Evening star., 1947-12-07


stories of gangsters, bootlegging and
dark scenes of the Great Depres-
sion. BY this time one thing was
certain. Italian pictures had COM
pletely disappeared from Latin
American movie houses, and the in
vanishing.
American Best-Sellers
Quickly Translated
Since the early thirties, American
books-mostly novels-had been
published in Spanish and Portuguese
translations. They were largely
murder or adventure stories, of little
or no literary Importance. But in
the middle thirties, Latin Ameri-
cans started reading. in their own
language, books by Michael Gold,
Ernest Hemingway and John dos
PassoS, authors who were being
glorified especially by left-wing writ
ers and readers. These were followed
by best-sellers like Gone with the
Wind and Anthony Adverse" and
they have been coming ever since
in increasing amounts.
Today there is hardly best-seller
in the United States which is not
almost Immediately translated and
published in Latin America. The
movies Of Hollywood had paved the
way for them, making the Latin
American audiences used to the pat
tern of American fiction.
During this same period some very
good French pictures were released
throughout South America. They
had only q success d eStime, being
praised only by the intelligentsia
who stressed the need to react
against the commercialism and bad
taste of Hollywood. This disgres-
sion with regard to the movies is
made only to show the readers of
this article the Importance of Holly
wood pictures as forerunners of the
American type of light fiction that
is influencing the literature of Latin
America today and completely over
shadowing French influence.
American Patterns
Being Followed
Many Latin American novelists,
and must add that they are not
those of first rank, are modelling
their fiction on American patterns,
either deliberately, in order to reach
a larger public. or unconsciously, as
a result of having absorbed too
many American movies and novels.
But strong reaction is already be-
ginning to manifest itself. And it's
principal characteristic is anti
American. Not only as regards
form, but substance, also. The hope
of some of those who want to wipe
out this American influence is
France; for Others it is Russia.
For almost one hundred years,
under the spell of France, the writer's
OF Latin America had gone romantic,
parnassian, realist, naturalist. SYM
boliSt, furturiSt, with Paris as their
intellectual capital With the social
convulsions of the last twenty years,
however, many Latin American
writer's developed a greater aware
ness of the social problems abou.
them, not a few joined the Commu-
mist party The German-Russlan
pact of 1889 disillusioned a number
of these leftists, leaving them politi-
cally homeless. Some sought refuge
in Trotskysm, and some in a very
vague kind of socialism, and the
rest returned to their original and
eyer-secretly cherished ivory tower,
less harmful and confining than the
iron tower of the Communist party.
Then came World War II, victory
and finally disillusion with victory
itself.
What is the attitude of present
day Latin American writers? 1t is
not easy to sum up, but I shall not
be far from the truth if I say that
it is one of perplexity and confusion.
Some of the ivory-tower dwellers
who make art for arts sake. are
in the field of Joyce,
ProuSt and Woolf, which is very
dangerous For Won can he A SecOpd-