Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buend a was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Thus begins Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garc a M rquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, one of the twentieth century's most lauded works of fiction. In Gabriel Garc a M rquez, literary scholar Stephen M. Hart provides a succinct yet thorough look into Garc a M rquez's life and the political struggles of Latin America that have influenced his work, from Love in the Time of Cholera to Memories of My Melancholy Whores.

By interviewing Garc a M rquez's family in Cuba, Hart was able to gain a unique perspective on his use of "creative false memory," providing new insight into the magical realism that dominates Garc a M rquez's oeuvre. Using these interviews and his original research, Hart defines five ingredients that are critical to Garc a M rquez's work: magical realism, a shortened and broken portrayal of time, punchy one-liners, dark and absurd humor, and political allegory. These elements, as described by Hart, illuminate the extraordinary allure of Garc a M rquez's work and provide fascinating insight into his approach to writing. Hart also explores the divisions between Garc a M rquez's everyday life and his life as a writer, and the connection in his work between family history and national history.

Gabriel Garc a M rquez presents an original portrait of this well-renowned writer and is a must-read for fans of his work as well as those interested in magical realism, Latin American fiction, and modern literature.