Linguistic and Literary Tensions in Contemporary Paraguay

Abstract

This chapter describes and analyses the contemporary map of Paraguay, based on its most representative cultural experiences, including that of the Taller Manuel Ortiz Guerrero poets, from which tangara poetry emerges; the poetic work of Jorge Canese, spearhead of several experimentations of current literature; the narrative in Guarani language, of which we choose the novel Kalaíto Pombéro by Tadeo Zarratea (1981) as pivot; and the frontier cartography following the narrative of Damián Cabrera.The democratization process of the Paraguayan society, which started in the 1980s, assures suitable conditions for the publication and dissemination of literature. For instance, it enables the return of exiles, such as Juan Bautista Rivarola Matto, one of the key figures of this new scenario. He returns to Paraguay in 1979 after almost 20 years, and founds the NAPA publication series, that publishes the first novel in Guarani, Kalaíto Pombéro (1981). This process accompanies the emergence of new aesthetics. The tangara poetry, initiated with the book Tangara tangara (1985) by Ramón Silva, expands the range of Guaraní poetry towards radically different forms compared to the traditional forms. Further, Paraguayan Guarani literature becomes more complex with the jopara, which debuts as literary language with Ramona Quebranto (1989), by Margot Ayala; and with the display of Guarani narrative. Finally, we find hybridizations used by several authors attempting to reshape their literary language, such as interactions with Portuguese, enhancing a literary and cultural area in the Triple Frontera. These changes turn 21st-century Paraguayan literature into a map of high indetermination.