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Marquez, who galvanised
the world with his 1967 epic One Hundred Years of Solitude, is to
be guest of honour at Britain’s Hay on Wye international literary
festival, which opens today in Colombia’s Caribbean port of Cartagena,
the writer’s birthplace. "In practice, with the experience I
have, I could write a new novel without any problem, but people would
realise that I hadn’t put my heart into it," he told Barcelona’s
La Vanguardia newspaper, which will publish the interview on
Sunday. It was while working on the second volume that his creative juices dried up, he admitted. He blamed personal problems, now 78, he has been suffering from lymphatic cancer since 1999, and, more prosaically, computer difficulties. He may be slowing down, but Gabo, as he is universally known, has not slackened his political commitment and is finding no shortage of causes to devote his time to. Last month he acted as mediator in talks in Havana between the Colombian government of Alvaro Uribe and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in an attempt to end the country’s perennial guerrilla war. "I’ve always been a conspirator; I’ve been conspiring for peace in Colombia since I was born," he said of his controversial role. He claims to have put right injustices in various countries with what he calls "parallel diplomacy... much more effective than signing protest manifestos." A hero in his homeland, Garcia Marquez’s legacy is cherished in the sleepy jungle village of Aracataca, his model for the imaginary Macondo of A Hundred Years.... The village lies in the heartland of guerrilla territory, today’s manifestation of Colombia’s seemingly endless civil war that formed the political backdrop of the author’s greatest novel. The house where young Gabo listened to his grandmother’s fantastic tales of exuberant family life was declared a heritage site in 1982 when he received the Nobel Literature prize, and is now a museum. But Aracataca’s mayor, Pedro Sanchez, aspires to a more spectacular homage. He proposes the village be renamed Aracataca-Macondo, in an attempt to focus international attention on this backward spot, and lift it from its poverty. "Gabo’s raw material is here; Colombia’s only Nobel prizewinner is from here. This is the cradle of magic realism," proclaimed Mr Sanchez last month, adding with characteristic local pride that the community of 53,000 was a microcosm of all Colombia. "We must use Gabo, in the best sense of the word, to generate resources," he argued. Mr Sanchez has canvassed local opinion (with mixed results: some locals consider the two-handed name ugly) and mobilised local politicians of the regional assembly. Regional deputies meet next month to decide whether Aracataca should become Macondo, so that this corner of real life may more accurately reflect a magical world. — By arrangement with The Independent |
THE Nobel prizewinner
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, pioneer of the school of magical realism and
probably the best known contemporary author in the literary world
problems: writer’s block. "I’ve stopped writing. 2005 has been
the first year of my life when I haven’t written a line," the
Colombian storyteller who revolutionised Latin American literature said
in a rare interview at his home in Mexico City.