Looking back on the course now, it really feels to me like we covered a lot. We read a lot of different literary forms: short story, poem (I would have loved to have read more poetry, but I think that’s just because I enjoyed reading Neruda so much), novella, epic novel, etc… and we read authors from Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and the stories we read took place in those different countries. The theme of family seems like a perfect theme for a course like this one, because family is, for many, of such central importance, not just in literature but in life, and the idea of “family” is represented in a different way in each work, just as family means something different to each person. We have the dysfunctional family using objects as surrogate family members in an attempt to fill a need and a void in their lives in Las Hortensias. We have seen the multi-generational saga of Cien años de soledad depicts the cyclical nature of humans, especially the flaws and frailties passed from one generation to the next within a family. We have also seen the old (but in this case, a very sinister) conflict of feuding in-laws battling over custody rights in Piedra callada. We saw very different types of representations of families, but all united by the theme of family. I enjoyed the course very much, and I was really glad that we spent so much time on Marquez as it is such a rich text with so much to study and enjoy.
Parting thoughts on Cien años de soledad
I certainly enjoyed Cien años de soledad, and I’m very glad that I’ve read it now, but I have to admit that it was one of the most demanding, difficult reading experiences I’ve had. I don’t want this to sound like a completely negative thing, because, happily, it was ultimately also one of the most rewarding reading experiences I’ve had. I would like to read the English translation one day as well, because it would probably help me understand the story and keep track of the characters better, and I would be able to get through it in about a quarter of the time it took me to read it this time. I am definitely glad we spent so much time discussing the book and reading it in class, because it is such a rich work, with so many different themes and so much to say and discuss about it. I like reading the book and thinking about Marquez’s own politics. His friendship with Cuban president Fidel Castro is well-known and in Cien años, it seems as though he has sympathies with a communist outlook like Castro’s, as the scenes depicting the massacre of the banana company employees and depictions of their struggles for labour rights seem to betray a respect and sympathy for the working classes. From reading the novel, Marquez also seems to distrust dictatorial regimes, such as Arcadio’s style of leadership when Coronel Aureliano Buendía puts him in charge of Macondo. Marquez also seems to be wary of the potentially negative impacts that foreign influence in Macondo, especially the sort of American influence in
Colombia like we learned about in class. This is represented by the banana company and especially Sr. Brown.
