Is the Cultural Apocalise Approaching? Three Hispanic Perspectives Cover Image

¿Se acerca el apocalipsis cultural? Tres perspectivas hispánicas
Is the Cultural Apocalise Approaching? Three Hispanic Perspectives

Author(s): Ilinca Ilian Ţăranu
Subject(s): Cultural Essay, Political Essay, Societal Essay
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara
Keywords: postmodernity; post-vanguardism; Mario Vargas Llosa; Daniel Tabarovsky; Roberto Bolaño

Summary/Abstract: This present paper investigates the perspective of three Latin-American authors on contemporary culture and its defining trait: the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the elitist artist and consumerism promoted by the editorial and artistic market. Vargas Llosa, in an essay published in 2012, calls for a reassessment of the role of the artist and the intellectual as guides for the masses, but without observing the contradiction that this position entails. Daniel Tabarovski writes a plea for a “left-winged literature” which turns into an avant-garde manifesto, written, paradoxically, with an awareness of the total disappearance of the avant-garde spirit. Last, but not least, Roberto Bolaño has a profoundly pessimistic view of both elitist and mass culture. The three perspectives mentioned reveal a common discontent with regard to the inevitable transformation of Western culture, which, viewed from a different angle, has only become more democratic.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 83-90
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Spanish