Gabriel García Márquez Dead: Nobel Prize-Winning Author Dies At 87 Garcia Marquez spent eight days in a Mexico City hospital earlier this month, and his family acknowledged later that his health was very fragile” after he went home to convalesce. Known for his magical realist novels and short stories, Garcia Marquez was a literary giant whose range and influence is nearly impossible to measure. One Hundred Years of Solitude” has been reprinted in more than 25 languages and sold 50 million copies since its release in 1967, making him the most widely read Latin American author in history. The sprawling, stream-of-consciousness style revealed the world of Latin mysticism and superstition to the world, and though he was also a prolific screenwriter, his novels were not easily translated to other mediums. One Hundred Years of Solitude was never attempted on the bigscreen, while Love in the Time of Cholera was made into a film in 2007 starring Benjamin Bratt and Javier Bardem; it made just over $30 million at the worldwide box office. Garcia Marquez was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature for Solitude, which was loosely based on his experiences growing up in his grandparents home, and follows several generations of the Buendia in the fictional South American village of Macondo. While working as a journalist, he had wanted to write the book for several years until one day, he was so inspired that he cut short a family trip, sold the car and worked nearly every day for 18 months while begging and borrowing to make ends meet. His single-mindedness was rewarded as the book became an instant hit, allowing him to move his family to Spain for the next seven years. Garcia Marquez instant fame led to friendships with powerful dignitaries, including Fidel Castro, with whom he shared a passion for literature. Because of his outspoken views against American imperialism, the U.S. government labeled him a subversive and denying him visas – until Bill Clinton, who lists “Solitude” as his favorite novel, lifted the travel ban upon his election. After witnessing the flight of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, Garcia Marquez began work on “Autumn of the Patriarch,” an amalgamation of several Latin American dictators that was finally published in 1975. He would later move his family from Barcelona to Mexico City, where lived out his remaining years with his wife and two sons.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 21:06:30 +0000
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