valente, said that the thematic substance of the Fuguet–Gómez compilation was neither expression nor commentary about contemporary
Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...
life, but an imitation of American pop culture literature. Politically, the ''McOndo'' book-introduction has been identified as a ''political'' manifesto, the
fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
and
neo-liberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
gripes of a (Latin) American-rich-boy implying that Latin American poverty and poor people had disappeared.Fuguet, 2001, 71 The Bolivian critic Centa Reck, faults the McOndo narrative style for replacing the Macondo
jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
flora, fauna, and rural landscape, with the McOndo urban "wild jungle of cell phones, McDonald’s, shopping malls, drugs, and an unintelligible slang." Nevertheless, despite the global literary aspiration, the McOndos narratively incorporate the
slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
and
jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...
and
argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...
of their subjects, the local colour of the metropolis with which the reader can identify. Contrariwise, the Mexican novelist
Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christophe ...
defends McOndo literature for its capturing the contemporary Latin America of ''today'' rather than yesterday; and that despite such narrative technique, the McOndos have not forgotten the past literature. In ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), by
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
, the
novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
"The Intimate Diary of Solitude" presents a lonely heroine, a department-store make-up artist, who shoots the narrator of the
Latin American Boom The Latin American Boom ( es, Boom latinoamericano) was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is mo ...
— because she despises the commercialization of her solitude. The Chilean novel, ''The Movies of My Life'' (2003), by Aberto Fuguet, depicts a grim boarding school metaphor of Pinochet's Chile — a disappeared pro-
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
cousin and a mean grandmother (in the style of
Madame Defarge Madame Thérèse Defarge is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'' by Charles Dickens. She is a ringleader of the tricoteuses, a tireless worker for the French Revolution, memorably knitting besi ...
, ''
A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...
'', 1859), capture the societal terror of the
military government A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...
régime of General
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
. University of Los Angeles Prof. Verónica Cortínez, said that McOndo is about free thematic exploration and stylistic expression: "The McOndo writers reject the idea that Latin American writers need to ascribe to certain topics, or ways of being."


See also

* *
Latin American Literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the ...


Further reading

* Aldama, Frederick Luis and
Ilan Stavans Ilan Stavans (born Ilan Stavchansky on April 7, 1961) is a Mexican-American author and academic. He writes and speaks on American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. He is the author of ''Quixote'' (2015) and a contributor to the ''Norton Anthology ...
(2020). ''Poets, Philosophers, Lovers: On the Writings of Giannina Br'' aschi.  University of Pittsburgh Press. * Arellano, Jeronimo (2015). ''
Magical Realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
and the History of the Emotions in Latin America''. Bucknell University Press. * Arias, Claudia M. Milian (2005). "McOndo and Latinidad: An Interview with Edmundo Paz Soldán". Studies in Latin American Popular Culture. 24: 139–149. * Castillo, Debra A. ''Redreaming America: Toward a
Bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
American Culture''. State University of New York. 2005. * Castillo, Debra A. and Edmundo Paz-Soldán; (eds.). ''Latin American Literature and Mass Media.'' New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 1–18. . * Castro Ricalde, Maricruz (June 2005). Puerta al tiempo: literatura latinoamericana del siglo XX. Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). . * Carbajal, B. J. (2005). "The packaging of contemporary Latin American literature: "La generacion del crack" and "McOndo"". Confluencia-Revista Hispanica de Cultura y Literatura. 20 (2): 122–132. * De Castro, Juan E. (2008). The Spaces of Latin American Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. . * Fuguet, Alberto (2001). "Magical
Neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
". Foreign Policy (125): 66–73. doi:10.2307/3183328.
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
3183328. * Fuguet, Alberto (2003). Las Peliculas de Mi Vida: Una Novela. Rayo. . * Fuguet, Alberto (2005). Cortos : Cuentos. New York, Rayo. . * Fuguet, Alberto, in Hidalgo (2007). "National/transnational negotiations: the renewal of the cultural languages in Latin America and Rodrigo Fresáns Argentine History, The Speed of ThingsandKensington Gardens". LL Journal. 2 (1): 1–11. * Fuguet, Alberto, Martinez, Gonzalo (2007). Road Story: A Graphic Novel. Alfaguara. . * Gonzalez, Christopher (2015). Permissible Narratives. The Ohio State University Press. * García-Corales, Guillermo (2009). "Dieciséis Entrevistas con Autores Chilenos Contemporáneos: La Emergencia de una Nueva Narrativa". The Edwin Mellen Press. * LaForte, Nicole (4 Jan 2003). "New Era Succeeds Years of Solitude". The New York Times. * Loustau, Laura R. (2002). ''Cuerpos errantes: literatura latina y latinoamericana en los Estados Unidos''. Rosario, Argentina. . * Margolis, Mac (6 May 2002). "Is Magical Realism Dead?". Newsweek. * O'Bryen, Rory (March 2011). "McOndo, Magical Neoliberalism and Latin American Identity". Bulletin of Latin American Research. 30 (1): 158–174. * Waldron, Joh V. Killing Colonialism’s Ghosts in McOndo: Mayra Santos Febres and Giannina Braschi. University of Vermont. ''CIEHL: Cuaderno Internacional de Estudios Humanisticos y Literatura'', 2010 Fall; 14:110-120. * Zolov, Eric (1999). Refried Elvis: the Rise of the Mexican Counterculture. Berkeley: University of California Press.


Notes

{{Reflist, colwidth=20em McWords Latin American literature Postmodern literature Postcolonial literature Urban fiction Dystopian fiction Dystopian comics Dystopian novels Dystopian literature Satirical books Latin American culture Spanish language in the Americas