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Record: 1
Title: Gabriel Garda Marquez
Series: Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition © 2004 by Salem
Press, Inc.
Authors Information: Garda Marquez, Gabriel
Full Name: Gabriel Jose Garda Marquez
Also known as: Gabo
Gender: Male
National Identity: Colombia
Language: Spanish
Abstract: Colombian novelist and short-story writer
Literary Nonfiction; Short Fiction; Long Fiction
Genres/Subgenres:
Movements: Contemporary period; Twentieth century; Latin American boom;
Twenty-first century
Essay Information: Author Biography; Essay by Roy Arthur Swanson; Includes bibliography
Accession Number: 9810001169
Database: MagillOnLiterature Plus

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Author: Gabriel Garda Marquez
Also known as: Gabo
Born: March 6, 1927; Aracataca, Colombia

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Gabriel Garda Marquez (@The Nobel Foundation)

Principal Works
long fiction
La hojarasca, 1955 (novella; translated as LeafStorm in LeafStorm, and Other Stories,
1972)
E/ coronel no tiene quien Ie escriba, 1961 (novella; No One Writes to the Colonel, 1968)
La mala hora, 1962 (revised 1966; In EVil Hour, 1979)
Cien alios de soledad, 1967 (One Hundred Years ofSolitude, 1970)
E/ otono del patriarca, 1975 (The Autumn of the Patriarch, 1975)
Cronica de una muerte anunciada, 1981 (Chronicle ofa Death Foretold, 1982)
E/ amor en los tiempos del calera, 1985 (Love in the Time of Cholera, 1988)
E/ general en su laberinto, 1989 (The General in His Labyrinth, 1990)
Collected Novellas, 1990
Del amor y otros demonios, 1994 (Of Love and Other Demons, 1995)
Memoria de mis putas tri5tes~ 2004 (Memories of My Melancholy Whores, 2005)

nonfiction
La novela en America Latina: DlBlogo, 1968 (with Mario Vargas L1osa)
Cuando era feliz 13 indocumentado, 1973
Chile, 131 golpe y los gringos, 1974
Cronicas y reportajesi 1976
Operacion Car/ota, 1977
Perlodismo ml/itante, 1978
De viaje por los pafses socialistas, 1978
Obra periodfstica, 1981-1999 (5 volumes; includes Textos costeli05, 1981; Entre cachacos,
1982; De Europa y America, 1955-1960, 1983; Por la libre, 1974-1995, 1999; Notas de
prensa, 1961-1984, 1999)
E/ olor de la guayaba: Conversaciones con Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, 1982 (The Fragrance

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of the Guava: Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza in Conversation with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1983;
also known as The Smell of Guava, 1984)
La aventura de Miguel Littfn, clandestino en Chile, 1986 (Clandestine in Chile: The
Adventures ofMiguel Littfn, 1987)
Por un pafs al a/cance de los ninos, 1996 (For the Sake of a Country Within Reach of the
Children, 1998)
Not/cia de un secuestro, 1996 (News ofa Kidnapping, 1997)
Vivir para contar/a, 2002 (2002)

short fiction
Los funerales de la Mama Grande, 1962 (Big Mama's Funeral, stories included in No One
Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories, 1968)
Isabel viendo Ilover en Macondo, 1967 (Monologue ofIsabel Watching It Rain in Macondo,
1972)
No One Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories, 1968
Relato de un naufrago, 1970 (The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: Who Drifted on a Liferaft
for Ten Days Without Food or Water, Was Proclaimed a National Hero, Kissed by Beauty
Queens, Made Rich Through Publicity, and Then Spurned by the Government and
Forgotten for All Time, 19)
0los de perro azul, 1972
LeafStorm, and Other Stories, 1972
La increlble y triste historia de la Candida En§ndira y de su abuela desalmada, 1972
(Innocent Erendira, and Other Stories, 1978)
E/ negro que hizo esperar a los angeles, 1972
Todos los cuentos de Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1975 (Collected Stories, 1984)
Doce cuento, peregrinos, 1992 (1992)

Gabriel Garda Marquez (gahr-SEE-ah MAHR-kays) is among the major figures in the great
surge of creativity, from the late 1940's to the early 1970's, that placed Latin America in
the forefront of the global literary scene. Garda Marquez was born in a Colombian village
on the Caribbean coast. He was the first of twelve children. Owing to his parents'
indigence, he was reared by his maternal grandparents, Who provided him with the
stories, legends, and superstitions of Aracataca that were in time to inform a number of
his short stories as well as his monumental novel One Hundred Years ofSolitude. He was
sent to school at the age of eight, after the death of his grandfather. Completing his early
and secondary education at Barranquilla and Zipaquira, he matriculated in 1947 at the
National University of Colombia in Bogota.

