Gabriel Garca Mrquez in Retrospect: A Collection

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Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Retrospect gathers fifteen essays by noted scholars in the fields of Latin American literature, politics, and theater. The volume offers broad overviews of the Colombian authors total body of work, along with closer looks at some of his acknowledged masterpieces. The Nobel laureates cultural contexts and influences, his variety of themes, and his formidable legacy (Hispanic, U.S., world-wide) all come up for consideration. New readings of One Hundred Years of Solitude are further complemented by fresh, stimulating, highly detailed examinations of his later novels (Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The General in His Labyrinth, Of Love and Other Demons) and stories (Strange Pilgrims). Further attention is focused on Gabos labors as journalist and as memoirist (Living to Tell the Tale), and to his sometime relationships with the cinema and the stage. Reactions to his enormous stature on the part of younger writers, including recent signs of backlash, are also given thoughtful scrutiny. Feminist and ecocritical interpretations, plus lively discussions of Gabos artful use of humor, characters names, and even cuisine, are to be found here as well. In the wake of Garca Mrquezs passing away in 2014, this collection of essays serves as a fitting tribute to one of the worlds greatest literary figures of the twentieth century.

Reviews

Gene Bell-Villada's new collection of essays provides much for general readers, students and specialists alike, who are offered an array of critical approaches with which to spar, ranging from the contextual, biographical, literary and literary-historical to the ecocritical, demythifying and on occasion densely theoretical. Particularly welcome is the volume's emphasis on Garca Mrquez's later writing. -- Clive Griffin, Emeritus Fellow, Trinity College, University of Oxford
This exemplary collection of essays is illuminating, ample, accessible, and ultimately essential for understanding how Garca Mrquez is read today. -- Randolph D. Pope, University of Virginia

Author Bio

Gene H. Bell-Villada is professor of Romance languages at Williams College.