This collection of essays studies the depiction of contemporary urban
space in twenty-first century Latin American fiction. The contributors
to this volume seek to understand the characteristics that make the
representation of the postmodern city in a Latin American context
unique. The chapters focus on cities from a wide variety of countries in
the region, highlighting the cultural and political effects of
neoliberalism and globalization in the contemporary urban scene.
Twenty-first century authors share an interest for images of ruins and
dystopian landscapes and their view of the damaging effects of the
global market in Latin America tends to be pessimistic. As the book
demonstrates, however, utopian elements or "spaces of hope" can also be
found in these narrations, which suggest the possibility of transforming
a capitalist-dominated living space.