Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Born	March 6 1928 Aracataca, Magdalena, Colombia
Occupations	novelist, journalist, publisher, and political activist
Genre(s)	Magical Realism

Gabriel José García Márquez, also known as Gabo (born March 6, 1928), is a Colombian novelist, journalist, publisher, political activist, and Nobel laureate in literature. Born in the town of Aracataca in the department of Magdalena, he has lived mostly in Mexico and Europe and currently spends much of his time in Mexico City. Widely credited with introducing the global public to magical realism, he has secured both significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success. A growing consensus of literary scholars holds that García Márquez ranks alongside Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar as one of South America's greatest 20th-century authors.

His life

García Márquez began his career as a reporter and editor for regional newspapers—El Heraldo in Barranquilla and El Universal in Cartagena. Later he moved to Bogotá and worked for the daily El Espectador, then 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 náufrago), which he wrote as a newspaper series in 1955. The book told the true story of a shipwreck by exposing the fact that the existence of contraband aboard a Colombian Navy vessel had contributed to the tragedy due to overweight. This resulted in public controversy, as it discredited the official account of the events, which had blamed a storm for the shipwreck and glorified the surviving sailor. This led to the beginning of his foreign correspondence, as García Márquez became a sort of persona non grata for the government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. The series 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 (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) (1981), which tells the tale of a revenge killing recorded in the newspapers, and Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del cólera) (1985), which is loosely based on the story of his parents' courtship. Many of his works, including those two, take place in the "García Márquez universe", in which characters, places, and events re-appear from book to book.

His most commercially successful novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) (1967; English translation by Gregory Rabassa 1970), has sold more than ten million copies. It chronicles several generations of the Buendía family who live in a fictional South American village called Macondo. García Márquez won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1972 for One Hundred Years of Solitude. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982, with his short stories and novels cited as the basis for the award.^*

In 1999, he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. This event incited him to start writing his memoirs. In 2000, his death was incorrectly reported by Peruvian daily newspaper La Republica.

In 2002, he published the memoir Vivir para contarla, the first of a projected three-volume autobiography. The book was a bestseller in the Spanish-speaking world. Edith Grossman's English translation, Living to Tell the Tale, was published in November 2003 and has become another bestseller. On September 10, 2004, the Bogotá daily El Tiempo announced a new novel, Memoria de mis putas tristes, a love story that was published the following October with a first print run of one million copies.

García Márquez is also noted for his friendship with, and enthusiasm for, Fidel Castro and has previously expressed sympathy for some Latin American revolutionary groups, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. He has also been critical of the political situation in Colombia. Despite accusations made by members of the Colombian government decades ago, there is no evidence that he has openly supported guerrilla groups such as the FARC and ELN that operate in Colombia. Since the early 1980s, García Márquez has occasionally acted as a low profile facilitator, usually in a role that he has shared with Fidel Castro, in several of the attempts at negotiations between the government and the guerrillas.

He is the father of television and film director Rodrigo Garcia.

Bibliography

Novels

1962 – In Evil Hour (La mala hora)
1967 – One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) ISBN 0060883286
1975 – The Autumn of the Patriarch (El otoño del patriarca) ISBN 0060932678
1981 – Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) ISBN 140003471X
1985 – Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del cólera) ISBN 140003468X
1989 – The General in his Labyrinth (El general en su laberinto) ISBN 1400034701
1994 – Of Love and Other Demons (Del amor y otros demonios) ISBN 0140256369

Short stories, novellas, and collections

1947 – Eyes of a Blue Dog (Ojos de perro azul) ISBN 840124238X
1955 – Leaf Storm (La hojarasca) ISBN 006093266X
1961 – No One Writes to the Colonel (El coronel no tiene quien le escriba) ISBN 006093266X
1962 – Big Mama's Funeral (Los funerales de la Mamá Grande) ISBN 850101656X
1968 – A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes) ISBN 0060932686
1978 – The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother (La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada)
1992 – Strange Pilgrims (Doce cuentos peregrinos) ISBN 0140239405
1995 – The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World ISBN 9580211191
1998 – For the Sake of A Country Within Reach Of The Children
2004 – Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Memoria de mis putas tristes) ISBN 140004460X

Non-fiction

1970 – The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (Relato de un náufrago) ISBN 067972205X
1986 – The Adventures of Miguel Littin (Las Aventuras de Miguel Littín Clandestino en Chile) ISBN 0805009450
1996 – News of a Kidnapping (Noticia de un secuestro) ISBN 0140269444
2002 – Living to Tell the Tale (Vivir para contarla) ISBN 140003454X

Critical bibliography

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Modern Critical Interpretations) / Bloom, Harold., 2003
Gabriel Garcia Márquez / Mellen, Joan., 2000
Gabriel García Márquez (Modern Critical Views) / Bloom, Harold., 1999
García Márquez / Fiddian, Robin W., 1995
Intertextuality in García Márquez / Penuel, Arnold M., 1994
Gabriel García Márquez: solitude and solidarity / Bell, Michael., 1993
Gabriel García Márquez: a critical companion / Pelayo, Rubén., 1991
Gabriel García Márquez: a study of the short fiction / Oberhelman, Harley D., 1991
Gabriel García Márquez (Modern Critical Views) / Bloom, Harold., 1989
Understanding Gabriel García Márquez / McNerney, Kathleen., 1989
Gabriel García Márquez and the powers of fiction / Ortega, Julio., 1988
Gabriel García Márquez and the invention of America / Fuentes, Carlos., 1987
Gabriel García Márquez: life, work, and criticism / McMurray, George R., 1987
Garcia Marquez and Latin America / Bhalla, Alok., 1987
Gabriel García Márquez: new readings / McGuirk, Bernard., 1987
Critical essays on Gabriel García Márquez / McMurray, George R., 1987
Critical perspectives on Gabriel García Márquez / Shaw, Bradley A., 1986
Gabriel Garcia Marquez / Miller, Yvette E., 1985
Essays on Gabriel García Márquez / Oyarzún, Kemy., 1984
Gabriel García Márquez (Twayne's World Authors Series) / Williams, Raymond L.., 1984
Gabriel García Márquez: revolutions in wonderland / Janes, Regina., 1981
Gabriel García Márquez / McMurray, George R., 1977

External links

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