The Gathering of Voices: The 20th Century Poetry of Latin America

by Mike Gonzalez, David Treece

During the last hundred years, the private and public voices of Latin American poetry have offered a wealth of imaginative responses to the region‘s social and political experiences. In the face of capitalist modernization, dictatorship and imperialist domination, poets have fought back. The Gathering of Voices argues that the best of Latin American poetry has set out to rediscover its roots in local experience and to enter a dialogue with the “ordinary” discourses of popular culture and tradition. The implication is that an alternative response to oppression is possible, one inspired by the shared global expeiences of alienation, exclusion and exploitation. The possibility of a universal emancipation is evoked in the transformation of language. Each chapter of the volume explores a crucial moment in this dialogue of voices, focusing on key texts, including works by Cardenal, Neruda, Vallejo and the Andrades. With extensive studies of the previously neglected tradition of Brazilian verse, the book provides a guide to the history of poetic debate and practice in 20th-century Latin America. The book includes complete poems of the artists discussed and should appeal to a general readership interested in Latin American culture. It is also a useful text for courses in literature and poetry.

Genres: Poetry

424 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 1992

About the author

Mike Gonzalez (born 1943) is a British historian and literary critic, who was Professor of Latin American Studies in the Hispanics Department of the University of Glasgow.

He has written widely on Latin America, especially Cuba and the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Gonzalez characterizes Cuba as a state-capitalist economy rather than socialist.

A long-time member of the British Socialist Workers Party, he testified in Tommy Sheridan's defence at the Sheridan defamation trial and HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan. Gonzalez is also a member of Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement, the party Sheridan formed after the split in the Scottish Socialist Party.