During the 1940's he read the modern writers, especially Franz Kafka and William
Faulkner. In his freshman year in Bogota his law studies were punctuated by his reading
of fiction and by the publication of his first story, "The Third Resignation," a chilling
Kafkaesque narrative about a comatose male who lives from the age of seven to the age
of twenty-five in a coffin.

The volatile political situation in Colombia, marked by the conflict between the Liberal and
Conservative parties, culminated in 1949 with the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan,
the Liberal candidate for president, and initiated a decade of civil bloodshed known as la
violencia (the Violence). The university in Bogota had closed during the preceding year,
and Garda Marquez continued his studies at Cartagena, where he abandoned law studies
in favor of journalism.

In 1950 he moved to Barranquilla and became a columnist for the newspaper E/ Heraldo.

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Four years later he returned to Bogota and became a writer for E/ Espectador, the
newspaper that had published his first story. His determination to become a writer had
been fostered by his reading of Faulkner, and his first long fictional work, Leaf Storm (a
Faulknerian rendition of the thoughts during a funeral that occupy the minds of the
deceased's son, mother, and grandfather), was published in 1955. In the same year he
was sent by E/ Espectadorto Geneva, where he was left without resources after the
military government shut down the newspaper. He then spent some three years in Paris,
liVing in poverty and continuing his writing. He traveled extensively to Europe, the Soviet
Union, and Venezuela, where he edited Momenta and, in 1958, married Mercedes Barcha.
From 1959, the year of Cuba's revolution, until 1961 he worked as a journalist for Fidel
Castro's Prensa Latina. In 1961 he, with his wife and son, journeyed from New York
through Faulkner's South to Mexico, where in the following year he saw the publication of
eight of his stories in one volume.

After the publication of more stories and novellas, Garcia Marquez went into seclusion. He
emerged in 1967, having written One Hundred Years ofSolitude, a novel that resists and
revises conventional notions of temporality, morality, and the demarcations between life
and death. The immediate international success of this novel established its author as a
major figure of twentieth century literature. In One Hundred Years ofSolitude the history
of the New World and of the human spirit is encapsulated in the generations of the
Buendia family, the founders and chief residents of the fictional town of Macondo. In the
novel the most ordinary events are related as though they were miracles, while ostensibly
extraordinary events are presented as mere matters of fact.

Garcia Marquez's distaste for extremist politics, especially dictatorships, is evident in his
writing. The Autumn of the Patriarch is based upon the Venezuelan dictator of the 1950's,
Marcos Perez Jimenez. The novel's fictional counterpart, Zacarias Alvarado, is a grotesque
whose atrocious tyranny is recorded in an unrelenting style that retains the humor of One
Hundred Years ofSolitude but darkens it with grisly and diabolic details. The regime of
Augusto Pinochet in Chile is depicted as oppressive in Clandestine in Chile: The
Adventures ofMiguel Littfn. Pro-Marxism is much in evidence in this historically based first-
person narrative of filmmaker Littin, who returned in disguise to Chile to compile a
cinematic documentary of life under Pinochet twelve years after the violent overthrow of
the Marxist president Salvador Allende in 1973.

While his views on world events are well known and have been published under fictional
guise and in journalistic form since 1968, it is for his Magical Realism that Garcia Marquez
has won international acclaim. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1982, and
his Love in the Time of Cholera-with its assumption of the immortality of the lover's vow,
in which physical resurrection is implicit-was well received upon its translation into
English in 1988.

Critics and reviewers continued their praise of his talent and creative imagination upon the
appearance of his short novel OfLove and Other Demons, recounting a twelve-year-old
girl's "possession" (the effects of an attack by a rabid dog) and a priest's being possessed
by rabid love in his attendance on her. The novel, as R. Z. Sheppard notes, extends the
gallery of Maconderos and maintains "the daring and irresistible coupling of history and
imagination."

