After finishing Garcia Marquez’s, One Hundred Years of Solitude, it is clear why Marquez is one of the most well-known and successful Latin American writers in history. As mentioned in my last blog post, the way magic realism is incorporated into the inner-workings of the novel adds an element of nostalgia, and child-like playfulness of reality vs. magic. Marquez does this skillfully by bringing objects to life, that “expand and frustrate human desire,” as mentioned in the lecture. Although I remained a tad confused at times, it was fascinating to read how the narrative played out for the Buendia family – much to which I was not expecting.
The second half of the novel touches on themes of time and history, as the book explores series of events that occur to the Buendia family throughout time. The story takes you through the “rise and fall” of the town of Macondo, a once quaint and tranquil town that becomes riddled with war, violence, and corruption; themes that continue to be prominent throughout multiple books that we’ve read in this course. The Buendia family slowly decays, as incest and madness become a common occurrence and take over their sanity. Another common theme is memory, and the fact that time is repeating itself and further shaping the perception of one’s reality. The novel touches on memories that the Buendia family share, further explaining how time, memory, and nostalgia are intertwined, creating either a place of comfort or a trigger from the past.
Garcia Marquez’s, One Hundred Years of Solitude touches on fundamental aspects of human existence, from successes to struggles, and the various emotions that come along with them. It’s interesting to compare these themes to others in various books we’ve explored in class, as it is becoming increasingly common for me to write my blog posts about themes of violence, suffering, and passion. I think that’s what makes Latin American literature so pertinent – that it explores aspects of life, contrasting what makes it ugly and what makes it beautiful.
The novel has definitely left a lasting impression on me, as the use of magic realism and intricate storytelling captures much of human experiences and shared sense of life, love, and loss that is not always talked about, but commonly felt.
My question for you is: How do you think the book was able to explore both life, death and repetition through magic realism?
Contrast is one of the mechanisms that García Márquez uses to tell his stories, as you wrote in your post. For example, the tensions between memory and oblivion, repetition and irruption of history, destiny and prophecy structure the novel. I am glad to know that you enjoyed this reading that was not so simple, due to the different layers of meaning that it contains, and that are sometimes even contradictory.
I think the themes and usage of repetition help illuminate the stories of family through magical realism by showing themes that may not seem possible in reality. I think the ending of this book shows that. We see the manuscripts read and it was in front of them the whole time–only for the town to be vanished completely–that on its own seems impossible because wouldn’t life just continue on instead of a town disappearing out of nowhere? I think it was a good way to conclude this story and really shows how Marquez goes down as the origin of magical realism and a noteworthy author in Latin American literature.