Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014) was one of the greatest writers of the 30th century. Born in the village of Aratacata, Colombia, Gabo lived most of his life in Mexico City, where he wrote most of his work. There were more than XNUMX titles, the most famous being One Hundred Years of Solitude, a novel that made the Colombian author known worldwide.
His books have been translated into 46 languages and it is estimated that One Hundred Years of Solitude alone has sold over 50 million copies. Fame reached its peak in 1982, the year in which Gabo was awarded the Literature Nobel for the work as a whole.
10. The Incredible and Sad Story of Cândida Erêndira and her Soulless Grandmother
After three days of heavy rain, Pelayo finds an old and very weak man in the courtyard of his house, lying face down in the middle of the mud. But that's not all: the man has huge wings, which prevent him from getting up.
This is how the first of the seven stories that make up this magnificent work begins, which ends with the story that gives the book its title. These tales are good examples of what is conventionally called fantastic or magical realism.
When asked once about the magical realism of his work, where there seems to be no tension between fantastic and realistic elements, Gabo replied:
In the Caribbean, and in Latin America in general, we consider magical situations to be an integral part of everyday life, just like banal and current reality. Belief in omens, telepathy and premonitions, as well as countless superstitions and fantastic interpretations, seem natural to us. In my books, I never sought any explanation for all these facts, any metaphysical justification. I consider myself a realist writer and nothing more.
Interview given to Peruvian journalist Manuel Osorio in 1991
9. Memory of My Sad Whores
The protagonist is a 90-year-old man whose name is never revealed. Throughout his life he wrote texts (chronicles and music reviews) for a small newspaper, in addition to giving grammar classes to young people. The book tells the story of this nonagenarian, highlighting his sexual adventures.
Behold, on his 90th birthday, he decides to give himself a somewhat unusual present. And it looks like he finally knows love.
8. Live to Tell
Life is not what we lived, but what we “remember”, and how we remember to tell it.
Excerpt from Living to Tell (2002)
Living to Tell is a memoir - his and others'. This is because the narrative goes back to the time when the writer was not even born. In this book, it is possible to know the life story of García Márquez, from his childhood in the Colombian village of Aratacata to his realization as a writer. Reading these memoirs is a great start for anyone who wants to know how the great Colombian author's literary formation took place.
7. The General in his Labyrinth
This novel is on the border between historical and literary account. Or between biographical and fictional text. The General in his Labyrinth reconstructs the last months of the life of the Venezuelan political leader Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), one of the main names in the so-called wars of independence in Spanish America.
6. The Autumn of the Patriarch
Best selling book in Spain in 1975, followed by Pablo Neruda's I confess I lived, The Patriarch's Autumn is the first novel published after the resounding success of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Incidentally, the theme of solitude seems to be one of the axes of García Márquez's work.
A very old dictator has ruled a fictional country in the Caribbean for many years. Despite being fictional, the novel is anchored in historical reality and can be read as an allegory of the dictatorial experiences that occurred in some Latin American countries in the second half of the XNUMXth century.
5. Big Mama's Funerals
The story of a craftsman who decides to make a cage, and quickly the news that he is making the most beautiful cage in the whole world spreads through the town. Or the lonely and sad life of an old woman who suffers from the lack of her dead husband and the misunderstanding of the people around her - who hated her husband.
The last of the eight stories in this book revolves around the burial of Big Mama, a very powerful woman, owner of cities, lands, water sources... Her earthly assets are incalculable. Even the colors of the flag and the freedom of citizens belong to you! The story takes place in mythical Macondo, the city that was immortalized a few years later in the bestseller One Hundred Years of Solitude.
4. The Revoada (The Devil's Burial)
A Revoada is the debut book by Gabriel García Márquez. The story takes place in Macondo, an imaginary city inspired by the author's childhood Aratacata. If you want to get to know Gabo's work in depth, this novel is absolutely mandatory. It can be read in one sitting!
Only three people attend a doctor's wake: the city's colonel, his daughter and his grandson. Some time ago, this doctor arrived in the village and was welcomed by the colonel. But as time went by, the doctor with strange habits was marginalized by the community. To the point of being pointed out as the devil himself.
3. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
We tend to lose interest in the story when we know what will happen in the end. But this is not the case of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, in which we know the fate of the protagonist right from the title. It's another book that was so good, we devoured cover to cover in a few hours!
Don't expect to find fantastical elements in this book. The account is realistic and has the air of a newspaper report, with depositions, testimonies and an attempt to reconstruct the episodes that led to the crime of revenge against Santiago Nasar.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera
A long-distance love that lasts more than 50 years. Despite the "no" of youth, the telegraph Florentino Ariza continues to love Firmina Daza, who ended up marrying and starting a family with the doctor Juvenal Urbino, the ideal suitor.
It turns out that, after 50 years of marriage, Juvenal dies, and that's when Florentino reappears to try to win the heart of the seventy-year-old Firmina.
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude
Translated into 46 languages and with an estimated sale of 50 million copies, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the main book by Gabriel García Márquez, the pinnacle of the magical realism genre and one of the most important of all Spanish-language literature. Published in 1967, the book was an immediate success, making Gabo famous internationally.
To know the work of Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years of Solitude is absolutely essential. The plot revolves around the saga of the Buendía family over the generations, from José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, the couple who started the settlement of the fictional Macondo.
One Hundred Years of Solitude will become a series!
In 2019, the streaming service Netflix acquired the rights to show the work and announced that it will turn the novel into a series. It is important to remember that Gabo worked in the film industry, creating scripts and adaptations, in addition to writing reviews.
But despite that, he was always against the idea of turning his main novel into a film, mainly because he didn't believe it was possible. Furthermore, he did not accept that an adaptation was not made in a language other than Spanish.
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