Gabriel Garcia Marquez


Gabriel Garc’a M‡rquez (born March 6, 1928) is a Colombian novelist,
journalist, publisher, and political activist. He has lived mostly in Mexico
and Europe.

While Garc’a M‡rquez is often considered the most famous of writers of magic
realism, and while much of his writing has elements which are strongly
associated with magic realism, Garc’a M‡rquez's writing is simply too
diverse to be bound within categories.

Garc’a M‡rquez got his start as a reporter for the Colombian daily El
Espectador, and later worked as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris,
Barcelona, Caracas, and New York City.

His first major work was The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (Relato de un
n‡ufrago), which he wrote as a newspaper series in 1955. The book told the
inglorious true story of a shipwreck that had been glorified by the
government. This resulted in the beginning of his foreign correspondence, as
it was unsafe for him to remain in Colombia. It was later published in 1970
and taken by many to have been a novel.

Several of his works have been classified as both fiction and non-fiction,
notably Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Chr—nica de una muerte anuncida)
(1981), which tells the tale of revenge killing in his hometown of
Aracataca, and Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del
c—lera) (1985), which tells the story of his grandparents' courtship. In
addition, many of his works, including those two, take place in the "Garc’a
M‡rquez universe", with characters, events, and locations appearing from
book to book.

His most famous novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien a–os de soledad)
(1967) has sold more than ten million copies. It depicts the life of an
isolated South American village and the strange occurrences which are
portrayed as commonplace, certainly has elements of the magically real,
however, it is much more than that, being also a philosophical reflection on
the nature of time and isolation, and is also lacking the folkloric content
which is a prerequisite of magic realism. Not everything strange and
unexplained is folkloric; some of it is simply life.

Gabriel Garc’a M‡rquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982.

In 2002, Garc’a M‡rquez published the memoir Vivir para contarla, the first
volume of a projected three-volume autobiography. The book has been a huge
bestseller in the Spanish-speaking world and is currently being translated
into English; this edition will be published in November, 2003.

Garc’a M‡rquez is also noted for his enthusiasm for Fidel Castro and his
sympathy for Latin American revolutionary groups.

Bibliography

   * 1955 - Leaf Storm (La hojarasca)
   * 1961 - No One Writes to the Colonel (El coronel no tiene quien le
     escriba)
   * 1962 - Big Mamas Funeral|Big Mama's Funeral (Los funerales de la Mam‡
     Grande)
   * 1962 - Eyes of a Blue Dog (Ojos de perro azul)
   * 1962 - In Evil Hour (La mala hora)
   * 1967 - One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien a–os de soledad)
   * 1975 - The Autumn of the Patriarch (El oto–o del patriarca)
   * 1970 - The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (Relato de un n‡ufrago)
   * 1978 - The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent ErŽndira and her
     Heartless Grandmother (La increible y triste historia da la c‡ndida
     ErŽndira y de su abuela desalmada)
   * 1981 - Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Cr—nica de una muerte anunciada)
   * 1985 - Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del c—lera)
   * 1989 - The General in his Labyrinth (El general en su laberinto)
   * 1992 - Strange Pilgrims]] (Doce cuentos peregrinos)
   * 1994 - Love and Other Demons (Del amor y otros demonios)
   * 1996 - News of a Kidnapping (Noticia de un secuestro)
   * 2002 - Vivir para contarla (translation forthcoming)