Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust~Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's ashes reaches home in Colombia

[PHOTO-LA TIMES]

The news flashes a host of memories when we were caught in the magic web woven by Gabo ( the affectionate nickname of the Author) in his books "One hundred of solitude" and "Love in the time of cholera".


Review of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" on goodreads.(17.09.12)

"For a week when I was reading "One hundred years of solitude", I was living in Macondo and lost all my connections with the real world. Every person I met I searched for either Aureliano or Arcadio in him. The whole world could be divided in two types of people Aureliano or Arcadio. The fluidity of transcendence is superb from one Aureliano to other Aureliano. The ordinary has inbuilt extraordinary in it. Rather "more the ordinary" proves "more the extraordinary" in it.
At one time superstitions and premonitions come true, at another time a long narration culminates in a quotation like "Poverty is the servitude of love."
The last paragraph of the book is amazing."It was the history of the family, written by Melquiades, down to the most trivial details, one hundred years ahead of time. He had written it in Sanskrit...".

There is only one epic "Ramayana"  that was written much before the happening of events.

I salute Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez.~Vipin Behari Goyal (Author)

This is what Superman says about his own masterpiece:

"One day I discovered the right tone—the tone that I eventually used in One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was based on the way my grandmother used to tell her stories. She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic, but she told them with complete naturalness. When I finally discovered the tone I had to use, I sat down for eighteen months and worked every day.

In One Hundred Years of Solitude."

According to Terry Pratchett "Magic Realism is like polite way of saying you write Fantasy".

Gabo says "The trouble is that many people believe that I’m a writer of fantastic fiction, when actually I’m a very realistic person and write what I believe is the true socialist realism."

Author himself want his work to be classified as Social Realism rather than as Magic Realism.

Let us see what the difference is:

Realist author writes about the realities of life as perceived by him through the senses and experience. That reality may not be absolute reality. Perceptions are also deceptions.

Since World is Conical and is divided  in two uneven halves, Proletariat and Capitalist, Oppressed and Oppressor, Rich and poor, Haves and Have-Nots,  and if an author chooses to write about the poverty stricken  people, their life and sufferings (and few breezes of happiness) and struggle, he is said to be writing about Socialist Realism.  

In Magical Realism some unreal events are interwoven in a real story so skillfully that the unreal also appears to be real.

Many authors like Gabo deny their work to be Magical Realism, which is not as high stature of the work as Socialist Realism is.

The magic spelled by him will continue to enchant many coming generations.

The news about the transfer of his ashes appeared as follows:

"The ashes of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez are heading to the country of his birth, Colombia.

Garcia Marquez -- known to his fans as Gabo -- had been a journalist early in his career and traveled around the world. He settled in Mexico, where he lived for many decades before his death in 2014 at age 87.

But the author of the "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera" often set his fictions in Columbia. The Caribbean city of Cartagena, particularly, served as muse and inspiration."(LA Times).

Writing Tips by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  based on his various interviews:

1. Talk to Old People: Old people are treasure house of stories. Listen to them patiently. Gabo himself was inspired by his grandmother's impassive narrations to write the story of One hundred years of solitude.

2. Read Great Literature: Books written by great authors are always source of inspiration. Gabo wrote his first story after reading Metamorphosis by Kafka.

3. Visit Old Places: Specially the places where you spent your childhood. Your school, playgrounds, city library. It will bring a flood of memories and you would be able to relive a new experience.

4. Writing is hard work:  Gabo considered writing to be a hard work. He said "Ultimately, writing is nothing but a carpentry." He has further explained that "Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both, you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work are involved. And as Proust, I think, said, it takes ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration."

5. Read "Earnest Hemingway on writing": Gabo was also inspired by this book. He has appreciated the way Hemmingway has compared writing with Boxing. He agrees that you have to be in a very good emotional and physical state to be a writer.

6. Be a Perfectionist: Be your own best critic. He says" I think that I’m excessively demanding of myself and others because I cannot tolerate errors; I think that it is a privilege to do anything to a perfect degree."

7. Don't be a megalomaniac: Often Authors does this mistake to consider themselves as center of universe and society's conscience.

8. Work in a familiar environment: Some Author's think that they can write better in some resorts or hotels. William Dalrymple  wrote his book City of Djinns in a resort at Luni near Jodhpur. Gabo finds that familiar environment are more congenial for writing than strange places.

9. Choose your best hours: Every person has different best hours of the day. Author must identify and utilise his best hours.

10. Work very hard on First Paragraph: The first paragraph decides the fate of the book. Gabo says "One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily."

Rest in Peace Gabriel Garcia Marquez

© Vipin Behari Goyal
Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, India