Literary Realism Part 1: Alejo Carpentier - Realism, Revolution, and the Totality
About this episode
The episode explores Alejo Carpentier's work as a key example of literary realism and its connection to historical changes.
[Recorded on 15 December 2025] In this opening installment of our series on literary realism, we focus on Alejo Carpentier’s El siglo de las luces (Explosion in a Cathedral). This work holds particular significance for the show, as host Pat dedicated a substantial portion of his dissertation to Carpentier's life and literature. We approach the novel as a primary example of how literature can map the "grand epochal changes" of history. After a brief biographical sketch of Carpentier, we presen...
People in this episode
Host: Pat
Topics covered
- literary realism
- Alejo Carpentier
- historical literature
- revolution
- epochal changes
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: El siglo de las luces, Explosion in a Cathedral
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