Yesterday, the renowned Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez passed away at the age of 87.
My guess is that many people here haven't even heard of his name, let alone his most famous book One Hundred Years of Solitude. García Márquez is one of the most important figures in Latin American literature of all time, and his novel essentially defines the landscape of Latin America, both on a physical and metaphysical level.
He wasn't the first writer of magical realism, but he truly defined the genre. In his books, travelling gypsies would ride magic carpets, storms would rage for years. He turned metaphor into reality for his characters.
Some of his other great books include Love in the Time of Cholera, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Of Love and Other Demons, and The General in His Labrynth (which was often quoted in John Green's Looking for Alaska).
The world of literature has lost a great figure, but hopefully there will be someone to follow in his footsteps.
No comments:
Post a Comment