In his prologue to Strange Pilgrims, a collection of twelve short stories written between
1976 and 1982, Garcia Marquez is explicit about his concept of nonlinear narrative: A
"story has no beginning, no ending: it either works or it does not." Scholars consistently

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make profound inquiries into the revolutionary art of Garda Marquez, with its inventive
voice and its inexhaustible thematic constitutions, and readers delight in the strangeiy
realistic humor of this creative artist, whom Thomas Pynchon once called a "straight-faced
teller of tall tales."

Essay by: Roy Arthur Swanson

Bibliography
Bell, Michael. Gabriel Garda Marquez: Solitude and Solidarity. New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1993. This book explores Garda Marquez's works from a number of different
perspectives, ranging from comparative literary criticism to political and social critiques.
Aso included are commentaries on Garda Marquez's styles, including journalism and
Magical Realism.

Bell-Villada, Gene H. Garda Marquez: The Man and His Work. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1990. (See Magill's literacY Anm.tQ.!.Levievy) Includes biographical
information on Garda Marquez, analyses of his major works, an index, and a bibliography.

Bell-Yillada, Gene H, ed. Gabriel Garda Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude": A
Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. A dozen essays on Garda Marquez's
masterpiece, comprising a wide range of critical approaches.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Gabriel Garda Marquez. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Essays by
eighteen critics, with an introduction by Bloom, on the fiction of Garda Marquez. Includes
two studies of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, estimates of the influences of Kafka and
Faulkner, analyses of narrative stylisties, and inqUiries into the author's types of realism.

Byk, John. "From Fact to Fiction: Gabriel Garda Marquez and the Short Story." Mid-
American Review 6 (1986): 111-116. Discusses the development of Garda Marquez's short
fiction from his early imitations of Kafka to his more successful experiments with Magical
Realism.

Gerlach, John. "The Logic of Wings: Garda Marquez, Todorov, and the Endless Resources
of Fantasy." In Bridges to Fantasy, edited by George E. Slusser, Eric S. Rabkin, and Robert
Scholes. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982. Argues that the point of
view of "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" makes readers sympathize with the old
man by establishing his superiority over the villagers.

Gonzalez, Nelly Sfeir de. Bibliographic Guide to Gabriel Garda Marquez, 1986-1992.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. An annotated bibliography that includes works
by Garda Marquez, criticism and sources for him, and an index of audio and visual
materials related to the author and his works.

Hart, Stephen M. Gabriel Garda Marquez: "Cronica de una Muerte Anunciada." London:
Grant and Cutler, 1994. A thorough critical guide to Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

McMurray, George R., ed. Critical Essays on Gabriel Garda Marquez. Boston: G. K. Hall,
1987. A collection of book reViews, articles, and essays covering the full range of Garda
Marquez's fictional work. Very useful for an introduction to specific novels and collections
of short stories. Also includes an introductory overview by the editor and an index.

McNerney, Kathleen. Understanding Gabriel Garda Marquez. Columbia: University of South

Carolina Press, 1989. An overview addressed to students and nonacademic readers. After

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an introduction on Colombia and a brief biography, the five core chapters explain his
works in depth. Chapters 1 through 3 discuss three novels, chapter 4 focuses on his short
novels and stories, and chapter 5 reviews the role of journalism in his work. Includes a
select, annotated bibliography of critical works and an index.

McQuirk, Bernard, and Richard Cardwell, eds. Gabriel Garda Marquez: New Readings.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1987. A collection of twelve essays in
English by different authors reflecting a variety of critical approaches and covering Garda
Marquez's major novels as well as a selection of his early fiction: No One Writes to the
Colonel, Innocent Erendira, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Also includes a translation
of Garcia Marquez's Nobel address and a select bibliography.

Minta, Stephen. Garcia Marquez: Writer of Colombia. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
After a useful first chapter on Colombia, the book traces Garcia Marquez's life and work.
Minta focuses his discussion on the political context of the violencia in No One Writes to
the Colonel and In Evil Hour. Includes two chapters on Macondo as Garcia Marquez's
fictional setting and another chapter with individual discussions of The Autumn of the
Patriarch, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Love in the Time of Cholera. Includes a
select bibliography by chapter and an index.

