Explosion in a Cathedral

"Explosion in a Cathedral" ( _es. El Siglo de las Luces) is a historical novel by Cuban writer and musicologist Alejo Carpentier. The book follows the story of three privileged Creole orphans from Havana, as they meet French adventurer Victor Hugues and get involved in the revolutionary turmoil that shook the Atlantic World at the end of the eighteenth century. Originally published in 1962, this is one of the most influential works written during the so-called "Latin American Boom".

Regarded as one of Latin America's greatest historical novels, Explosion in a Cathedral deals with the impact of the French Revolution on the Caribbean.Swanson, Philip. "Latin American Fiction: A Short Introduction", Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p. 78. ISBN 1405108665] The main characters are all members of one family: two siblings, Carlos and Sofia, and their cousin Esteban.Pope, Randolph D. "The Spanish American Novel from 1950 to 1975", in "The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature", Vol. 2, ed. Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria and Enrique Pupo-Walker, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 249. ISBN 0521410355] The narrative deals with the cyclical nature of control, destruction, and development during revolution.Franco, Jean. "The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America in the Cold War", Harvard University Press, 2002, pp. 168-9. ISBN 0674008421] Stylistically, it contains elements of Existentialism [Pope, pp. 249-50] and magical realismWood, Michael. "Spanish America", in "The Oxford Guide to Contemporary World Literature", Ed. John Sturrock, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 394. ISBN 0192833189] , and it mirrors the tension between Europe and Latin America found in many of Carpentier's other works. [Pope, p. 250]

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