This is one of my favorite books. I read it a couple of years ago and loved it and I am excited that we get to read it in Spanish. I really enjoyed the storyline about the gypsies who come to town and, though the story isn´t so much about the specific characters, but the several generations of a family and how the actions of one generation affects the younger generations (I think that's why Marquez gave everyone such similar names, making the characters personalities blur into one another, making it difficult to distinguish one character from another), I still enjoyed the stories of specific characters.
What I really appreciate about this epic work of fiction is the contrast of comedy and tragedy, which I think says something very profound about life in general. There is much to analyze here and I think a whole course could be spent on dissecting this novel. I know there are things that I am missing, such as the social/political comment being made by Marquez. I say this because, in my experience of Marquez'z work, there tends to be some sort of criticism of the social and/or political sphere but I would need to read more of the book to get an idea of what that is in Cien años de soledad. I am guessing it's more subtle for some reason or another. Maybe because I truly don't understand the culture because I am not part of it. Gender is another important theme in this novel. I think it would be easy to classify each person into stereotypes associated with their names... but I will think more on that and write on a later week. Though, I think the stereotypes work well in a book like this because it not necessarily about the individual but about the family as a whole.
6 comments:
I think that the multi-generational aspect of the novel is so essential. In Canada, family tneds to be so inorganic- we seperate from our parents, grandparents, cousins, etc. as soon as we are able to. Marquez captures something so lovely and wierd and alien to us in his representation of the Buendias and that is the bizarre, obsessive, joyful and often unwanted presence of an extended family.
Ciao. Mikael.
I love the comment you made about the blurring of the characters and there roles. There are so many complexities in the development of the different characters in this novel that at times it is incredibly difficult to keep track of them all. But that is what adds richness to the novel in my mind: that we are always forced to pay attention to the details or else we will be lost in the pages.
I also enjoy the use of comedy to make light of very serious situations. For example rather than focusing on the negativity of tragedies Marquez uses humour to help us understand them to a much greater extent. Rather than being disgusted by it and putting the book away we are intrigued and continue to read on.
I like your thoughts about the blending of characters. I had not thought about it in that way. I was focued more on how I was going to keep them straight. I think that your observation about the comedic/tragic is interesting. I will keep this in mind while reading.
Kerry
No se me cruzo por la mente que Garcia Marquez llamo los personajes nombres similiares para hacer que los personajes mezclan uno entre el otro. Para mi, pense que los nombres eran similares porque la tradicion simple de tomar nombres de los padres (ej Jose Arcadio Buendiaà Jose ArcadioàArcadio). Los personjaes no solo toman nombres de sus padres pero tambien caracteristicas y me parece que van a adquirir el poder tambien.
Es interesante que encuentres un contraste de comedia y tragico en esta novela. Estoy de acuerdo que hay muchas tragedias que pasa en este pueblo, pero no mucha comedia. Quizas esta obra es una que enfoque menos en las emociones y mas en la evolucion de las personajes.
Estoy de acuerdo contigo que los temas de los politicos es dificil a encontrar porque esta historia no toma ni un lugar especifico ni un tiempo especifico entonces el lector no tiene referencias de los problemas socials y politicos para tener un conocimiento del ambiente. Lo que encontre es la division de los liberals y los conservadores y la violencia y corrupcion que sucedo despues de la eleccion. El hecho que Ursula tiene que tomar el poder en Macondo significa (bueno, lo interprete asi) la instabilidad de los politicos.
El genero en esta obra clasifica claramente los papeles de los hombres y los de las mujeres. Mientras que los hombres trabajan o estan en la Guerra, las mujeres estan haciendo trabajo domestico. Ademas, las mujeres son muchas veces “portrayed” como objetos sexuales. Clara que hay una falta de femenismo en este libro, aunque vemos que Ursula es un personaje muy fuerte y con mucha influencia.
--adriana
Your comment about the blurring of characters was very interesting because I never assumed that to be a possibility. I agree that it would be nice to study the social and political dynamicas that were occuring in Columbia during the time when Marquez was writing to understand some of the background concepts of the novel, I also agree that is my favourite work so far and I also would not mind studying this novel the entire term.
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