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Travelling or in construction: notes about the representation of the identity in the contemporary Spanish‑American fiction
The paper explores the parodic and non parodic image of the collective identity in some exemples of 20th century and contemporary Spanish‑American fiction. From the middle of 19th century to the middle of 20th many essays and novels tended to reinforce the idea of a Latin American citizen rooted in the continental soil and ideologically independent both from the former metropolis and from United States. On the contrary, in the second half of 20th century, when the model of identity shifted from a set of idioscyncrastic and patriotic characteristics to a bunch of heterogeneous attributes, the Spanish American novelist began to include in their fictions an authocritic and ironic attitude towards Latin American cultural myths and stereotypes. The analysis takes into account authors such as Arturo Bryce Echenique, Roberto Bolaño, Edmundo Paz Soldán, Juan Villoro and Yuri Herrera.

The Policeman Speaks: Novel Polyphony and Democratic Debate in Some Spanish Novels about Francoism and the Transition In recent years a new orientation in the Spanish political memory (a shift from the tendency towards forgetting conflicts to the claims for recognition for all victims) can also be noticed in a significant number of literary works. Many novels offer a broad coverage of social discourses and engage in the process of negotiations over a critical period in the 20th century history of Spain, namely the "Transition" from the late francoism era to democracy. This paper analyses fragments of three contemporary novels (La caída de Madrid by Rafael Chirbes, El vano ayer by Isaac Rosa, and El día de mañana by Ignacio Martínez de Pisón) whose authors give voice to an ambiguous character -- a policeman from the Francoist period. He makes attempts to justify his work and his support for the regime. These fictional utterances are studied from the perspective of certain theories of literary dialogism and literary poliphonic devices. The final question is whether it is reasonable to expect any social impact of such literary representations of "democratic" dialogues.

This paper aims to show how the "New Man" was defined in different literary and political conceptions that abounded in Spanish American culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Although both Americas were perceived through the stereotype of newness from the very beginning of the colonial era, it is at the end of the 19th century when the necessity to integrate the extremely heteregenous Spanish American societies brought forth a variety of renewal propositions. Focused on the spiritual or economic aspects of a given social or ethnic group (the elites, implicitly white, for Rodó or the working classes, mostly Indian, for the Indigenistas), those conceptions were not able to provide overall solutions for the Spanish American republics, struggling with a deepening neocolonial dependency. Nevertheless, many tendencies and formulas defined in that period – idealistic or politically subversive – have survived through the 20th century and resurfaced in new forms (e.g. the nuevo hombre bolivariano in Venezuela at the beginning of 21st century).

The classic detective literary convention had been transformed several times before the detective-fiction genre was created by the end of the 19th century. It presented the adventures of individuals that entwined criminal mysteries. It is undeniable that its prestige in the literary world has risen, especially since the middle of the 20th century, when there appeared such literary genres as the metaphysical detective story that endowed plot elements with a philosophical meaning.In Spanish America, since the turbulent times of various political and social problems of the second half of the 20th century, writers have developed many ways of depicting the social and political crime scene thanks to modifying diverse literary conventions of the detective story. A good example is the creation of the Bolivian author Edmundo Paz Soldán (1967) who merged the metaphysical detective story with critical perspective: it describes contemporary Bolivians, citizens of the global village who are still preoccupied with the "premodern" social and political issues in their country. ; El relato detectivesco ha experimentado numerosas transformaciones desde que a finales del siglo XIX se forjara como un género literario. Las narraciones sobre individuos singularmente dotados (perspicaces, valientes) que se empeñaban en resolver enigmas criminales fueron al principio consideradas como literatura popular. Es innegable que su prestigio en el mundo literario ha ido en aumento, sobre todo desde mediados del siglo XX, cuando surgieron modalidades tan sofisticadas como el relato detectivesco metafísico, con su tendencia a alegorizar los elementos de la trama e investirlos de significados filosóficos.En Hispanoamérica, desde la época de las trágicas turbulencias políticas y sociales de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, la narrativa ha sabido modificar las diversas convenciones criminales para tratar temas vinculados con la delincuencia en el ámbito público. En este sentido, un caso significativo lo constituye la obra narrativa del boliviano ...

El relato detectivesco ha experimentado numerosas transformaciones desde que a finales del siglo XIX se forjara como un género literario. Las narraciones sobre individuos singularmente dotados (perspicaces, valientes) que se empeñaban en resolver enigmas criminales fueron al principio consideradas como literatura popular. Es innegable que su prestigio en el mundo literario ha ido en aumento, sobre todo desde mediados del siglo XX, cuando surgieron modalidades tan sofisticadas como el relato detectivesco metafísico, con su tendencia a alegorizar los elementos de la trama e investirlos de significados filosóficos. En Hispanoamérica, desde la época de las trágicas turbulencias políticas y sociales de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, la narrativa ha sabido modificar las diversas convenciones criminales para tratar temas vinculados con la delincuencia en el ámbito público. En este sentido, un caso significativo lo constituye la obra narrativa del boliviano Edmundo Paz Soldán (1967), autor que conjuga el relato detectivesco metafísico con una representación crítica y más cercana del realismo de la vida en su país. Sus protagonistas son ciudadanos de la aldea global, pero al mismo tiempo están atentos a los persistentes problemas "premodernos" de su país. ; The classic detective literary convention had been transformed several times before the detective-fiction genre was created by the end of the 19th century. It presented the adventures of individuals that entwined criminal mysteries. It is undeniable that its prestige in the literary world has risen, especially since the middle of the 20th century, when there appeared such literary genres as the metaphysical detective story that endowed plot elements with a philosophical meaning. In Spanish America, since the turbulent times of various political and social problems of the second half of the 20th century, writers have developed many ways of depicting the social and political crime scene thanks to modifying diverse literary conventions of the detective story. A good example is the creation of the Bolivian author Edmundo Paz Soldán (1967) who merged the metaphysical detective story with critical perspective: it describes contemporary Bolivians, citizens of the global village who are still preoccupied with the "premodern" social and political issues in their country.