Voices from the Fuente Viva: The Effect of Orality in Twentieth-Century Spanish American Narrative

Taking modern fiction in Spanish America as a test case, Millay (colonial and contemporary Latin American literature, Tufts U.) contends that the presupposed notions of differences between oral and written culture are best perceived as rhetorical strategies in the elaboration of literature. She argues that writers who address the theme of the great divide between oral and written cultures perpetuate this artificial dichotomy because it allows them to play the role of mediator between two worlds.…