ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE . . . ENDED . . .

Will wait and see A2Kers reactions, if amy.

Not necessarily one hundred years of solitude, but I've certainly spent many great moments reading his books. The very first of his books I read was
of course "Love in the time of the Cholera" and I was hooked after that. The world has lost more than just a great writer.

For my part, he had a wonderful effect on my appreciation of literature. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude when i was young and callow. Later, i read Autumn of the Patriarch, which i found difficult, but worth the effort. Later i came across No One Writes to the Colonel, which was published as a collection of short stories, appended to that novella. I read him in translation, of course, because i have no Spanish. That probably made it harder to find his works.

I do not know the man. But, he is being compared to Dickens and Twain, in the media. While the media rarely gets it right, my curiosity is up and I plan to look for some of his works. In translation, of course.

I almost posted, but I've posted a lot of news to not much interest over the last few days. Getting to feel like a news pusher.

Of course I care. I read recently he was mentally failing, which might have sugarcoated it or not.

Anyway, I'll throw some links in the next post.

Re, me? he connected me to Colombia.
I get it he is important re magical realism, but that is not my interest, it was his sight re people.
I just liked his writing, mostly. Never had read his newswriting.

Me, I only read one book - Love in the time, so I don't know much. I did care about that book.
(I couldn't edit the earlier post, decided not to throw links)

My favorite books by García Márquez are:
One Hundred Years of Solitude. How important is it? It is the Don Quixote of Latin-American literature.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It is, simply, a perfect novel.
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor. An awesome non-fiction newspaper story, published in installments and later as a book: 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.

García Márquez was, over all other things, a journalist.
When he went to work as a reporter at El Espectador, the editor told him what any good editor tells a young journalist: "This is not literature. You are here to describe facts soberly". And he cited a Mexican poet of the early XX Century who ordered young writers to "Twist the neck of the swan of cunning plumage".
So García Márquez began reporting. When he had the story of the shipwrecked sailor, he said he could write it better: "OK, untwist the neck, then", said the editor. A masterpiece of both journalism and literature came about.
As an editor I tell young journalist: "This is not literature. You are here to describe facts soberly. Unless, of course, you are García Márquez, which you aren't...".

García Márquez gave our newspaper in 1997 the rights of one of his speeches. It is named "The best job in the world".
Journalism, of course.
Even if, as he said, "you suffer like a dog in it".

Thank you to a wonderful writer. You are missed.

Interesting comparison with Don Quixote, Fbaezer. You obviously hold him in high esteem.

García Márquez was driving with his family to Acapulco for a vacation, and inspiration for One Hundred Years of Solitude struck him. He turnes his car around, suspended the vacation, went home and wrote every day for 18 months.
Inspiration is often a monster which often arrives at the wrong moment. Only some people are able to yield to it.

I think every Spanish speaker holds him in high steem. His novel ranks right next to Cervantes' according to all polls, but it's definitively read more than Quixote.
Gabo was a friend of Fidel Castro. On these days I have not read a single tweet chastising him for that. He was such a great writer, his political views were forgiven and somewhat understood.
Our paper's front page ran a huge portrait of him, and said what you said: "Gracias, Gabo",
He was not usually called García Márquez by Latin Americans, he was called Gabo, like you call a close friend.

Thanks for your insights, Boss.

You're a pretty nice guy, for a large hunting cat . . .

Thank you, set.

A New Yorker writer's memories -

4/24 7:20 PM
JOKING WITH GABO
BY JON LEE ANDERSON
García Márquez was known to his friends and fans in Latin America as a master mamadero de gallo—a jokester.

the article -
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/04/joking-with-gabo.html

A great writer