Oberhelman, Harley D. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston:
Twayne, 1991. Argues that Garcia Marquez's short fiction is almost as important as his
novels. Suggests that his stories have the same narrative pattern as his novels. Includes
five interviews with Garcia Marquez and essays by four critics.

Solanet, Mariana. Garcia Marquez for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers, 2001.
Part of the "Beginners" series of brief introductions to major writers and their works. Very
basic, but a good starting point.

Williams, Raymond L. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Boston: Twayne, 1984. A good introduction
to Garcia Marquez's works for the beginning student.

Wood, Michael. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "One Hundred Years of Solitude." New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1990. This book provides much of the background
information necessary to understand the history and cultural traditions that inform Garcia
Marquez's writings, including insight into the sociopolitical history of Latin America and
biographical information about Garda Marquez himself.

Cross References
G1LbrieIJii3rcii3 MilHl\.IJ;i' (QictioOi3ryofWorl.d .6iogra ROY)

GabLigLGarcia.l1arQuez (1Qng Fiction)

Gabriel Garcia MarQuez (Short Fiction)

Gabriel Garcia MarQuez (CensorshiRl

Contem[)ora[y' Long Fiction (To[)ical Overview--Long Fiction)

bgtjD.f\mf'!rtcfH bong.. Fictioll..(Topjci3I_Qve[\'igW~~bong_fjQ:iQn)

FaQ)gIrgl:!jtion, Toe (Iopj@i_Ovf'![\IieW:~ShortFjctjQO)

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Latin American Short Fic;J:lonjToRical Overview--Short Fiction)

LatLnoshort .Fic;J:ion (TORicilLOvervieW~-Short. Fiction)

SJJRe[naturqLsto.rv,.. The.(ToRLcilLQyervjew~:.S.ho.l1.EictLoo)

Ih.eoLY...915JJort.ELctLon . (Iopicil. I Q\leJYLew...-.:ShoJ:tflc;J:lon)

Autumn of the Patriarch, The (American Fiction)

Autumn of the Pilhrlarch,. The (Character Profile!';)

Blacaman the Goo!L\!endor of Miracles (Short Stories)

Chronicle ofaDeath Eoretolcl{AJDericilnEiction)

Chronicleo.tqQeath Foretolcl.(ChqLq.cleLE'Lofile!,;)

Chroni.cLe.oL<LQeatl:LEoretoLcI.(LiteI.il.rv.AnlJJJ.alRevie'll's)

Clilndestine in Chile.(MggW Book Reviews)

General in His Lai:)yrinth, The (Literary AnnlLCl.LReviews)

Hanclsomest Drowned Man in the World, The (Short Stories)

IoJ::\lUJ::lo.LJ.L{LilerilIy.AnnLJilLReviews)

Innocent E;n§n.di['Cl,.ancl.mheLStories (Literary..ADlJ!J.ilLRe\liews)

L.eilLStorro.(Americiln.Bcnon)

Leaf Storm (Character Profiles)

Living to Tell the Tale (Literary Annual Reviews)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Masterplots Classics)

Lo\le. inthe .Tlme. otCholeJCl(Chilracter Pmfjles)

hove in the.Time~of Cholem{1.1teJ:iirv.t'L'LCe!';)

Love in.the Time oLChoLe.r:<L(Literqry..ADDJJi'lI ReVle'!l'~)

Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Literary Annual Reviews)

News of a KidnapR.l.n9..(LiteraryAnnual Review!,;)

No One Writes to th.e.Colonel (American Fiction)

NoQne Writes to the colonel (Chilracter E'rofiles)

OlL.o..vgQIl.!:IQther.J::lemoD.s (Lite[<3J\' An nLJ.ClLReyiew!';)

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Of Love and other Demons (Magill Book Reviews)

Qne.tJ!JDdre.dXe.Clrs.QtSoHtYd..e . (MClsj;eIRIQts.~lflssi!:S)

Qne HundredY..ear~.Q[SolitucleJ~h9rflg..e1 Profiles)

One.!:iundred .XeflLs.J1f Sol itude .(Jdenj:jj;Les..Clnc,Lllisues)

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Literary Places)

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Magill Book Reviews)

Story of a ShiRwrecked Sailor, The -<Magill Book Reviews)

Strange Pilgrims (Magill Book Reviews)

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Source: Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition © 2004 by Salem Press,
Inc.
Accession Number: 9810001169

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