While I'm enjoying this novel, I am still confused regarding the time frame. The back of the book jacket states that it takes place where the book of Genesis ends, and the first chapter talks about how the world was so new that there weren't words for everything.
Yet, it is apparent that this takes place in the 18th century or so, as Jose uses magnets to find a 15th century set of armor. Am I missing something here?
The world in Solidtude is mythological, but heavily based on Columbian history. The comment, I believe, about Genisis was by a reviewer that was comparing it to Genisis in term of importance and insight into the human story. While I wouldnt normally reccomend a wikipedia article, the one on "Solidtude" contains most of the pertinent historical information. Marquez himself , if I remember correctly, said in an interview that he was suprised at the novel's popularity because it was something of a really big in-joke for Columbians.
"Post-historic man will be allergic to science for AT LEAST a hundred years!" -Dominic Matei
Marquez is a master of tongue-in-cheek comments - he said that Rabassa's translation was better than the original! Great way to sell it to an English speaking audience...Originally Posted by oshima
I'm reading this at the moment, in a superb Everyman hardback edition - as permanent as Marquez's magic trees! I don't have any idea when it is set, and don't really care. When and where did gypsies introduce flying carpets to South America? :-)
How's the reading going?
It's certainly rammed full of life, but it's difficult to absorb all the events and keep the relations between the characters in mind. But it is very tight & exciting, there are no wasted sentences. The magic is, indeed, magic - it seems to add a dimension, it's a kind of yeast that adds to what could otherwise be flat, grinding realism.
Don't blink or you'll miss something.
I'm not interested in drawing exact parallels with South American history - I'm a general reader not a social/literary historian. I want an enjoyable literary/artistic experience, not to use the novel as a basis for historical scholarship - though I'm not saying this would be a useless exercise - whatever floats your flying carpet...
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Myths and Legends
Marquez wrote the book in Magical realism, where the boundaries of realism are stretched (ie. flying carpets, eternal gunpowder smell, eternal almond trees ect.)
My question is how do myths and legends (latin american folklore?) fit into this story. I read somewhere that Marquez wrote the book so that "a myth can enter at any given time."
Im having trouble identifying some of these myths. On the first few pages it mentions the rusted armor that was found with the magnets and later on the Spanish galleon. *Edit: Another would be the magical intrusion of the Wandering Jew
Anyone have ideas as to why, if there are (im having trouble finding them), the myths/legends are placed in the book?
thanksabunch
Last edited by ikim0013; 09-02-2011 at 02:27 PM.
Hello!
First of all, what do you mean by myths? There is no such thing as a canon of "latin american folklore", from which you can extract well-defined myths such as the greek or nordic traditions. What you do have in the book, indeed, are many popular beliefs which are common on the region. Since I'm not colombian I can't tell about every single one of them, but I can tell about the ones which can be seen in Brazil as well.
What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
L. Wittgenstein
Hello,
I am new to this forum. I started this thread because I searched the forum for the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (It won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982). I looked into the authors listed on this site, and there isn't a Marquez on here.
Anyhow, I just wanted to see if any one on this forum has read the book and can give me their interpretation of the book. I am currently six chapters away from finishing the novel, and plan on reading Love In The Time Of Cholera (another great novel) in the original text it was written in.... In Spanish!
Thanks for reading!!
Welcome to the Forum, Enigma.
You might find these discussions useful:
http://www.online-literature.com/for...light=solitude
http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=18943
http://www.online-literature.com/for...light=solitude
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
If I could define this book in one word that word would be "entertaining." I've read the book twice and both times I was utterly swept up by it. I must admit I have little insight into its meaning as I read it at so fast a pace my thoughts could not keep up with my eyes. The book is a night at a circus or a magic show.
Anything is possible, nothing is possible. People ascend to the heavens, babies are born with the tails of pigs and carpets really do fly and, yet, love, happiness, peace, those everyday things we often take for granted, prove always unobtainable, always beyond reach.
The power of Marquez's imagination and his confidence in laying it on the page is downright marvelous, incredible.
This book is an utterly amazing masterpiece. I believe the 100 years is based on Ibn Khaldoon's philosophy of history in which a dynasty is founded, in this case the town of Macondo, and it thrives for two generations, with decadence setting in at the third, until it is wiped away, as Macondo literally is by the wind.
I agree, Darcy that the magical realism of the piece is some of the best. But let me tell you that not much of it is pure imagination. In order to see that you would have to become very acquainted with the cultures of the Caribbean and Colombia. Most of it is satire about very real events of the mad Spanish origin, combined with Colombia's political realities that are beyond other cultures. The magical realism is defiant. He's often making fun of traditional academics. The question is, apart from what I already said about facts of the region, "how could anything so magical could at the same time be so realistic?"
This is my first stint reading Marquez's work, and I must say I am enjoying it immensely.
What I have researched about this book is that he gathered most of the stories in the book through cultural experiences as a child. He also wrote the book in the way his grandmother would tell him stories of old folklore.
It seems like most of the events in the book are related to Latin American history. When the "gringos" arrived to Macondo, they started to slowly colonize the inhabitants of Macondo. In that sense, you can see how it ties into Latin American history,and North American history, and how the Spanish settlers arrived in Latin America and colonized the indigenous people.
It's just an amazing piece of art, in regard that he meshes certain types of historical events, and a beautiful poetry prose that can make the magic realism coincide with everyday events or descriptions.
Very good and accurate, elucidating critique. It is indeed about colonization and banana republic considerations. But unlike many other books written about the subject, Marquez premises depict the entire gamut and does not unilaterally blame de Gringo. In fact, most of the blame in between the lines goes to the fascist spanish colonization. And you are absolutely correct about the magic coinciding with everyday events and accurate mythology of the times. If you are interested in another aspect of the history and the position of the ones who waged political wars, read another funny one, Nobody writes to the colonel. It is a short novella. Then, for a major work of history, read The general and his labyrinth, about Simon Bolivar, a very interesting character of the wars of independence of Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. I wish he had written another one about General San Martin, to crash the myths of that royalist trapped in the hands of Argentinean, superficial historians.
Have fun. Glad you enjoyed it.
Last edited by cafolini; 10-23-2011 at 01:35 PM.
Nobody writes to the colonel
That sounds something I would like to read. Since Marquez has intrigued me to learn about the Latin American history, I have this 3 part series book, novel, poems, I can't really categorize it into a certain genre. The tittle of the book is:
Memory Of Fire: Genesis by Eduardo Galleano.
It was given to me since I've been reading Marquez and the person who gave it to me said it deals with Latin American folklore and what the indigenous people's beliefs where about since the starting of creation. If you haven't read it, or your also curious or interested in Latin American folklore I recommend you pick it up!
The General In His Labyrinth will be on the list as well! Thanks!
You know, I loved Galleano's non-fictional analyses of the Latin American and third-world situations. But Galleano has been used by the Maffias operating the systems against USA. A good example of this is Hugo Chavez. Still, I recommend that great Uruguayan writer for the valuable and accurate historical refferences. Superb. Going back, I recommend Onetti, another great writer from Uruguay who depicted the Argentinean maffias from Buenos Aires.
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