the nineteenth century, it had united the different countries of Latin America with a common language—Spanish, whereas Portuguese became the state language of Brazil. It was at this time that the first attempts at the novel were made. The question could well be asked: Why not earlier ? In the first place, as far back as the sixteenth century, by a decree of the Spanish king the writing of fiction was forbidden as being dangerous for the people. This, combined with the fact that the natural evolution of the Latin American culture had been disrupted, the writer had to, in a way, start from scratch. He had the Spanish novels as models before him. The first attempts at novel writing were, as a result, poor imitations of the Spanish counterparts. The Latin American novel was not only a genre that was cursed and late in coming, but till the end of the last century also derivative and till recently—primitive... The novels of the nineteenth century are of historical interest but not of aesthetic interest They lack a point of view and tell us more about what the author had read rather than what they had seen.'3 The second period which started at the beginning of the'twentieth century, although still derivative, marked a new phase in the development of the novel. The influences of European Cubism were replaced by Surrealism. The first 'nativisf of 'primitive' works on the lines of Knut Hamsun were written. From the artistic point of view these writers (AArdegas, E. Riviera, S. Alegrii) were still borrowing from European forms. Simultaneously their thematic originality emerged at this juncture. For the first time Latin American writers turned towards their own land and people in a bid to study and capture them faithfully. Nativism was primarily romantic in style and approach. It centred round specific geographical areas, their peculiarities and the everyday life of the inhabitants—the Maya Indians or the cocoa plantation workers. The heroes were the Kechua, the negroes or the mulattos. The conflict in the works was between man and nature rather than social issues which would appear later. Carpentier's first novel Ekue-Yamba-0 (1933) dealt with the newly discovered Afro-C^uban folklore. Carpentier had grown up in rural areas amongst negroes. Looking back on the novel twenty years later he was to remark that what was absent in his novel was 'the entire depth, truth and significance of the world which I had dared to describe.'4 The novel was more in the nature of anthropological documentation. It was then considered sufficient to spend two to three weeks in an area, study it and write about it Nativism, however, was a move in the right direction for it meant the first step towards a national awareness. Not surprisingly, many writers of this generation turned to Social Anthropology in a bid to study the indigenous cultures more thoroughly. Amongst others there was the Guatemalan Miguel Angel Asturias whose university diploma workSocial Problems of the Indians (1923) was published subsequently. The writer continued his in-depth study of the Mayan Journal of Arts and Ideas 9