Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the literature of the Peruvian writer Carlos Yushimito del Valle, whom in 2010, the British literary magazine Granta, named one of the best 22 young writers in Spanish language under the age of thirty-five. Yushimito del Valle is a writer but also a prolific literary critic and scholar.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the literature of the Peruvian writer Carlos Yushimito del Valle, whom in 2010, the British literary magazine Granta, named one of the best 22 young writers in Spanish language under the age of thirty-five. Yushimito del Valle is not only a writer but also a prolific literary critic and scholar who is part of a new generation of intellectuals that is changing the landscape of Latin American literature.

A Peruvian citizen of Japanese descent, Yushimito del Valle resides in the United States but his creative work frequently brings him to Latin America and Europe. His literature is influenced by a tradition of great Latin American narrators including Felisberto Hernandez and Guimaraes Rosa, as well as the poetic voices of Cesar Vallejo and Walt Whitman, and the thought of Walter Benjamin.

This paper examines his second book, Las Islas, a collection of eight short-stories set in Brazil, which Yushimito has never visited. Critics throughout Latin America and Spain have praised this work for its originality and hypnotizing effect in capturing the reader's attention. Additionally, this paper analyzes the influence of the author's multi-national background on his writing.