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Abstract:

The article consists of two parts devoted to the theory and artistic practice of Neo-Baroque, respectively. The first part examines the history of the formation of the concept of Latin American Neo-Baroque. It began in European art history, when J. Burckhardt characterized the Baroque as a certain era in the development of art, and H. Wölfflin presented it as a kind of “grand style” and highlighted its constitutive features; finally, when E. d’Ors formulated the theory of “eternal” styles, “classical” and “non-classical” (baroque), cyclically replacing each other. This concept was adopted and developed by Cuban writers J. Lezama Lima, A. Car- pentier and S. Sarduy. Two factors determined the formation of the theory of Latin American Neo-Baroque. The first and main thing is the rich layer of colonial art, which developed in the Baroque style; the second is the peculiarities of the Latin American worldview, which was initially not subject to ratiocentrism, systematicity, or orderliness. The specifics of this world- view are revealed in the section “Artistic practice. Motifs.” Specific examples show how Latin American literature embodies such constants of its artistic code as chaos, curvature, excess and mystery. In conclusion, an analysis of the four most famous Latin American Neo-Baroque novels is presented, in which the poetics of this movement are revealed not only in the motivic structure, but also at the stylistic level.

Keywords: Neo-Baroque, J. Lezama Lima, A. Carpentier, S. Sarduy, G. Cabrera Infante, C. Fuentes, F. del Paso.