Warnings from the future: Nature and technology in Spanish American science fiction

In his controversial article "The End of History?," Francis Fukuyama commented on the situation of the world at the end of the 1980s. He interpreted the end of the Cold War and the subsequent global spread of capitalism and liberal democracy---in the form of neoliberalism---as a sign that humankind had reached the end of ideological conflict and the "end of history." Not everyone, however, agreed with Fukuyama. Since the publication of his article, a number of political, economic and social critics have pointed out that neoliberalism has not led to a more equal and prosperous world, but rather to more profound divisions among the rich and the poor. The question at the heart of this on-going debate is whether technological progress is ultimately beneficial or detrimental to human society and nature.;The purpose of this dissertation is to study how this debate is represented in recent Spanish American fiction and to analyze how the area's authors are seeking answers to the question of development. The novels chosen for this study are Cristobal Nonato (1987) by Carlos Fuentes, La ley del amor (1995) by Laura Esquivel, ¿En quien piensas cuando haces el amor? (1996) by Homero Aridjis, Waslala: Memorial del futuro (1996) by Gioconda Belli and Suenos digitales (2000) by Edmundo Paz Soldan. Written at the end of the twentieth century, these novels represent their authors' stance on neoliberalism and the form of technological progress it promotes. Paz Soldan's text provides a realistic representation of a contemporary Spanish American nation and serves as a point of departure for the analysis of the future envisioned by Fuentes, Esquivel, Aridjis and Belli. The future worlds these authors depict are very different from one another, yet they all suggest that neoliberalism and Western Culture's technology-oriented concept of progress will turn Spanish America into a dystopia. By revealing the failures and possible negative consequences of neoliberalism and unchecked technological development, Fuentes, Esquivel, Aridjis and Belli warn the reader that, unless things change, the "end of history" and the dream of utopia will be lost forever.