Literary Realism Part 1: Alejo Carpentier - Realism, Revolution, and the Totality

[Recorded on 15 December 2025]

In this opening installment of our series on literary realism, we focus on Alejo Carpentier’s El siglo de las luces (Explosion in a Cathedral). This work holds particular significance for the show, as host Pat dedicated a substantial portion of his dissertation to Carpentier's life and literature. We approach the novel as a primary example of how literature can map the "grand epochal changes" of history.

After a brief biographical sketch of Carpentier, we present his work against the volatile backdrop of the French Revolution as it spreads to the Caribbean, centering on the dual struggles for abolition and independence. Our analysis is framed by the perspective of Perry Anderson, who identifies realism as a vital academic and political project. Further, by engaging with the work of Georg Lukács and Fredric Jameson, we use this episode to reconstruct a theory of "the totality," the idea that the things we read and watch are not isolated incidents but parts of a larger, ensnaring system.