Narrativa y crítica de nuestra América is a compilation of eleven critical essays about eleven outstanding Spanish-American prose fiction writers: Asturias, Borges, Carpentier, Cortázar, Fuentes, García Márquez, Onetti, Sábato, Sarduy, Rulfo, and Vargas Llosa. Each article is followed by a short bibliography of works by and about the author discussed. The essays, some of which were previously published elsewhere (the one on Asturias is a chapter of a book), are prefaced by a study, “La nueva narrativa americana: texto y contexto.” They are followed by a bibliography of critical materials on Spanish-American prose fiction, a bibliography of literary histories, and a list of journals which specialize in Spanish-American prose fiction. There are no criteria or justification for the selection of either the writers or the criticism.
Although most of the critical essays are informative and illuminating, the introduction and general bibliographies at the end of the book leave a great deal to be desired. The preface is essentially a repetition of what has already been said. For instance, José Juan Arrom’s generational theory and Enrique Anderson-Imbert and Fernando Alegría’s interpretation of Spanish-American prose fiction are quoted, but no new theory or interpretation is offered. The author also attacks literary critics and universities in Spain for not dedicating more of their time to the “nueva narrativa americana”. The bibliographies include texts which range from well-known literary histories and anthologies to little-known and difficult-to-find articles. Several important texts in the field of Spanish-American prose fiction are inexplicably left out. John S. Brushwood’s Mexico in Its Novel and The Spanish American Novel as well as Seymour Menton’s Historia de la novela guatemalteca, Historia de la novela colombiana, and Prose Fiction of the Cuban Revolution exemplify the omissions. The list of literary journals which emphasize Spanish-American prose fiction demonstrates nearsightedness as well. It includes journals of broad interest such as Cuadernos Americanos and Casa de las Américas while omitting more specialized publications like Chasqui, Explicación de Textos, and Diálogos.
Narrativa y crítica is part of a growing trend to compile critical essays about Spanish-American writers (for example, La nueva narrativa hispanoamericana by Jules Laforgue, La crítica de la novela iberoamericana contemporánea by Aurora M. Ocampo, and the homenajes by Helmy Giacoman). Narrativa y crítica is a contribution to the criticism of Spanish-American prose fiction because of the informative and illuminating articles it compiles. However, the introduction and general bibliographies of Narrativa y crítica are a waste of time.
