Criollismo is a literary movement, also called
costumbrismo, that took place between the end of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and is considered equivalent to
regionalismIn literature, regionalism or local color refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and topography – of a particular region...
in the
USA literatureAmerican literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
. It is based on realism to describe the scenes, customs and manners of the country the writer was from. As USA regionalism was influenced by the
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
,
criollismo was strongly influenced by the wars of independence from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It also denotes what each country in its own way defines in a modern way
criolloCriollo is a Spanish term that may refer to:-Groups of people and animals:* Criollo people, a caste in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system* Criollo horse, a South American horse breed...
.
Notable examples of criollismo exponents were:
Rómulo GallegosRómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he was the first cleanly elected president in his country's history....
, Francisco Lazo Martí, (Venezuela),
José Eustasio RiveraJosé Eustasio Rivera Salas was a Colombian lawyer and poet primarily known for his national epic The Vortex.-Early life:...
(Colombia),
Horacio QuirogaHoracio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza was an Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer....
(Uruguay-Argentina),
Ricardo GüiraldesRicardo Güiraldes was an Argentine novelist and poet, one of the most significant Argentine writers of his era, particularly known for his 1926 novel Don Segundo Sombra, set amongst the gauchos.-Life:...
y
Benito LynchBenito Lynch, Argentine novelist and short-story writer, was born in Buenos Aires on 25 July 1885, and died La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, 23 December 1951.-Origins and life:...
,(Argentina),Mario Vargas LLosa y Manuel Gonzales Prada (Peru)