Hispanic Dark Academia Literary Recs
I am studying Hispanic Literature at uni (take a shot every time I don’t mention that) and it has been very frustrating to see that only European or American (as in the US, saying “American” pisses me off because I am American too even though I live in Mexico. America is a continent, surprise) get recommended. Here are some books, I guess, along with links!
El vampiro de la colonia Roma by Luis Zapata (my translation: The Vampire from the Roma Neighborhood): one of the first Mexican gay books. The mentioned “colonia Roma” refers to a very famous neighborhood in Mexico City.
La tumba by José Agustín (The Tomb): About an upper class teen. One of Mexico’s most famous novelists, and he was considered a member of the Onda generation (basically the Beat generation but Latinoamerican).
La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Shadow of the Wind): One of my favorite books, set after the Civil Spanish War. I could not describe how amazing this man’s writing style is. Link to the Goodreads page
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo: Considered by many the best Mexican novel. This novel started (among others) the literary movement known as “magical realism”, to which Gabriel García Márquez and Elena Garro contributed. Link to a PDF
Aura by Carlos Fuentes: A young man is employed to help a widow sort through her dead husband’s files, and falls in love with the widow’s niece, but everything gets darker once he’s introduced in that mysterious world. A very chilling and beautiful novella, full of erotism and Catholic themes. Definitely a fave of mine. Link to a PDF
Anything by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: How to introduce this woman. Juana was one of the first female writers in México when it was still under Spanish power. She became a nun to get educated and was known for being rebellious. Also, she was a lesbian (”allegedly”, but you can fight me, the same people that say she was straight also say Sappho was straight and Achilles and Patroclus were just friends), a child prodigy and one of Mexico’s first feminist icons. She was also a fucking savage, the things she said about men were hilarious and always very subtle. She literally has a poem called “You Foolish Men”, shaming men who slept with prostitutes but shamed women for their sexuality. Still relevant. Link to her poems
Anything by Alejandra Pizarnik: I don’t know as much about her as I know about the other people on this list because she was Argentinian but she’s one of the most renowned female Latino American poets, and can be compared to Sylvia Plath. Link to eleven of her poems (translated).
Anything by Alfonsina Storni: Same with Pizarnik, I haven’t read much but she’s also one of the most famous feminist poets from Latino America. Link to translated poems
Anything by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: Bécquer is considered one of the most famous Spanish poets from the 19th century. I personally find his poetry incredible. Link to his most famous poems
NOTE: I know in recent years the word “hispanic” has come to mean “Latino American person living in the US” specially on US-centric websites, but the word itself means “from/related to Spain or Spanish”. I am hispanic not because I am Mexican or because I am a POC, but because my native language is Spanish, so some of these books are from Spanish (white) authors. I intend to do a post about this on the future.
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