Week 8 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Part Two - Nicholas Latimer - On Nostalgia and paradox

Just as anticipated following last week, I was not bothered in reading Marquez’ wacky yet thought provoking story. Although I feel like I’ve lost a bunch of the details, like who actually he’s talking about half the time, and when the thing is actually happening - things came together a little better after watching this weeks lecture, which pointed out a few of the primary elements folks have been analyzing, one of which I will discuss below. Moreover, there was some similarity of nostalgia as a theme to some of our previous texts, of family and the progression (perhaps repetition), of generations. 

To clarify, we see the town of Macondo, with so much promise of euphoria, experience challenge and frequent defeat against oppressive forces of politics, plague (of the bananas), of dreams dying, and eventual disappearance of loved ones. We are left with the reflections of times when kids roamed like ‘boarding schools without rules’, playing and laughing under the sun. In reading and watching the lecture I was reminded of a number of things I’ve been involved in as a kid, like summer camp, where I stuck around until I was older and became a counselor to the kids whose position I had been in a decade prior. Although this example also shows the cycling repetition we now know all too well, I wanted to touch on the feeling I remember feeling - that things just ‘weren't what they used to be’ (i.e. weren't as fun, or cool or whatever) - as when we were kids. I suppose this comes with age and change over time - perhaps what is different from Macondo (which is in a way stuck in time). Regardless - we’ve seen this sense of reflection on “what once was” in Mama Blanca (of the plantation, Pedro Paramo (the city which used to be…), and even between the lines of  Cartucho’s revolution. More specifically, we talked a few classes ago about the ‘intergenerational trauma’ out of Pedro Paramo - something hard to ignore by Marquez’s use of names as placeholders for personalities and souls of older and younger generations. 

…

Another concept that made me think was the final ending, the wrap up of a story which seemed to go on for a lifetime (or many). I thought about the lecture’s reflection on and ending which presented to be irrepeatable. Of course, there has never been a piece of literature (excluding the book of Genesis I suppose) that has the appreciation of this text. But I wouldn't argue that Marquez had anticipated that. So part of me wonders what the purpose of this contradiction actually was. Although quite impressive, the concept of the scriptures bringing us to the exact climax of the ending of this story was exciting - but part of the wrap up felt a bit like a “wake up from a dream” fairy tale conclusion. Mind you - I enjoyed it, but knowing that it didn't follow from some of the major themes in the text, I had to wonder:

If Marquez were to have ended the story in a fashion which continued the theme of cyclical repetition - what do you think would have happened?? 


See you next week,

Comments

  1. JonMarch 6, 2023 at 3:21 PM

    "part of the wrap up felt a bit like a 'wake up from a dream' fairy tale conclusion"

    Yes, this is a good point. But if so, the "real" to which we wake up, at least within the novel itself, is barren and empty. It makes me think a little of the Matrix. Unless, I suppose, it's whatever reality that surrounds us when we put the book down and look around. I wonder what lingers for you from the novel, what you will remember (and I understand, as you say, that there is much you may forget).

    Meanwhile, I also like your comparisons with other texts (from Mamá Blanca to Pedro Páramo). Very helpful!

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