Myth, language, and structure in Carlos Fuentes' novel The Death of Artemio Cruz

This study aims to reveal the technical and formal experiments applied in the New Latin American Novel, which has left its mark on Latin American literature starting from the forties, and the extraordinary change in language. For this purpose, we aimed to examine myth, language and structure in Carlos Fuentes's novel The Death of Artemio Cruz, taking into account the features that characterize the new understanding of the novel. The Mexican writer states that today the novel is structured on these three elements. One of the prominent examples of the new Latin American novel, The Death of Artemio Cruz is based on myth, language and structure; it is seen that these three elements support each other in the construction of the novel. Before moving on to the analysis of the text, the historical process that led to the emergence of this new literary narrative form is explained. It is seen that the writers who are accepted as the pioneers of change and the writers who made a revolution in the language by following their footsteps, started a new era and eliminated the national-universal distinction existing in the mainland literature, and purified the traditional literary understanding from the features that limited the narrative by regionalizing it. The primary aim of the Latin American writer in the new novel is to convey the social reality of his nation and modernize the narrative with a new and innovative language that does not suppress itself. Influenced by the avant-garde movements in the first half of the twentieth century, and combining the narrative techniques used by European and North American writers with their own traditions, the Latin American writer aims to create change in society through his art. With the Boom phenomenon that emerged in the 1960s, the new Latin American novel becomes universally recognized. Contemporary Latin American Novel, as a result of the change it has undergone over time, is placed in the focus of literary criticism.