About Gabriel García Márquez and Cien Años de Soledad,

 

         Gabriel García Márquez was born in the town of Aracataca in Colombia on March 6th, 1927.  He was known for his journalistic skills as well as his short stories and novels, the most famous of them being Cien Anõs de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude).  Many have attributed Márquez and this work as the progenitor of magical realism, a genre where real life occurrences are told through fantastical happenings to where the lines between fantasy and reality become nonexistent.  Cien Años de Soledad had (and continues to have) such an impact on the world that Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982 for his work.  Other great works of his include El Coronel no tiene quien le escriba, La Mala Hora, El Otoño de Patriarca, and El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera.  Gabriel García Márquez passed away in Mexico City, Mexico on the 17th of April 2014, but his legacy continues to live on through his works and various homages including Un Mundo en Soledad.   For other readings about Gabriel García Márquez's life and work pelase check out Gabriel García Márquez: The early years, Living to Tell the Tale (Márquez's autobiography), Tras Las Claves de Melquíades, Camino A Macondo.

Some little facts about Cien Años de Soledad….

  • Macondo is the town in the book where the story takes place and it is based off his birthplace of Aracataca.  
  • Márquez's grandfather fought in the 1,000 days civil war in Colombia and was hailed as a respected figure in the Liberal army.  Many of the stories his grandfather told him about the war as well as the banana massacre of 1928 would find it's way into Cien Años de Soledad.
  • His grandmother would recount stories filled with phantoms, ghosts and all sorts of mystical happenings that would also be of great influence to him when he wrote.  
  • It is considered to be the most important book in all of Spanish literature since Don Quixote.  It has also been said that only the bible has sold more copies and that it's the first book since the book of genesis that should be required reading.
  • Márquez and his family were on their way to go on Vacation when the vision came to him while driving.  He immediately turned the car around and went back home to start writing.  
  • Márquez locked himself in a room for 18 months and wrote nonstop until the work was complete.  The family was almost in financial ruin and they didn't even have enough money to send the manuscript in one envelope so it had to be sent off in two separate packets.
  • The second half of the story made it to the editors first, and they read it with so much enthusiasm that they were anxious to read the beginning!