Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez, 1928-2014

Sad news. One Hundred Years of Solitude should be on everyone's reading bucket list!

It is certainly one of the best Latin American novels ever written, if not the best.

very sad news. one of the best writers in the world, in my opinion. rest in peace.
diario libre reports as well: Muere Nobel colombiano Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez - DiarioLibre.com

Descanse en paz caballero. I didn't realize that he was almost 90. Thought he was younger

my favourite was el oto?o del patriarca.

Amor el tiempos de c?lera is also a great story. Another favorite of mine is the short story The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Er?ndira and her Souless Grandmother (La incre?ble y triste historia de la c?ndida Er?ndira y de su abuela desalmada) ...

Very talented writer but not loved by everyone.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, RIP | Fausta's Blog

bob saunders said:

Very talented writer but not loved by everyone.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, RIP | Fausta's Blog

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Oh, Jesus.

He was a great writer. He was not a politician.In his books, political figures of all stripes are arrogant brutal failures, rather like an epidemic disease or a hurricane.

To the Cubans of a certain age, every celebrity had to be judged for political correctness, just as Fidel's Casa de las Americas juries after 1969. They have not read Garcia Marquez and probably not any other novelist, either. They boycotted Cortazar, Fuentes and of course, Isabel Allende. I have read editorials in El Miami Herald that declared Jorge Luis Borges was a fellow traveler because he refused to sign some anti-Castro manifesto.

To pay attention to such idiots' criticism is like giving any credence to Rev Billy James Hargis' opinion of Catch 22 or Catcher in the Rye.

Xavier_Onassis said:

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Oh, Jesus.

He was a great writer. He was not a politician.In his books, political figures of all stripes are arrogant brutal failures, rather like an epidemic disease or a hurricane.

To the Cubans of a certain age, every celebrity had to be judged for political correctness, just as Fidel's Casa de las Americas juries after 1969. They have not read Garcia Marquez and probably not any other novelist, either. They boycotted Cortazar, Fuentes and of course, Isabel Allende. I have read editorials in El Miami Herald that declared Jorge Luis Borges was a fellow traveler because he refused to sign some anti-Castro manifesto.

To pay attention to such idiots' criticism is like giving any credence to Rev Billy James Hargis' opinion of Catch 22 or Catcher in the Rye.

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The writer of the article is Puerto Rican, not Cuban, and Garcia had a political side to him, like many great writers.

bob saunders said:

Very talented writer but not loved by everyone.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, RIP | Fausta's Blog

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Fausta writes:

In a fellational tribute to Fidel Castro, Garc?a M?rquez sounds like he wrote copy for Dos Equis in his spare time,


His devotion is to the word. His power is of seduction. He goes to seek out problems where they are. The impetus of inspiration is very much part of his style. Books reflect the breadth of his tastes very well. He stopped smoking to have the moral authority to combat tobacco addiction. He likes to prepare food recipes with a kind of scientific fervour. He keeps himself in excellent physical condition with various hours of gymnastics daily and frequent swimming. Invincible patience. Ironclad discipline. The force of his imagination stretches him to the unforeseen.

And he?s been known to cure insomnia by just walking into a room, yeah.

I have read all his work. Some stories are better than others, but all are pretty good, and he was a great writer, and had a perfect right to have any opinion he wished. I did my dissertation on Cuban literature, by the way. There was some really great stuff written in Cuba after the Revolution. Prior to that, the major literary figure was Jos? Mart?, and there were a few others, like Alejo Carpentier. Pretty much anything that was halfway decent got published. Anything that was not patently against the Revolution got published. Then in 1968, there was a dispute at the Casa de las Americas in awarding literary prizes. It turns out that several leading playwrights, notably Anton Arrufat and Virgilio Pi?era, were very fond of the theatre of the absurd and were gay. Fidel is not a great literary critic and removed writers who were not party members from literary juries.

Fidel and Garcia Marquez are both raconteurs and they seem to have a personal attraction to each other. Garcia Marquez' books are not Marxist in the least. The major political theme is that the Liberals and Conservatives spent over 100 years fighting over mostly egotism. Colombia has had some form of armed insurrection in the backlands throughout its history. The major disputes centered around the established church (Partido Conservador) vs the anticlericals and Masons (Partido Liberal) and who should control schools, graveyards and inheritances. In Colombia and most of Latin America, the Conservadores were from the higher altitudes (where a mostly Spanish aristocracy prevailed) and the tropic where a mestizo and mulatto population tended to be in charge. Garcia Marquez was from the tropical coastal lowlands, a small town named Aracataca.

In the entire long novel of Cien a?os de soledad, the name of the country is never mentioned. This was deliberate, because the same sort of chaotic wars occurred in most of Hispanic America. In any event, don't criticize any author before you have read his works. That is just stupid.

Criticizing Garc?a M?rquez for his politics is every bit as dumb as criticizing Faulkner of Hemingway for their politics.

Xavier_Onassis said:

I have read all his work. Some stories are better than others, but all are pretty good, and he was a great writer, and had a perfect right to have any opinion he wished. I did my dissertation on Cuban literature, by the way. There was some really great stuff written in Cuba after the Revolution. Prior to that, the major literary figure was Jos? Mart?, and there were a few others, like Alejo Carpentier. Pretty much anything that was halfway decent got published. Anything that was not patently against the Revolution got published. Then in 1968, there was a dispute at the Casa de las Americas in awarding literary prizes. It turns out that several leading playwrights, notably Anton Arrufat and Virgilio Pi?era, were very fond of the theatre of the absurd and were gay. Fidel is not a great literary critic and removed writers who were not party members from literary juries.

