Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez: A Life
It would be intimidating under any circumstances to attempt a biography of Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez. After all, this is a Nobel Prize winner credited with writing the world鈥檚 first truly global novel. That鈥檚 rather exalted ground upon which to tread.
But you have to extend particular sympathy to anyone who attempts the job from now on. After reading Gerald Martin鈥檚 Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez: A Life, it鈥檚 not clear that there鈥檚 anything left to say.
For one thing, Martin has had extraordinary access. For years Martin insisted that he was only the 鈥渢olerated鈥� biographer of Garc铆a M谩rquez. But in 2006 the celebrated author publicly anointed Martin as his 鈥渙fficial鈥� biographer. Over the course of 17 years, says Martin, he has spent the total of at least one full month with his subject, in various public and private settings. Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 family have come to think of Martin as 鈥渆l t铆o Yeral.鈥�
And the massive list of interviews acknowledged in Martin鈥檚 book includes everyone from family members to famed translators Edith Grossman and Gregory Rabassa to peers like Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes.
If Martin has left any stone unturned it鈥檚 hard to imagine what that might be.
The result is a doorstopper biography (672 pages) that shifts through a mountain of evidence to track Garc铆a M谩rquez from infancy through his current status as a living literary legend. The book takes readers around the globe with Garc铆a M谩rquez, through the creation of his seven novels, 10 nonfiction works, and various novellas and short stories. It鈥檚 almost an embarrassment of riches.
But for those eager to get at the essence of Garc铆a M谩rquez and his works, it will not be too much. Few authors鈥� lives are more closely linked to their books as is that of Garc铆a M谩rquez, particularly in the case of his masterpiece, 鈥淥ne Hundred Years of Solitude.鈥�
It all started in the small Colombian city of Aracataca. Garc铆a M谩rquez was born there in 1927. When he was only a baby his parents moved away, leaving him and his sister with their maternal grandparents. Aracataca was a 鈥淲ild West boom town鈥� and his grandparents鈥� house was full of people 鈥� 鈥渉is grandparents, aunts, transient guests, servants, Indians鈥� 鈥� and their stories.
His grandfather was a colonel and a crusty veteran of Colombia鈥檚 Thousand Days War. His grandmother was steeped in local lore and superstition. Young Gabito would carry their influence for the rest of his days.
When he was 8 his grandfather died, and to his discomfiture Garc铆a M谩rquez rejoined his parents and younger siblings. His father was a struggling pharmacist (or 鈥渜uack doctor,鈥� according to some) and the family moved frequently. The adolescent Gabo was an excellent student but also an insecure being who yearned for the world he left behind in Aracataca. Even as a teenager a friend recalled him as a skinny boy, 鈥渃ircumspect, almost a bit sad, and in any case lonely and unknown.鈥� He moved to 叠辞驳辞迟谩 to study law but later gladly quit to become a journalist.
Journalism suited Garc铆a M谩rquez 鈥� not only because he could write but because it gave him a chance to see the world. He lived in Paris, toured behind the Iron Curtain, and briefly moved to New York to cover news for Fidel Castro鈥檚 new Cuban regime. (Garc铆a M谩rquez was an early and 鈥渋nformed defender of the Cuban revolution.鈥�)
But it was while he was living in Mexico City that lightning struck. By then Garc铆a M谩rquez had published a couple of novellas, although at that moment he seemed lost as a writer. However, tradition has it (and Martin is frank about the fact that there are so many versions of this story that we don鈥檛 really know which one to believe) that he was driving his family on a vacation to Acapulco when the first line of a novel (鈥淢any years later, as he faced the firing squad....鈥�) suddenly came to him. Garc铆a M谩rquez turned the car around, canceled the vacation, and drove back to Mexico City where he spent the next 18 months writing 鈥淥ne Hundred Years of Solitude.鈥�
He and his wife supported the family by pawning possessions as he wrote, finally selling a few small appliances to raise the postage to mail the final chapters to the publisher.
The book鈥檚 success was stunning. Garc铆a M谩rquez became a global celebrity almost overnight and was so overwhelmed by attention that at one party he had to put up a sign saying 鈥淔orbidden to speak of 鈥極ne Hundred Years of Solitude.鈥欌��
Everything in Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 life, it seems, came together in this book 鈥� his nostalgia for Aracataca (which he renamed 鈥淢acondo鈥�), the milieu of his grandparents, the political observations made during his travels, and the loneliness and alienation he felt as a boy and young man. 鈥淧ower and love, the love of power, the power of love,鈥� points out Martin, are as central to the works of Garc铆a M谩rquez as they are to Latin American history.
Martin鈥檚 biography continues its meticulous voyage through the rest of Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 life. He went on, of course, to write classics like 鈥淭he Autumn of the Patriarch鈥� (1975), 鈥淐hronicle of a Death Foretold鈥� (1981), 鈥淟ove in the Time of Cholera鈥� (1985), and 鈥淭he General in His Labyrinth鈥� (1989), and in each case Martin is able to link the work closely to the life.
鈥淕abriel Garc铆a M谩rquez: A Life鈥� finishes with a ceremony Martin attended at which Garc铆a M谩rquez was honored by everyone from the king of Spain to Bill Clinton. 鈥淕ood thing you were there,鈥� Garc铆a M谩rquez told him, 鈥渟o you can tell people we didn鈥檛 make up the story.鈥�
The same could be said of this entire book.
Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor鈥檚 book editor.
