One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“The tone that I eventually used in One Hundred Years of Solitude was based on the way my grandmother used to tell stories. She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic but she told them with complete naturalness…. What was most important was the expression she had on her face. She did not change her expression at all when telling her stories and everyone was surprised. In previous attempts to write, I tried to tell the story with out believing in it. I discovered what I had to do was believe in them myself and write them with the same expression with which my grandmother told them: with a brick face.” (Garcia Marquez-Magical Realism)

Magic Realism was a term used by a group of art critics in the 1920’s. It was used to characterize a group of painters that were post expressionist. Throughout Latin America magic realism became the term to describe the style of work of the authors from 1950-1970. This period of time was also known as the “Latin boom” in literature.

Magic realism has its roots in Latin America. During the time of colonization a lot of Europeans found a new world full of strange and supernatural things. Their interpretations of their experiences inspired Gabo (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Many Latin American writers began to question this point of view. The result was the birth of magic realism. Many Latin Americans traveled to Europe during the surrealist movement. They were in search of the supernatural aspects of life. This would help them to create a reality based on dreams, the super natural and unconscience. With their return to Latin America they realized it wasn’t nessary to look for this strange reality in Europe. They discovered their own cultures and cities.

Gabo is often called the father of magic realism. Magic realism is not magic literature. It is not about waking up emotions, but it is about expressing emotions. Magic realism shows something common like something unreal and strange. What is not reality becomes part of reality. The author discovers what is mysterious in things. He looks at things that happen in live and human nature. The author creates an illusion of unreality as he pretends to leave reality and tells about an experience. This experience is easily explained but we think of it as something strange. Most of ...

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...d short stories to represent real life occurrences.

The distruction of the Buendia family is another important even that was told using magic realism. “The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 420) Along with the distruction of the Buendia family came the distruction of the village, “for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 422) The reason for the death of the village and of the family is “because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 422)

Gabo is truly an outstanding author with a special gift. He shares his emotions with us through his novels. He once said that he became a writer because he was shy and wasn’t good at sharing his emotions. He also said that he doesn’t like to talk about literature because he doesn’t know what it is, and he is convinced that the world would be the same with out it. Despite his thoughts about literature he has become a worldwide icon for his use of magic realism in his novels.