Fidel and Garcia Marquez are both raconteurs and they seem to have a personal attraction to each other. Garcia Marquez' books are not Marxist in the least. The major political theme is that the Liberals and Conservatives spent over 100 years fighting over mostly egotism. Colombia has had some form of armed insurrection in the backlands throughout its history. The major disputes centered around the established church (Partido Conservador) vs the anticlericals and Masons (Partido Liberal) and who should control schools, graveyards and inheritances. In Colombia and most of Latin America, the Conservadores were from the higher altitudes (where a mostly Spanish aristocracy prevailed) and the tropic where a mestizo and mulatto population tended to be in charge. Garcia Marquez was from the tropical coastal lowlands, a small town named Aracataca.

In the entire long novel of Cien a?os de soledad, the name of the country is never mentioned. This was deliberate, because the same sort of chaotic wars occurred in most of Hispanic America. In any event, don't criticize any author before you have read his works. That is just stupid.

Criticizing Garc?a M?rquez for his politics is every bit as dumb as criticizing Faulkner of Hemingway for their politics.

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A man writes books.

Therefore his politics are beyond criticism.

Good one.

I am stunned by how many of the Nobel Laureates in Literature are unknown to me... I am too anglocentric.

I must broaden my horizons.

All Nobel Prizes in Literature

A man writes books.

Therefore his politics are beyond criticism.

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Einstein was a genius at physics. Now let's disparage his abilities at woodworking.

Here is Garcia Marquez message to his friends and readers. It is in Spanish, but I have no time to translate. It was reprinted in the Barahona blog "Ecos del Sur"

OPINION: Carta de despedida escrita por Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez


Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez, antes de su muerte, envi? una carta de despedida a sus amigos.* Se trata de un escrito verdaderamente conmovedor.* Por considerarlo de inter?s, Ecos del Sur la reproduce a continuaci?n:

?Si por un instante Dios se olvidara de que soy una marioneta de trapo y me regalara un trozo de vida, aprovechar?a ese tiempo lo m?s que pudiera posiblemente no dir?a todo lo que pienso, pero en definitiva pensar?a todo lo que digo.

Dar?a valor a las cosas, no por lo que valen, sino por lo que significan.

Dormir?a poco, so?ar?a m?s, entiendo que por cada minuto que cerramos los ojos, perdemos sesenta segundos de luz.

* Andar?a cuando los dem?s se detienen, despertar?a cuando los dem?s duermen.
* .

* Si Dios me obsequiara un trozo de vida, vestir?a sencillo, me tirar?a de bruces al sol, dejando descubierto, no solamente mi cuerpo, sino mi alma

* A los hombres les probar?a cu?n equivocados est?n al pensar que dejan de enamorarse cuando envejecen, sin saber que envejecen cuando dejan de enamorarse.

* A un ni?o le dar?a alas, pero le dejar?a que ?l s?lo aprendiese a volar.

* A los viejos les ense?ar?a que la muerte no llega con la vejez, sino con el olvido

* Tantas cosas he aprendido de ustedes, los hombres?., He aprendido que todo el mundo quiere vivir en la cima de la monta?a, sin saber que la verdadera felicidad est? en la forma de subir la escarpada.

* He aprendido que cuando un reci?n nacido aprieta con su peque?o pu?o, por primera vez, el dedo de su padre, lo tiene atrapado por siempre.

* He aprendido que un hombre s?lo tiene derecho a mirar a otro hacia abajo, cuando ha de ayudarle a levantarse.

* Son tantas cosas las que he podido aprender de ustedes, pero realmente de mucho no habr? de servir, porque cuando me guarden dentro de esa maleta, infelizmente me estar? muriendo.

* Trata de decir siempre lo que sientes y haz siempre lo que piensas en lo m?s profundo de tu coraz?n.

* Si supiera que hoy fuera la ?ltima vez que te voy a ver dormir, te abrazar?a fuertemente y rezar?a al Se?or para poder ser el guardi?n de tu alma

* Si supiera que estos son los ?ltimos minutos que te veo, te dir?a ?Te Quiero? y no asumir?a, tontamente, que ya lo sabes.

* Siempre hay un ma?ana y la vida nos da siempre otra oportunidad para hacer las cosas bien, pero por si me equivoco y hoy es todo lo que nos queda, me gustar?a decirte cuanto te quiero, que nunca te olvidar?.

* El ma?ana no le est? asegurado a nadie, joven o viejo. Hoy puede ser la ?ltima vez que veas a los que amas. Por eso no esperes m?s, hazlo hoy, ya que si ma?ana nunca llega, seguramente lamentar?s el d?a que no tomaste tiempo para una sonrisa, un abrazo, un beso y que estuviste muy ocupado para concederles un ?ltimo deseo.

* Mant?n a los que amas cerca de ti, diles al o?do lo mucho que los necesitas, qui?relos y tr?talos bien, toma tiempo para decirles, ?lo siento?, ?perd?name?, ?por favor? , ?gracias? y todas las palabras de amor que conoces.

* Nadie te recordar? por tus nobles pensamientos secretos. Pide al Se?or la fuerza y sabidur?a para expresarlos.

* Finalmente, demuestra a tus amigos y seres queridos cuanto te importan".