Giving Directions: practicing the odd, misleading, and almost always imprecise art of giving— and receiving— directions

 

 

Providence, Rhode Island, is a city in which I am prone (susceptible) to wrong turns, and on my last trip there, I made the inevitable stop at a bodega to find out how I might find my way out of town and back to Route 6. The elderly man behind the counter gave me extensive instructions that included circling back the way I had come, taking a shortcut through an alley, and crossing two bridges. But as I left the store, a twenty something costumer followed me out to suggest a much simpler, quicker, and more direct route that involved reversing course, going straight, and making a single turn. The difference in these two offerings illustrates that how one gives directions tends to be a highly individual, personal, and sometimes even poetic enterprise.

Busch, A. (2006). Giving Directions: practicing the odd, misleading, and almost always imprecise art of giving— and receiving— directions. Extraído el 2 de Septiembre, 2013 de http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/going-my-way

The 5 Best Colombian Novelists

Colombia has produced a wealth of literary talent over the years; here are five of the best modern and classical Colombian novelists.

 

Evelio Rosero

One of the most celebrated Colombian writers of the late 20th century; Rosero’s works engage with Colombia’s tumultuous and violent political history, bringing to life the violence and fear that once threatened to engulf the country. He has been awarded various prizes for his fiction, including the National Literature Prize of Colombia.

Laura Restrepo

Restrepo has been acclaimed one of the best South American writers since the days of the Latin American Boom, but as with other contemporary novelists she has rejected the Magic Realism which characterized that movement. She utilizes the conventions of reportage and detective fiction to create vivid depictions of the effects that violence can have on a society and on individuals.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Vasquez is another contemporary Colombian novelist who prefers to engage with the current affairs of the country and the realities of urban life than the largely rural and romantic genre of Magic Realism. His works are thrillers which owe more to Joseph Conrad and Philip Roth than to García Márquez.

Jorge Isaacs

A politician and soldier, Isaacs’ literary career was short but highly significant. He only published one novel, Maria, which was released in 1867, but it came to be

regarded as the pinnacle of the Latin American Romantic Movement which was at that time sweeping the subcontinent. It is still considered one of the most important works of 19th century Spanish American Literature and it offers a perspective on the nascent Colombian society of that time.

Gabriel García Márquez

The most celebrated of all Colombian novelists, García Márquez has achieved a level of worldwide fame and popularity which few contemporary novelists can match. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 and is considered the writer who kick started the Latin American Literature Boom in the late 1960s with the publication of his Magic Realist novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Storey, T. The 5 Best Colombian Novelists. Extraído el 2 de Septiembre, 2013 de http://theculturetrip.com/south-america/colombia/articles/the-5-best-colombian-novelists/