Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 08:28:49 -0700 From: "Harry Velez" <velez@eudoramail.com> Add to Address Book Subject: Re: One hundred years of Solitude To: travelr26@aol.com
Dear friend: I am happy that you are reading One Hundred Years of Solitude and that you found my web pages on it useful. Now, as to yor questions: The edition that I use is a paperback published by HarperCollins in 1991 (ISBN: 0060919655). You can see the cover by clicking on the link below: <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060919655/o/002-5665521-1415269> I am not sure about whether this edition is currently available. I tried Amazon.com and it was not listed there. Still, it is the most popular one and it is available in libraries and second hand shops too. It does not matter if you have a hard cover edition of this one. The pagination ought to be the same. Your questions are very interesting: The historical background of this book is wide ranging. As you have noticed, Garcia-Marquez re-works many sources and texts: the Bible, the accounts of the conquest and colonization of America, Colombian history, Latin American history, etc. For example, the killing of the Banana Company workers is based on a real event that took place, not in Colombia, but in Ecuador involving the United Fruit Co., an American business. Sir Francis Drake may have not have attacked Riohacha, but he did attack Cartagena de Indias, a coastal Colombian town. Also, maybe no Mexican colonels helped in the struggle against the United Fruit in Ecuador, but Colonel Lorenzo Gavilan was a fictional soldier in Carlos Fuentes's novel The Death of Artemio Cruz, a nearly contemporary work to 100 Years of Solitude. Needless to say, the Christian myths of the Genesis and the Apocalypse feature prominently in the telling of the origin and demise of Macondo. I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. The deal is this: if, a s the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges said, the whole of the world's literary, cultural, and historical traditions rightly belong to all -including (and especially) the Latin American writers- then what Garcia Marquez does is to utilize all of that in the making of a fictional universe that is simultaneously: a short history of Colombia, an account of Latinamerican history, the story of humanity since the beginning of times, a fairy tale, and a cautionary note about the wicked effects of solitude, that is, the human incapacity for authentic love. Un abrazo, Harry Velez-Quinones Associate Professor of Spanish University of Puget Sound >hi mr. quinones, >I'm a high-school student in Connecticut...and i am doing my final english >paper on One Hundred Years of Solitude.....specifically on the allegorical >content which relates it to the history and politics of the region....i was >wondering if you can give me some information on the specifics of this...also, >i am writing about how the novel achieves this allegory..or how it uses >magical realism to provide a look at the politics of the region..if you can be >helpful on any of this, it would be appreciated greatly > >also, as a sidenote, i would like to know what version of the book you used >for your reading guides..because i am going to use it to help me with quotes, >and the pages of my book don't match....thanks a lot!!! > >well, thank you again, and please get back to me as soon as you can at >travelr26@aol.com > > Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com
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