The Novelization of Colombian History Made by Gabriel García Márquez

Abstract

With the passing of García Márquez and the revelation of his most guarded secret, the existence of a daughter born out of wedlock, we can begin to make a more dispassionate reading of his legacy as the greatest Colombian writer. According to the testimony of many of his readers, particularly those who do not have a close connection to the great storyteller’s native country, one’s first reaction to his work is often simply an astonishment at his writing—full of imagination and Rabelaisian exaggeration—, which makes it difficult to establish a clear and explicit connection with Colombian reality. However, as has been repeatedly demonstrated by critical works, historical and social reality are fundamental reference points in García Márquez’s fictional worlds, as is the intention to give a second chance to the idea of building a more inclusive national project, one in which “the other” is not fatally doomed to violent destruction. The aim of this essay is to connect two recent texts that synthesize the history of Colombia (Historia de Colombia y sus oligarquías, by Antonio Caballero, and Historia mínima de Colombia, by Jorge Orlando Melo) to the literary creation of the author of Macondo and to highlight the writer’s acute vision of the social and political reality of Colombia. Thus, the objective is to illustrate how García Marquez’s fictional writing artistically combines the crudest reality of his people with the prodigious creation of his imagination.