Fidel and Gabo
Poets and politicians, oil and water 鈥� none of them mix too smoothly. But Latin America鈥檚 most famous Nobel laureate and its longest serving dictator have been more than cordial. Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez and Fidel Castro each count the other as a close friend.
鈥淔idel is the sweetest man I know,鈥� Garc铆a M谩rquez told a journalist in 1977. 鈥淥urs is an intellectual friendship. It may not be widely known that Fidel is a very cultured man,鈥� the writer told Playboy in a 1983 interview.
But these were not just book-swapping buddies, professors 脕ngel Esteban and St茅phanie Panichelli attempt to show in Fidel and Gabo, translated into English by Diane Stockwell. The monograph draws on both previously published interviews with Garc铆a M谩rquez and original interviews the professors conducted with sources close to the pair.
Esteban and Panichelli frame 鈥淔idel and Gabo鈥� in a recurring muse-like narrative voice. 鈥淵ou will ... listen in on Fidel and Gabo鈥檚 first conversations, when love-at- first- sight quickly blossomed into a strong 鈥� and by necessity symbiotic 鈥� relationship,鈥� they tell us. Unfortunately, most of the 300-plus pages are a laborious blow-by-blow of who met whom when. They describe literary and political scenes and include historical asides that, while interesting, deviate from the relationship between the title characters. A clear accounting of the friendship between the two elusive figures may just be impossible.
Still, the anecdotes it offers are intriguing. For example, Garc铆a M谩rquez has sent all of his manuscripts to Castro before his publisher for decades. Castro read 鈥淭he Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor鈥� and came to the writer鈥檚 hotel room to tell him the speed of a boat in the text was not possible, given its arrival time. After that, Garc铆a M谩rquez gave Castro an advanced copy of his 鈥淐hronicle of a Death Foretold,鈥� and Castro said its description of a hunting rifle was incorrect. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 publish any books any more that the Commandant hasn鈥檛 read first,鈥� Garc铆a M谩rquez told Spanish newspaper El Pa铆s in 1996.
In fact, one book 鈥� a work of at least 700 pages on Cubans鈥� daily lives under the embargo 鈥� never even made it to press, possibly because of the commandant鈥檚 objections.
Garc铆a M谩rquez engaged in uncharacteristic one-sided reporting favorable to Cuba in several instances, according to Esteban and Panichelli. In a 1977 piece, he portrayed the Cuban military intervention in Angola as a simple act of altruism. His writing on the 2000 case of Eli谩n Gonz谩lez, the young Cuban boy whose mother drowned while trying to raft to the US and whose father on the island wanted him back, reads as a 鈥渢extbook novel鈥� of good versus bad.
鈥淭he dramatic oversimplification of life in Cuba found within Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 writings is beyond comprehension,鈥� the professors say of the Colombian writer鈥檚 various reports of life on the island, the earliest of which says that in Cuba there is no unemployment, no homelessness, no hunger. 鈥淕arc铆a M谩rquez, who in his fiction shuns dull realism and never falls into one-sided, simplistic characterizations, in this instance talks about the good and the bad in absolute terms.鈥�
It was after his favorable reporting from Angola that Castro unexpectedly showed up at the writer鈥檚 hotel room in Havana, the first time the leader sought the writer鈥檚 company. According to Garc铆a M谩rquez, they talked for hours 鈥� about seafood.
It appears, however, that the favors did not all go one way. Garc铆a M谩rquez pulled his own weight. Several writers say that he arranged for the release of about 3,000 prisoners on the island, though the professors think that number is high. Many families came to the writer to ask for favors with the regime.
So what did each gain from the relationship? Did Garc铆a M谩rquez relish being the guarded leader鈥檚 confidant, and getting an island mansion near one of Castro鈥檚 to boot? Castro surely valued the intellectual prestige that came from the association, since many of Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 peers had turned against the revolution. If nothing else, the commandant offers excellent material for an author with a penchant for writing about power.
A decent trade, for sure 鈥� but it鈥檚 too easy an explanation. In addition to everything else, it seems that the two men are, sincerely, friends. 鈥淎nd [Gabo] really does love [Fidel], in spite of his quirks,鈥� the authors conclude.
What鈥檚 clearer than the relationship between Garc铆a M谩rquez and Castro is that of the writer and the island. His home in Colombia is solemn, he says, and he dreads that. 鈥淐uba is the one place I can be myself,鈥� he told a reporter in 1976.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean at ease. It鈥檚 well known that Garc铆a M谩rquez is followed by at least three 鈥渟ecret鈥� agents whenever he鈥檚 in Cuba, say Esteban and Panichelli, who note that, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the price of being friends with a dictator.鈥�
Taylor Barnes is a Monitor intern.
