Argentina - Literature with history

In the middle of the XIX century, there emerged the gauchesca literature initiated by Bartolomé Hidalgo, Hilario Ascasubi, Estanislao del Campo and symbolized by the masterpiece work known as “Martín Fierro”, where José Hernández brilliantly portrays the gaucho idiosyncracy and his national identity. This poem is regarded as the Argentine "Don Quixote".

Esteban Echeverría gained recognition as a writer with his poem entitled "La Cautiva", depicting the rural Pampeana plains region, as well as his realistic style tale known as "El matadero".

Well into the twentieth century, and considering that Argentina had come to have been adequately organized as a country, there emerged Bartolomé Mitré´s historic chronicles and the book "Facundo" written by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, which involved an ideological manifesto put forward by the Unitarian party encouraging the creation of a strong and central government that might favour the waves  of European immigration.

With the 80´s generation, a literary style displaying its typical characteristics started to gain momentum and Buenos Aires began to flourish among all the remainder provinces. Out of all the literary works written at that time, the lyric poetry by Almafuerte, and the first essays by José Manuel Estrada, Joaquín V. Gonzáles and Pedro Goyena are said to have excelled. In the narrative style Miguel Cané, Eugenio Cambaceres and Julián Martel, among others, stand as icons of this narrative literary genre.
 
At the threshold of the XX century, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío became acknowledged as a powerful source of influence for the new aesthetics nuances characterizing the work by Leopoldo Lugones, currently standing as an undeniable icon of the Argentine poetry.

In the same breath, this very “simplistic” poetic style like those depicted by poets like Baldomero Fernández Moreno and Evaristo Carriego began to take hold. Horacio Quiroga and Roberto J. Payró have proved to have a more criollo type of style. As a matter of fact, Ricardo Güiraldes published his rural novel entitled "Don Segundo Sombra" where the gaucho standing as a legendary character definitely stands out.

Social story writers, who had been influenced by Russian literature, stepped into the world of literature at that time. The most oustanding artist epitomizing this style was Roberto Arlt, whose stories main characters were symbolized by the marginal life in cities. Juan Filloy began developing a long-lasting carreer as a writer and wrote over 30 pieces where he harshly criticized human customs by including a great deal of humor, parody and irony

Jorge Luis Borges, regarded as an Argentine literary figure of international stature, reached the acme of his popularity during the 40´s. So far, his works have been widely read and translated into different languages and he is currently regarded as one of the XX´s century most renowned literary expounders on an international level.

Furthermore, Ernesto Sábato published his first novel entitled "El túnel", and Leopoldo Marechal published his book “Adán Buenosayres", which is presently regarded as one of Argentina´s paramount literary works.

Closely supported by Borges, Julio Cortázar had his first tales published and therefore headed towards a brilliant literature carrer. He still surprises readers with his fantastic ideas and the mastery he displays to put them into practice. In 1963 he published his revolutionary novel entitled Rayuela.

Within that idealistic trend scenario, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Manuel Mujica Láinez also excelled. Bioy struck up a strong friendship with Borges and became co-authors of great stories such as "Seis problemas para don Isidro Parodi" (1942), "Dos fantasías memorables" (1946), "Un modelo para la muerte" (1946), "Libro del Cielo y del Infierno" (1960), "Crónicas de Bustos Domecq" (1967) and "Nuevos cuentos de Bustos Domecq" (1977).
 
Juan Gelman excelled in achieving a colloquial poetry style, fully displaying a strong political commitment in his work. He was acknowledged as a writer when receiving the 2007 Cervantes Pize, which is regarded as the major literary prize awarded in Spanish literature, which had previously been won by oustanding writers such as Bioy Casares, Ernesto Sábato and Jorge Luis Borges.

Writers such as Horacio Salas, Juana Bignozzi, Rafael Squirru, Fernando Guibert, Leónidas Lamborghini and Alejandra Pizarnik also have  played a major role in the world of literature.

In the 70´s,  the military dictatorship left an indelible mark on Argentine people´s lives and on those individuals living in the world of culture. Juan Gelman, Antonio Di Benedetto, Osvaldo Bayer, author of "La Patagonia Rebelde" written in 1972, Tomás Eloy Martínez, who wrote "La pasión según Trelew" in 1973 and Héctor Tizón, were just a slight handful of some of the most renowned writers who had no other choice than go into exile in order to survive.

With the return of democracy, the world of culture witnessed a sort of revival stage and the works written by countless of writers eventually came to be known. In the world of prose, some of the most oustading figures are Ricardo Piglia, Manuel Puig, Antonio Di Benedetto, César Aira, Juan José Saer, Alan Pauls, Rodolfo Fogwill, Ana María Shua, Luisa Valenzuela, Alicia Steimberg, Osvaldo Soriano, Alberto Laiseca, Antonio Dal Masetto, Jorge Asís, Mempo Giardinelli, Cristina Feijóo. In the arena of poetry, some of the writers that definitely stood out are Arturo Carrera, Néstor Perlongher, Ricardo Zelarrayán, Susana Thenon, Irene Gruss, among others.

At present, there has emerged a new generation of writers including those such as Federico Andhazi, Marcelo Birmajer and Guillermo Martinez who have already been successful and got their books published during the 90´s.

Book reviewers argue that Washington Cucurto, Gisela Antonuccio, Juan Terranova, Pablo Toledo, Florencia Abbate, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez, Diego Grillo Trubba and Federico Falco stand as leading figures in the world of literature.