García Márquez: The Man and His Work

by Gene H. Bell-Villada

Overview

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the most influential writers of our time, with a unique literary creativity rooted in the history of his native Colombia. This revised and expanded edition of a classic work is the first book of criticism to consider in detail the totality of Garcia Marquez's magnificent oeuvre.

In a beautifully written examination, Gene Bell-Villada traces the major forces that have shaped the novelist and describes his life, his personality, and his politics. For this edition, Bell-Villada adds new chapters to cover all of Garcia Marquez's fiction since 1988, from The General in His Labyrinth through Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and includes sections on his memoir, Living to Tell the Tale, and his journalistic account, News of a Kidnapping. Moreover, new information about Garcia Marquez's biography and artistic development make this the most comprehensive account of his life and work available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807865255
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Gene Bell-Villada is professor of Romance languages at Williams College. He is author or editor of six scholarly works as well as a memoir and two works of fiction. His most recent book is Conversations with Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition ix

Acknowledgments xiii

A Note on the Text xv

Abbreviations xvii

A Map of Garcia Márquez Country xix

Part 1 Backgrounds

1 The Novel 3

2 The Country 15

3 The Writer's Life 41

4 The Man and His Politics 64

5 The Readings 70

Part 2 Works

6 The History of Macondo 95

7 The Master of Short Forms 120

8 Juvenilia and Apprenticeship (A Brief Interlude) 158

9 The Anatomy of Tyranny 168

10 The Novelist of Love 194

11 The Bolívar Novel 220

12 The Unending Love Story 237

13 The Journalist and Memoirist 267

14 The Legacy 285

Notes 293

Select Bibliography 305

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The revised edition is even better than the original. Still the best general introduction to the work of Garcia Marquez, this book is unfailingly perceptive, informative, and likeable.—Gerald Martin, Andrew Mellon Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh, author of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life

Editorial Reviews

An agreeable mix of man and metaphor, with nifty readings and inside info.—Nation



Bell-Villada is one of a handful of scholars in the field of Hispanic letters who write with authority, precision, and flair. . . . This outstanding scholar merits an accolade for a careful reading of Garcia Marquez's oeuvre and an awesome knowledge of foreign literatures.—Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature



"The essential primer and reference work on [Garcia Marquez]. . . . Provides unmissable insights into both the narrative of Garcia Marquez's life—often ribald, and always humorous—but also his emotions, and is an essential read for students of this writer who want to understand how his mind—and heart—work.—Latin American Review of Books

From the Publisher