#6 Issue: Macondo

Hello and welcome to the sixth issue of A Story for the Week!

The story of the week is One Hundred Years of Solitude a magic realism novel by Columbian writer and Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel García Márquez.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is, undoubtedly, Márquez’s most well-known work. Not only did it earn him the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature and it’s widely considered to be his magnum opus, but it’s been translated into 46 languages, sold more than 50 million copies, and it’s considered to be one of the most important works in the history of literature. It’s, in short, just one of those novels in which you fall in love from the first page, and, for years now, it has remained one of my favorite novels.

Before I dive into the plot of One Hundred Years of Solitude, let me briefly explain what exactly magic realism is. Magic realism is a literary genre which, as the name suggests, combines realism with magic. Books that fall into this category are typically set in realistic settings, but magical phenomena, such as extraordinary powers, mythological creatures, and strange events separate them from traditional realistic stories. It’s important not to confuse magical realism with fantasy, as these stories are typically set in new, made-up worlds with their own rules. On top of that, magic is only one of the elements of magic realism.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is a family saga revolving around the Buendía family which established the town of Macondo. Macondo is a fictional town that was also used as a setting for some other Márquez’s works, like “Leaf Storm” and The Evil Hour. Throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude, the readers follow seven different generations of the Buendía family, their fortunes and misfortunes, and the evolution of Macondo.

Even though the novel is well-written and connected, I get a feeling each chapter is a story on its own which, at the same time, contributes to the grand plot. What’s also peculiar in One Hundred Years of Solitude is that the lives of José Arcadio Buendía, Úrsula Iguarán, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, Aureliano José, and José Arcadio Segundo are all too painfully real, all too immediate and you don’t even notice the main plot which is slowly unfolding in front of you.

Márquez created a web of characters and events, mixing the past, the present, and the future. Although the novel is teeming with characters, it’s impossible to mix them up, as each of them is incredibly unique and their stories are tightly packed together. So, you don’t have to go back to remind yourself of who they are. Even though this is the case, the novel is incredibly easy to read and that’s one of the reasons why I admire it. Marquez loves long sentences that will send shivers down your spine, but, at the same time, they are so easy-flowing that you won’t even notice you’ve been reading them.

The most important theme in One Hundred Years of Solitude is definitely the fate and the inevitability of it. Throughout the novel, you’ll see plenty of characters trying to fight or avoid their fate, but the more they try, the more unavoidable it feels. When you mix up the idea of fatalism together with the mythos of Macondo and the unusual predicaments our characters find themselves in, you get this rich world that is barely contained in the book.

All in all, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one-of-a-kind work that will make you immediately fall in love with it and you’ll be left craving more. I rarely reread books, but this novel makes me come back every couple of years. It’s hard to put the magic of One Hundred Years of Solitude in words, so it would be best if you just felt it. 🙂 

As usual, I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes from One Hundred Years of Solitude:

“He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.”

“They were so close to each other that they preferred death to separation.”

“Children inherit their parents' madness.”

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