Gabriel Garcia Marquez (eBook)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (eBook)
Description
In this exhaustive and enlightening biography—nearly two decades in the making—Gerald Martin dexterously traces the life and times of one of the twentieth century’s greatest literary titans, Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel García Márquez.
Martin chronicles the particulars of an extraordinary life, from his upbringing in backwater Columbia and early journalism career, to the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude at age forty, and the wealth and fame that followed. Based on interviews with more than three hundred of Garcia Marquez’s closest friends, family members, fellow authors, and detractors—as well as the many hours Martin spent with ‘Gabo’ himself—the result is a revelation of both the writer and the man. It is as gripping as any of Gabriel García Márquez’s powerful journalism, as enthralling as any of his acclaimed and beloved fiction.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
About the Author
Gerald Martin is Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages at the University of Pittsburgh and Senior Research Professor in Caribbean Studies at London Metropolitan University. For twenty-five years he was the only English-speaking member of the “Archives” Association of Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature in Paris, and he is a recent president of the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature in the United States. Among his publications are Journeys Through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century, a translation and critical edition of Miguel Angel Asturia’s Men of Maize, and several contributions to the Cambridge History of Latin America. He lives in England.
Praise for Gabriel Garcia Marquez…
Praise in the US:
“Engrossing . . . Nothing short of a revelation . . . On almost every page, Martin’s account is studded with acute observations . . . [It] does a masterful job of tracing the continuing evolution of a man, his work and the world that surrounds him. Martin has understood, as far as it is possible for a biographer to understand, the motivations and experiences that have guided Gabo, and all of us who love the maestro’s work are grateful for it . . . Extraordinary.”
–Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Richly detailed . . . A judicious and occasionally juicy examination of Gabo’s life, his politics and work.”
–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“This superbly researched biography is nothing short of a tour de force. Martin has for decades been a pioneering scholar of Latin American literature in the English-speaking world. Based on detailed research as well as personal acquaintance with the subject, this is the most substantial English-language biography written of García Márquez . . . Seventeen years in the making, this work not only details the life of a great writer but also provides considerable insight into life in Latin America . . . Highly recommended.”
–Library Journal (starred)
“Martin’s control of his prodigious material in this first authorized biography of the great Colombian novelist García Márquez is astonishing. Martin writes with a novelist’s momentum. His descriptions of García Márquez’s hometown, Aracataca, are atmospheric without being cloying; he conducts literary exegesis deftly, like a detective hunting for clues . . . García Márquez seems to be many different men, but his biographer handles the contradictions with finesse.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred)
“A probing biography . . . Martin begins by noting that he has been working on this life of Gabriel García Márquez for two decades. The effort shows . . . Martin offers lucid literary commentary alongside the facts of his subject’s life . . . Essential for García Márquez fans, and an exemplary literary biography.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Praise from abroad:
“A masterful and sensitive account–balanced, judicious, yet clearly also a stirringly enthusiastic labour of love . . . It is and will be the authoritative work on the ‘new Cervantes,’ Latin America’s perhaps only truly global writer.” –The Times Literary Supplement
“As a piece of investigation alone Martin’s book is an outstanding achievement unlikely ever to be bettered . . . It is a rags-to-riches tale as absorbing and at times bizarre as anything in Márquez’s fiction . . . Martin’s passionate enthusiasm for Márquez gives the book much of its power and impetus . . . Unfailingly perceptive.” –Literary Review
“A monumental work . . . Márquez could have asked for [no biographer] more accomplished than Gerald Martin.” –Financial Times
“Masterful . . . Martin’s book, the product of seventeen years of research, is an astonishing feat: a subtle tribute to a very complex man and an indispensable key to his life’s work.” –The Sunday Telegraph
“Márquez’s life story is just as magical as anything in his fiction . . . Both a fine tribute to a remarkable artist and a fascinating cultural history of the region he helped to find its voice.” –New Statesman
“Undoubtedly, Márquez is a difficult subject for a biographer . . . Yet, Martin has succeeded triumphantly. The book is distinguished by its pages of hard-won clarity, its imaginative sympathy and a welcome absence of any psychoanalytic theorizing . . . Gerald Martin is to be congratulated on this polished (I almost said ‘magical’) biography, which radiates an infectious charm and humanity.” –The Irish Times
“Superbly well-researched . . . The narrative [is] consistently engaging and sympathetic.” –The Sunday Times
“Martin is lucid with his political-historical framing . . . He blends the stories and novels superbly into his narrative . . . He is acute on Márquez’s solid marriage and on his protective friends . . . [This book] helps readers to ground his exceptional fiction in history.” –The Independent
