Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Paraíso Perdido, Paraíso Inventado. La Idealización Del Paraíso En La Literatura Latinoamericana: Un Comentario A Manera De Observaciones, William Martínez

World Languages and Cultures

This essay attempts to present a commentary about the notion of paradise in Latin America, as a whole, with a quick review of literature produced in the last 500 years. The image of paradise arises with Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean. In his letters to the Spanish Crown, Columbus creates the myth of paradise in the Caribbean, an image that never existed and, yet, still appears today within Latin American Literature. In several literary periods the image is re-invented and transformed. The essay deals with the evolution of the notions of paradise, questioning, at the end, a possible future regarding …