Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Jack Martinez-Arias recently published an article titled "Ante el realismo cíclico en los Andes: la narrativa especulativa de Edmundo Paz Soldán" in the peer-reviewed journal Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura (Colorado State University).
The article studies the recent works of the contemporary Bolivian writer Edmundo Paz Soldan, identifies the influence of ancient Andean myths on these stories, and analyzes their revolutionary potential. After a long and solid tradition of Latin American realistic literature, critics have paid little attention to science fiction proposals.
Martínez-Arias studies the work of one of the most important authors in the Andean region, Edmundo Paz Soldán, to explore how the science fiction genre provides innovative perspectives for representing the social, economic, and cultural issues of Latin America. In his research, Martínez-Arias has found that the literary genre of science fiction, understood in the Western sense, undergoes a transformation when produced within the Andean cultural context. Indigenous myths and legends fuel the speculative imagination, resulting in a literature that holds a potential for resistance against the invasions of extractivist corporations in the region.
