Gramsci in Latin America between Literature and Society

Abstract

This article reconstructs the genesis and development of some Latin American conceptions of literature influenced by the thought of Antonio Gramsci. In Argentina, the work of Héctor Agosti is pioneering. It is followed by José Carlos Portantiero’s analysis of realism, where Gramsci is explicitly quoted as one of the main theoretical references. Gramsci’s influence is evident in elements such as the rejection of determinism, the Argentine contextualization of Marxist theoretical postulates, and the critic’s attention to literary form in the context of the relationship between literature and society. The Gramscian presence continues to be felt in Argentine journals such as Pasado y presente and La rosa blindada. The innovative characteristics of Gramsci’s reflections on art and literature have also been appreciated in other Latin American countries. In Brazil, although from a Lukácsian perspective, references to Gramsci’s aesthetic considerations are explicit in the work of Leandro Konder and Carlos Nelson Coutinho. After discussing the cases of Argentina and Brazil, the article takes Mexico into consideration. During the 1970s and 80s, the country was a laboratory for new Marxist literary ideas. The most interesting phenomenon of this new phase of reflection on literature inspired by Gramscian thought is the use of Gramsci not only inside Marxism, but also within contexts that are not strictly Marxist.