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Founded in 1962 by Jacobo Timerman, and modeled after periodicals such as Time (United States) and Der Spiegel (Germany), Primera Plana was the most influential Argentine newsmagazine of the 1960s. Its span of publication coincides precisely with two literary phenomena of great import: the so-called "Boom" of Latin American literature and a similarly successful period for Argentine literary production. Not coincidentally, analysts of these two related booms repeatedly mention the role of Primera Plana--whose weekly circulation reached 60,000--in promoting the literature and literary debates of this epoch. However, despite the frequency of these observations and the obligatory citations of certain key articles, no one has carried out an in-depth study of the magazine's literary policies and practices. The dissertation fills that gap, documenting the promotion of literature in Primera Plana during this critical period of Argentine cultural history.
The dissertation studies the magazine's contribution within the context of the various "revolutions" occurring in the 1960s. The "vanguard" role which Primera Plana attributed to itself in the journalistic field had important literary ramifications as well. Major findings include the following: (1) the extent to which the magazine's journalistic discourse paralleled its literary discourse; (2) the continuity and coherence--the "collective voice"-- which characterized Primera Plana's literary reviews from 1962 to 1969; and (3) the magazine's insistent presentation of Julio Cortazar as the standard bearer of the (literary) spirit of the times.
Future researchers of this topic and this historical epoch should find the appendices to be particularly useful. One provides a list of every individual who worked for Primera Plana. A second includes the titles of all books reviewed and articles appearing in the magazine's "Libros" section. The third appendix lists every "Textos" selection--this section was one of the magazine's major innovations--and, in the process, offers an abbreviated list of authors belonging to Primera Plana's literary canon.