The idea of literature at the "New Latin American Literary Criticism" (1970-1985)

Abstract

The so-called New Latin American Literary Criticism was a continental movement of renewal of literary studies that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century and brought together prominent scholars such as Angel Rama, Antonio Cornejo Polar, Antonio Candido, among others. Taken together, his work demonstrates a persistent struggle for the construction of an object of study (literature), a research subject (the critic) and an intelligible space (Latin America) own that give originality and autonomy to a possible literary science of Latin America.The originality and objective of this article lies in the description and understanding of the work promoted by the New Latin American Literary Criticism and its insertion in a long tradition of critical discourse that began in Latin America in the 17th century. We think, like de la Campa (1999), that the contribution of this group of critics to the development of Latin American literary studies is undeniable, whose contribution led to a paradigm shift in literary science that was taking place in these fields and whose emphasis was on the idea of ​​reframe the literary work in its anthropological and social context, so that in this new vision the critic served as a political subject that would contribute to the transformation and reconstruction of a new plural and democratic space called "Latin America".