Augusto Roa Bastos - Legacy

Legacy

The writing of Roa Bastos spans four countries, six decades, and countless genres. In his lifetime he made important contributions to Latin American Boom writing, to the related Dictator Novel, and to the Nuevo Cine film movement through screenplays like Alias Gardelito (1961). Roa Bastos' influence can be found in the works of many foreign post-boom writers, including Mempo Giardinelli, Isabel Allende, Eraclia Zepeda, Antonio Skármeta, Saul Ibargoyen, and Luisa Valenzuela. The most important author to come out of Paraguay, he also remains highly influential for a new generation of Paraguayan authors. Roa Bastos' relationship with his country, unbroken by over 40 years of exile, was considered so important that in 1989 he was invited back by Paraguay's new president, Andrés Rodríguez, following the collapse of the Stroessner regime.

Even before Yo, el Supremo, Roa Bastos was considered part of "the pantheon of great writers" by some critics, due to Hijo de hombre. However, it was the former work that cemented his place as a significant literary figure. According to Juan Manuel Marcos, Yo, el Supremo "anticipates many of the post-boom writing techniques" such as "the carnivalization of historical discourse, transtextualization, and parody". Mexican literary great, Carlos Fuentes has called Yo, el Supremo one of the milestones in Latin American literature. While his reputation rests on his novels, Roa Bastos' achievements in film, creative writing, and journalism add further substance to his legacy.