5 - Early Twentieth-Century Literature

Summary

We have already noted in previous chapters the shifts in emphasis in the publication industry which occurred at the beginning and end of the colonial era in Latin America; from a state industry strictly controlled by regal or viceregal patronage it became an enterprise largely dominated by pro-independence factions. Another shift of emphasis is evident at the beginning of the twentieth century; the book industry now becomes part of a new print capitalism. The axiom of new events calling for new news is certainly relevant to the turbulent years of the Mexican Revolution; hundreds of new newspaper titles were generated throughout Mexico during the period 1910–17. This print explosion of the dailies occurred all over Latin America – Mexico was not the exception – and was accompanied in the literary field by new avant-garde journals from Europe which were exploring the language of colours, the calligram, and the visual image. Certainly, many more specifically literary journals were published; in Argentina, for example, Lafleur lists sixty-four literary reviews for the period 1893–1914 compared to 188 for the period 1915–39 (Lafleur 49–57, 156–75). One new feature of the literary world in the first few decades of the twentieth century was the growth, alongside the literary reviews, of inexpensive and accessible editions of works by contemporary authors. An example in Buenos Aires in the first decade of the century was the series Ediciones mínimas, which came out monthly, edited by Ernesto Morales and Leopoldo Durán, and which specialized in short stories and novels. With their low price, (10 centavos a copy), and higher than usual print-runs, these series were highly successful, and led to spin-off series such as La novela sentimental (1917), La novela para todos (1918), La novela cordobesa (1919), La novela universitaria (1921), La novela femenina (1920), La novela porteña (1922), to name but a few (Lafleur 68).

The publishing industry in Brazil followed a similar route to that traced in Spanish America though, if anything, it was even more abrupt. Crucial was the role in the early twentieth century played by an imaginative entrepreneur and writer, José Bento Monteiro Lobato (1882–1948). He changed the look of literary works (including illustrations, designing attractive covers) and, most importantly, opened up the circulation of books, bringing vendors other than simply booksellers into the distribution stream.