Urban Fiction, Technology, and Nature: An Ecocritical Reading of the Latin American Novel from the Boom to Roberto Bolaño's 2666

Abstract

In Latin American literary studies, many discussions of nature in fiction lead to parallel considerations of elements that are not considered part of the natural world: culture and technology. Considering the basic concepts of ecocriticism, this essay analyses the manner in which nature flourishes within some Latin American novels of the 20th and 21st centuries. In this study, we will begin with a brief discussion of the background of canonical literary texts to come to an understanding of nature and technology. We will then move onto an ecocritical reading of later Latin American fiction by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Roberto Bolaño. Moreover, we will discuss the potential interest of the Latin American urban novel in ecocritical analysis as well as the manner in which these authors create a relationship between man, culture, technology, and nature in their novels.