On the Difficulty of Naming a Production of the Present: Literature as Contemporary Art

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on what might be understood as the contemporary in dialogue with the modern and in an approximation between art and literature produced by three texts that deal with the question: Espectáculo de Realidad – Ensaios sobre la narrativa latinoamericana de las últimas dos décadas; Sobre a arte contemporânea and Zum, zum, zum: estudo sobre o nome contemporâneo. Three current voices, one that is enunciated from France, but which gives the “American moment” a central position – Ruffel’s; and two Latin-American ones – Reinaldo Laddaga’s and César Aira’s. These are three important essays to think about the difficulty of naming the production of the present, as they continue a modernist discussion that remains open in the contemporary.