Colombian Magazine Hypes “Best” 100 Novels in Spanish

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 4/1/2007

As the XIII Congreso de las academias de la lengua (“Conference of the Academies of the Spanish Language”) and the IV Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española (“International Conference of the Spanish Language”) wrapped up last week, the Colombian magazine Semana published a ranked list of the 100 best Spanish-language novels of the last 25 years. The publication, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, surveyed 81 Spanish and Latin American experts—editors, writers, literary critics, journalists, etc.—to compile the list as a special homage to the Spanish language.

Gabriel García Márquez’s El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Love in the Time of Cholera) heads up the list, followed by Mario Vargas Llosa’s La fiesta del chivo (The Feast of the Goat), and Roberto Bolaño’s Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives) and 2666, which hold third and fourth place, respectively.

The Congreso Internacional de la Lengua is organized by the Real Academia Española—the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language—and by the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (“Association of the Academies of the Spanish Language”). At this year’s conference, García Márquez received a special tribute for the 40th anniversary of Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude), which actually didn’t make it onto Semana’s list. A commemorative edition of the classic work was published to mark the occasion. This year also marks the author’s 80th birthday, as well as the 25th anniversary since receiving the Nobel Prize.

For the complete list, go to http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=101793.