Colombian literature has been, for hundreds of years, a way for Colombian authors to comment or condemn politics, religion and other cultural aspects.
Colombian literature is as varied and changing as the country's history. Indeed, it has been, for hundreds of years, a way for Colombian authors to comment or condemn politics, religion and other cultural impacts on their country.
Under the Spanish rule, the main topic of Colombian literature was religion; in 1588 Juan de Castellanos wrote the longest ever Spanish poem, Elegías de Varones Ilustres de Indias. During the independence movement, Colombian writers were politically outspoken, such as revolutionary figure Simon Bolivar. The Colombian government established the first Academy of Spanish language in the American continent. Tomas Carrasquilla and Jorge Isaacs were part of the costumbrista literature movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries depicting peasant life and societal injustice, and poets Jose Eustasio Rivera and Leon de Greiff championed the following modernismo literary movement.
The industrialization in Latin American during the 20th century was reflected in Colombian literature, and the violent events during the 1940s and 50s resulted in the Nothing-ist movement, made famous by Colombian writer Gonzalo Arango. The 'Latin American Boom' of the 60s saw works from young Latin American authors circulated throughout the world. Nobel Literature Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an internationally acclaimed Colombian author from this time; Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude remain some of the most famous Colombian novels. Nowadays, the new fears of drugs and violence are being portrayed in Colombian Literature, with El olvido que seremos by Hector Abad Faciolince one of many Colombian books worth reading.