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Week 8 – Garcia Marquez, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” II

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Extending from last week, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude was a fabulous read that brilliantly sewed together fantasy, abstraction, philosophy, and reality. Engaging in the latter half of the book, what stood out to me most was the cyclical nature of time and the inherent connection between people (civilization) and their environment. Using magical realism almost as a literary tool in depicting the events of Macondo, the book raised thoughts and questions about the notion of ‘solitude’ in both an individual and societal scale. Lastly, engaging with the ending, the closure of the book felt cataclysmic. While there were certain parts throughout the book that perhaps mildly foreshadowed Macondo’s fall, the ending was still quite shocking for me because it felt sudden and unexpected; it left me with a feeling of emptiness, perhaps something close to ‘solitude’.

Undoubtedly, magical realism was central to the novel, effectively blurring the line between reality and fantasy. The novel was filled with impossible events, such as a woman who ascends to heaven. While the theme of magical realism still feels abstract and sometimes daunting, the use of magical realism made this novel more accessible and enjoyable, and it also made it more profound. For me, it was a way to explore the larger—and perhaps ‘heavier’—themes of the novel, such as the nature of time (e.g., everything comes to an end) and the mutual relationship between a civilization and its environment. While ‘magical’ imagery like Remedios the Beauty’s flight to heaven gave the book a more fantasy-like feeling, the book also balanced this playfulness with a philosophical point—as reflected in a quote that resonated with me, “the secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude” (216). This constant negotiation and renegotiation between fantasy and reality was at first confusing, but going back to the book, this is what truly made this book a masterpiece. In this sense I totally agreed with Professor Gerald Martin when he stated—in the conversation video—he “didn’t know what to say about the book” (3:28). The book was certainly a master of play, “playing with time” as described by Professor Beasley-Murray and “playing with the fact that we’re reading the book[,]” as Professor Martin had put it (9:10; 10:00).

Question: Who was your favourite character from the book, and why? Please specify as there are a lot of repetitive names.

Lastly, I would like to end by reflecting on solitude. Apart from the earlier direct quotation, one other quote touched upon solitude: “He [Melquiades] really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude” (53). Growing up as an only child, I thought I understood what solitude meant. However, at the same time, I still don’t understand what it is and how to properly cope with it.

Question: What does solitude mean to you? For you, is solitude good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant?

Week 1 – Introduction

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Hello everyone! My name is Daniel Choi, I am a third-year arts student majoring in International Relations and minoring in Law and Society. As evident from my minor, I am interested in law and how it affects—and, in turn, how it is shaped by—society. I am by no means a natural reader—if there ever is such a person. While I cannot describe reading, especially academic reading, as “enjoyable”, I can confidently say that Professor Beasley-Murray’s previous course (RMST 202) taught me that academic reading could in fact be interesting and engaging.

RMST 202 was about literatures and cultures of the Romance world. As such, the central question of the course was, “What is the Romance world?” “What is Romance studies?” Although there isn’t one definitive answer nor a clear definition, this intrinsic obscurity and abstraction was what made the course extremely interesting; it allowed us to be limitless in our approaches to the diverse texts, helping us keep our thoughts open to the new ideas, imagery, and symbolism that the books introduced to us rather than actively seeking for “hidden messages” based on our own presumptions. This unique approach was what helped me grow as a student and reader. It allowed me to find meaningful links between literature and life, literature and time, as well as interesting connections and contrasts between the texts and between related themes such as surrealism and modernism.

Watching the introductory lecture, a lot of SPAN 312 seems to have the same theoretical approaches to RMST 202. While the background context of a story is emphasized, the focus of our analysis is not limited to just context; as Professor Beasley-Murray stated, “we are not doing history here.” It is the unique focus on the “distortion, elaboration, invention, mystification, [and] fabrication” of literature that excites me. I mean, where else would we be allowed to adopt such a fascinating approach? It is certainly a new way of approaching texts, but once your focus falls into what Professor Beasley-Murray calls the “gap between representation and the real,” it will certainly open up a new journey.

Specifically for SPAN 312, I am excited to start thinking about the idea of Latin America and Latin American literature. Similar to Romance studies, I do not think there is one clear definition of Latin America. It could be thought of through multiple methods—for example, through geography, shared cultures and history, etc.—but it nevertheless does not provide an accurate definition. Rather, like the notion of “magic realism”, it only seems to be limiting the scope of our analysis. While having these thoughts and ideas in mind, I hope to allow myself to go beyond the limits of these approaches and find new, meaningful connections and disconnections between the texts that we read.

Question: What does Latin America mean to you? Do you have any past experiences related to Latin American literature? If so, in what ways do you think your experiences will affect your approach to the readings?