Gabriel García Márquez: biography and books of the Colombian writer

Gabriel García Márquez, popularly known as Gabo or Gabito, was a writer, journalist, poet, editor and screenwriter of Colombian nationality, remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the generation of boom Latin American, and an exponent of magical realism. His work is his summit, One hundred years of loneliness, has become a fundamental reference of the Spanish language, and today it is part of the canon of universal literature.

But Gabo has not only been influential in aesthetic terms, since his life was marked by both his love for letters and his passion for journalism. Let us know what is the biography of García Márquez and what are the works of this genius of Latin American literature.

Biography

Gabriel García Márquez was born in the town of Aracataca, Colombia, on March 6, 1927. His parents were Gabriel Eligio García and Luisa Santiaga Márquez Iguarán, who had to settle in Barranquilla in looking for better opportunities, leaving the child in the care of his grandparents, Colonel Nicolás Márquez and Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes. In the teachings of his grandparents, Gabo would find inspiration for his literary work.

Training, personal and work life

Around 1947 approximately, he enrolled at the National University in Bogotá to study law, an obligation he shared with his passion for reading. In that period he published his first story in the newspaper The viewer, called The third resignation.

In 1948, after the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, there was a wave of disturbances known as the Bogotazo, which caused the indefinite closure of the university. El Gabo enrolled at the University of Cartagena and obtained a job as a reporter in The universal.

In 1950, García Márquez retired from the university and moved to Barranquilla to dedicate himself entirely to journalism in the newspaper The Herald. There he joined the Barranquilla Group with José Félix Fuenmayor and the Catalan Ramón Vinyes.

In 1958 he married Mercedes Barcha, with whom he had his children Rodrigo García Barcha, today a filmmaker, and Gonzalo García Barcha, graphic designer.

International consecration

In 1967, he achieved his consecration as a writer thanks to the publication of the novel One hundred years of loneliness, which quickly became one of the best-selling books. Since then, he has devoted himself to writing and exerted an important aesthetic and political influence through his literary and journalistic work.

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El Gabo and Fidel Castro

The life of Gabriel García Márquez was not without controversy as a result of his leftist political convictions. His close friendship with Fidel Castro, the top leader of the Cuban revolution, cost him accusations and suspicions against him that forced him to leave the United States. and, later, from Bogotá, where he had returned during the government of Julio César Turbay Ayala (1978-1982).

All these circumstances led him to establish his main residence in Mexico City, where he also worked as a scriptwriter and director of periodical publications. The family Y Events. She briefly lived in countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, France, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic.

Last years

In 1999, Gabo was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and received treatment, to which he responded favorably, allowing him to extend his life for a few more decades.

In 2014, the disease reappeared and spread. Gabriel García Márquez died on April 7, 2014 in Mexico City.

Awards and honours

• 1955. First Prize in the contest of the Association of Writers and Artists. Construction site: One day later.
• 1961. ESSO Novel Award. Construction site: Bad time.
• 1971. Doctor honoris causa of Columbia University in New York.
• 1972. Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
• 1972. Rómulo Gallegos Award for One hundred years of loneliness.
• 1979. Jorge Dimitrov Prize for Peace.
• 1981. Medal of the French Legion of Honor in Paris.
• 1982. Aztec Eagle Decoration in Mexico.
• 1982: Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1985. Prize for forty years of the Circle of Journalists of Bogotá.
• 1993. Honorary member of the Instituto Caro y Cuervo in Bogotá.

Tributes

Both throughout his life and after him, Gabo has been honored with various tributes whose purpose has been to immortalize the name of the writer, who is already part of Hispanic culture. Some of the most important tributes are:

• 2008. Gabriel García Márquez Cultural Center, Bogotá.
• 2010. Creation of the Gabriel García Márquez House Museum, Aracataca.
• 2016. Issuance of a 50,000 peso bill in tribute to the writer, Colombia.

Books

Some of the most important works of Gabriel García Márquez are One hundred years of loneliness, The colonel has no one to write to him, Love in the time of cholera, A Chronicle of a Death Foretold Y The Autumn of the Patriarch. We present below a brief synopsis of these titles.

One hundred years of loneliness (1967)

This novel, inscribed in the current of magical realism or the marvelous real, is considered the masterpiece of Gabriel García Márquez and has become part of the canon of literature universal. It recounts the rear of the Buendía, the founding family of the Macondo people, condemned to primary punishment. In Macondo, culture, magical-religious thought and history itself are a harbinger and a sign of loneliness.

You may also like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez: Summary and Analysis.

The colonel has no one to write to him (1961)

It is a short novel. It is about a retired colonel waiting to receive a pension as consideration for his services. The wait has lasted for fifteen years, an insurmountable sign of a corrupt society. The play, then, goes through the passages of hope, resignation and the dignity of the character.

She may also interest you: The colonel has no one to write about Gabriel García Márquez: summary, analysis and characters.

Love in the time of cholera (1985)

This novel tells the story of the love between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, interrupted by the inadvertent marriage of the young woman with the wealthy doctor Juvenal Urbino de la Calle. The story, set in a port town, traces the lives of the characters intertwined for almost 60 years.

A Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981)

The novel begins with the announcement of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the Vicario brothers, who have seen the honor of his sister sullied. Gabriel García Márquez proposes a narrative style that plays with linearity. It represents a cyclical time, in which an already known fact is an excuse to return to the intricacies of a universe that is both individual and collective.

Delve into: Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel García Márquez

The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975)

In The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel García Márquez tells the story of the agony and death of a dictator, who has reached his last years tormented by his inner demons, fueled by the desire for totalitarianism that now shows himself powerless to save it. Gabriel García Márquez appeals to a writing and narrative structure that defy literary conventions.

Other literary works (narrative)

In addition to these works, Gabo also published the following titles:

• Litter, novel (1955)
• Bad time, novel (1962)
• The funerals of Big Mom, tale (1962)
• Story of a castaway, fictionalized report (1970)
• The incredible and sad story of the candid Eréndira and her heartless grandmother, tale (1972)
• Blue dog eyes, stories (1972)
• Miguel Littín's clandestine adventure in Chile, fictionalized report (1986)
• The general in his labyrinth, novel (1989)
• Twelve Pilgrim Tales, stories (1992)
• Love and Other Demons, novel (1994)
• Diatribe of love against a seated man, theater (1994)
• News of a kidnapping, novel report (1996)
• Memory of my sad whores, novel (2004)

Memories

• Live to tell (2002)

Journalistic work

Among his journalistic work, we can highlight the following publications:

• When he was happy and undocumented (1973)
• Traveling through the socialist countries (1978)
• The loneliness of Latin America. Writings on art and literature 1948-1984 (1990)
• The unfinished lover and other press texts (2000)