Our journey across the globe continues, and, in this case, literature is the way to get to know and learn about different places and cultures. This month we tour the American continent through the top 10 most translated books of South America. 

This region is characterized by an arsenal of the best fiction, most of them in Spanish and translated into several languages. One of the <renowned texts is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. Equally important to South America’s literary fabric are 2666 by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño and The Aleph and Other Stories by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges.

The most well-known books in other languages also include the Uruguayan historical essay titled Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano, which analyzes the effects of centuries of imperialism, exploitation, and slavery on Latin Americans from the Caribbean down to Patagonia. 

Notably, the most translated text in South America comes from Brazil: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which has been translated into over 80 languages globally and describes the journey of a young shepherd to the pyramids of Egypt.

 

 

 

 

 

The Alchemist is a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho in 1988, which found a devoted following around the world. Translated into 83 languages, it was published in over 170 countries with more than 85 million copies worldwide. 

According to The New York Times, The Alchemist has established Paulo Coelho as the world’s most translated living author.

The Alchemist tells the adventures of Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd who travels from his homeland to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure hidden in the pyramids. The protagonist’s imagination and courage make him pursue his “personal journey.” Throughout the story, Santiago meets different characters who help him learn how to be true to his values, especially following his heart.

 

 

 

 One Hundred Years of Solitude is a novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is considered a masterpiece of Spanish American and universal literature and one of the most translated and read books in Spanish.

It was listed as one of the most important Spanish writing in the IV International Spanish Language Congress held in Cartagena de Indias in March 2007. It was also included in the top 100 Spanish novels of the 20th century by Spanish newspaper El Mundo, in the top 100 books of the 20th century by French newspaper Le Monde and in the top 100 books of all time by the Norwegian Book Club.

The Sudamericana publishing house published the first edition in Buenos Aires in May 1967 to great critical and public acclaim and had an initial print run of 8,000 copies. Over 30 million copies have been sold to this day. It has been translated into 49 languages.

 

  

 2666 is a posthumous novel by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño published in 2004. It consists of five parts that the author, due to economic reasons, planned to publish as five independent books to secure his children’s future in case of death. However, after his death, the heirs recognized its literary value and decided to publish it as a single novel.

The novel received several literary awards: the Barcelona City Award in 2004 and the Salambó Award the following year, almost unanimously.

This novel has been translated into 28 languages, including English, French and Italian.

 

The Aleph and Other Stories is one of the most representative short story books by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges. Published in 1949, it was republished by the author in 1974. His texts reference several bibliographies around myths and metaphors of universal literary tradition.

On October 23, 1957, The Aleph won the first award in the Works of Imagination in the Prose category at the National Awards of the National Department of Culture. The text was translated into more than 26 languages. 

 

 

 Lady Bárbara is a novel by Venezuelan Rómulo Gallegos and published by Editorial Araluce in 1929. It consists of three parts and is set in the Venezuelan Apure plains, on the banks of the Arauca River.

Lady Bárbara is the most famous novel in Venezuela. Ever since it was written in 1929, it has been published more than 40 times and translated into 22 languages. The book analyzes the topic of civilization versus barbarism in Venezuelan rural life from a positive sociological point of view. The writer’s other merits include his mastery of character development and landscape description.

 

 

 The Green House (1966) is the second novel by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa. It is characterized by the assimilation of new European and American author narrative techniques developed throughout the first half of the 20th century. The book, which won the Rómulo Gallegos Award, has been translated into more than 19 languages.

The story moves in changing times and spaces between what’s real and imaginary. Although it is confusing and fragmentary at first, it develops as the novel progresses, without losing clarity, like a vast puzzle that is only completed at the end. In this story, Vargas Llosa blended his memories from Piura with his innovative and avant-garde literary techniques.

 

  

 Huasipungo is a novel published in 1934 by Ecuadorian author Jorge Icaza (1906-1978). The book became a well-known indigenous novel, a movement in Latinamerican literature that preceded “realismo magico” and stressed “realismo brutal.”

In addition to the first edition of 1934, it was edited twice and even rewritten in Spanish in 1953 and 1960; the former was difficult to read even for natives of other Hispanic countries.

There are inconsistencies in the number of languages published; some sources indicate that there were more than 40 languages, and others, 16 languages. 

 

Open Veins of Latin America is a book published in 1971 by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano. He presents a comprehensive account of Latin American history all the way from colonization to contemporary Latin America, narrating stories about the constant plundering of the region’s natural resources by colonial empires between the 16th and 19th centuries and imperialist states, mainly the United Kingdom and the United States, from the 19th century onwards. Translated into more than 12 languages, this book received an honorable mention in the Casa de las Américas Award.

 

Son of Man is the first novel by Paraguayan author Augusto Roa Bastos, published in 1960. Considered a significant part of Latinamerican literature, it is part of a trilogy with I the Supreme (1974) and The Prosecutor (1993). The author published the latest version in 1983.

The novel relates to a period in Paraguayan history (from the beginning of the 20th century until the Chaco War) through the way of life of the rural villages, highlighting the traditions and language of its inhabitants, which alternate between Spanish and Guarani. Translated into more than ten languages, the book won the International Novel Award by the Editorial Losada in 1959 and was an immediate success with the public and critics.

 

 

Palace of the Peacock (1960) is the first novel by Guyanese author Wilson Harris. It is considered an essential early postcolonial novel and a canonical text in Caribbean literary studies.

It is set in the 16th century and tells the story of a group of men of different ethnicities who make their way down a dangerous and turbulent river into the jungles of Guyana. Throughout the journey, it becomes clear that this is not the first time that these men have attempted to go down this river, drowning the last time they did so. 

The text is written in the first person by a narrator whose voice becomes increasingly diffuse as the story progresses.