Gabriel García Márquez dies, aged 87

The passing of a literary giant...

Gabriel García Márquez dies, aged 87
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-27073911

A plethora of articles in the Spanish language press, e.g. BBC Mundo http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/temas/america_latina/index.shtml

Very heartened to hear / read the BBC doing Gabo justice. Last night I counted 18 Gabo-related articles on BBC Mundo. Still can't pronounce his name though (or Vargas LLosa's for that matter)...

I was always kind of off and on with Garcia Marquez. Personally I liked his buddy Alvaro Mutis better. One hundred years of solitude is considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century--to me it was just good but I'm not the biggest fan of magical realism as practiced by him or even by Vargas Llosa (a writer I like more) or whoever.

Each to his own! I love Mutis, but for the huge body of consistently excellent work - journalism, stories and novels - García Márquez is unrivalled. I was just surprised to see him properly recognised in the English-speaking media, listening to and reading one or two of the vast number of tributes yesterday. Much as I enjoyed One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's the stories that I keep coming back to. I'm not sure about "magical realism": ever since I first encountered him, I've always associated it with García Márquez, and I find what's touted as magical realsim nowadays pretty much unreadable.

One striking testimony to García Márquez's journalistic skill is that he was one of the first people to see through Hugo Chávez. Back in 1999, he spent a short time on a military flight with the recently inaugurated president - a mere fortnight after he had assumed power - about which wrote a superb article (El enigma de los dos Chávez) that ends with the now famous words:-

"As he moved away, amongst his bodyguards of decorated soldiers and friends of the first hour, I was suddenly hit by the feeling that I had travelled and talked comfortably with two opposing men. One to whom inveterate luck had given the chance to save his country. And the other, an illusionist who might go down in history as just one more despot."

It took a keen eye to see behind the image, and a lot of courage and integrity to write something so unpalatable to Chávez supporters and to his own editors. I am sure that García Márquez himself felt disillusioned. Fifteen years on, his doubts have been amply vindicated. The article itself is wonderfully written and captures the times perfectly. Despite the ominous last line, it is a perceptive and very fair assessment. Truly great journalism.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores is a short novel that i greatly enjoyed.

I think One Hundred Years of Solitude was a timely book that resonated well when 1st published in 1967. This was a time of rising consciousness worldwide and Marquez's magical tale fit well with the expanding visions that young people and the intelligentia were exploring.

Thankfully I was 19 years old and became easily engrossed in his amazingly imaginative world.

45 years later it may be dated and appear less inventive.

Other books published in that time:
1966-The Crying of Lot 49, The Magus
1967-The Master and Margarita, Trout Fishing in America
1968-Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Teachings of Don Juan

all could be considered "revolutionary" and some dated, too.

#4--whether you liked Chavez or not--his political opposition in Venezuela was much worse. The fact that Bush 2 and the CIA did their level best to stage a coup to overthrown him is to my mind just about a backhanded recommendation for him. I'd rather not go into United States foreign policy as it relates to Latin America and the Caribbean but to me it's been absolutely horrible for well over a century. Our politicians seem to treat these countries as if they were vassal states.

#6 I didn't mention US foreign policy, or politics, and am not commenting on the merits of US imperialism. GM did not write about the opposition: he was drawn to the powerful figure of Chávez rather than Venezuelan politics per se - besides, the opposition lacks characters of any depth. Most of GM's colleagues preferred to see in Chávez only what they wanted to - either all good (largely European journalists who saw him as a socialist and opponent of US hegemony) or all bad (mostly US media, that painted him as a dictator from the outset) - not letting facts get in the way of their ideological prejudices. Perhaps because of his novelistic background, GM saw that Chávez was a more complex figure than the black-and-white caricature portrayed by (both sides of) the press. Whatever GM's hopes for a leader who could free Latin America from widespread and pervasive US intervention, he voiced his misgivings. His 1999 piece was puzzling at the time, but has ultimately proven to be visionary. That for me is great journalism and the reason that his article will endure.

I've enjoyed GM's other journalistic works too - odd articles here and there, but notably The Adventure of Miguel Littin and Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor.

i need to read GM's journalistic pieces- i think the novelist who also writes journalism can provide insights that the daily reporter may miss.

another Latin American novelist who was a great journalist is the late Tomas Eloy Martinez - a personal favorite.

a nice thread would be to discuss novelists/journalists- i am sure the list of special ones is longer than we are aware of.

#7--FWIW I have very little trust or faith in leaders of any country large or small. The more powerful leaders--the more powerful nations the least of all. These leaders without any exceptions are always dependent on the most economically powerful interests in their respective countries to maintain their own power--in the west this is done under the guise of democracy and liberty and a lot of other bullshit--the masses of citizens therein believing in the illusions they're continually fed.

The United States has eroded the rights of it's own citizens and attacked other nations without just cause. It didn't start with Bush II--it's been going on for a long while. It got particularly egregious though with the Bush II's unprovoked invasion of Iraq. A war for oil masquerading as many other things--anything and everything but what it truly was. The American people dumbed down and believing it was all for the good. The CIA's attempted coup of Chavez was just another strand of basically the same war for oil. Unfortunately things have not improved very much at all under the current Obama administration--we continue the same nonsense--the same economic interests calling the shots with the support of both major political parties, most of the major religious leaders and the vast bulk of the media of any account narrating the story and as that story goes the United States is the bulwark of freedom--case fucking closed. To me it's just puerile horseshit. What are you going to do?

Maybe Chavez wasn't that great of a guy--maybe GGM was right to call him on it but the way I see it--any major political figure of any note from the western capitalist states is hardly worth giving the time of day to on the subject of Chavez.

certainly the buzz around Thomas Piketty reaffirms much of what you say, Larry.

while GM had certain political ideas it is his novels that i will remember him for.

#10--FWIW Bert--the Rangers had just lost to the Flyers last night when I went into full rant mode on this--not that I don't think what I said. Anyway we've been on a trip and coming home today--probably be on the road most of the day though. Hope things are going well with you guys in NYC.

This is worth a listen, particularly if (like me) you are a García Márquez fan. Interesting to hear Isabel Allende - I've always felt that at her best she was a pale copy of GGM.

BBC R4 Open book on Gabriel Garcia Marquez
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b045xz2y
Duration: 28 minutes
First broadcast: Sunday 08 June 2014

In this special edition of the programme, Mariella is joined by authors Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak and Nick Caistor to discuss the life and legacy of the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died in April this year aged 87.

In a wide-ranging discussion, which also includes contributions from the Chilean writer Isabel Allende, Mariella and her guests examine the genius behind the author who wrote such celebrated novels as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, and who went on to define the genre 'Magical Realism'.