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Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

nytimes.com

61–70 of 165 posts

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#61

“Many years later, in front of the firing squad, colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that distant afternoon his father took him to see ice." Best opening line of a book ever. RIP.

And many years after reading that book, I have that line memorized in my head. I also regret not learning Spanish well enough to read his books untranslated as I understand his writing is gorgeous in Spanish. I'm thankful that his books translated well enough into English for me to appreciate his genius. Farewell, Gabo.

Marquez praised the English translation of One Hundred Years, though. I think he said that that was the way he would like to write it, if he had used English.

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#62
post #37

“Many years later, in front of the firing squad, colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that distant afternoon his father took him to see ice." Best opening line of a book ever. RIP.

I love this one from same author: "On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on. He'd dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit."

Cronica de una muerte anunciada! What a wonderfull book too.

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#63
post #55
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "see ice for the first time" might work.

You just provided the best translation :-) Now I'm wondering if the translators were intentionally trying to avoid multiple words, or if they didn't realize how much meaning they were losing.

Sometimes you have to just leave meanings implied to avoid being very discursive. Why would you take a child to see ice? Why would it be significant? "See" doesn't usually carry that connotation of "for the first time", but really the sentence can't possibly mean anything else.

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#64
post #25

“Many years later, in front of the firing squad, colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that distant afternoon his father took him to see ice." Best opening line of a book ever. RIP.

"Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo."

Gracias por esto. Entre otras cosas, la traducción de inglés no puede capturar la sutileza de "había de recordar" o "conocer el hielo". En inglés Aureliano Buendía podía ver el hielo, pero en español podía conocerlo.

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#65
post #64
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo."

Gracias por esto. Entre otras cosas, la traducción de inglés no puede capturar la sutileza de "había de recordar" o "conocer el hielo". En inglés Aureliano Buendía podía ver el hielo, pero en español podía conocerlo .

"had cause to remember" and "introduce him to ice"?

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#66

Oh my. A paragon of magical realism and my second favorite author. Rest in peace. Liking storytelling alone is sometimes not enough to like Marquez, you have to love language too. He uses (some might say abuses) language to impact his storytelling, often using incredibly long, convoluted sentences to weave his narrative. It can be hard to follow, sometimes intentionally, but I find it enormously satisfying to read an…

Which was the short story with the sadistic dentist torturing the mayor?

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#67
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo."

There's a rhythm to the original that's lost in translation. GGM's mastery of the language is impossible not to notice.

[deleted]

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#68

Oh my. A paragon of magical realism and my second favorite author. Rest in peace. Liking storytelling alone is sometimes not enough to like Marquez, you have to love language too. He uses (some might say abuses) language to impact his storytelling, often using incredibly long, convoluted sentences to weave his narrative. It can be hard to follow, sometimes intentionally, but I find it enormously satisfying to read an…

Which was the short story with the sadistic dentist torturing the mayor?

You're recalling One of These Days

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/ootdays.html

(Slightly sad to see his life written as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1928-____ ) on the page. Today we know the answer to the blank.)

Re: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87

#70
Let's not forget that GGM was a life-long socialist and a supporter of the Cuban revolution.

He spent many years living and Cuba and he considered Castro to be one of his best friends. He was a firm supporter of Chavez, and looked forward to the day that Simon Bolivar's idea of a united Pan-America would be realized. Because of this, he was prohibited from entering the US during the Reagan administration.

As much as I love his works of fiction, my favorite book of his is the first volume of his autobiography, Living to Tell The Tale. I've been patiently waiting for news about volume 2 and 3 ever since the first one came out in 2002. I have never heard anything about these -- whether they were ever written remains a mystery. RIP to a magnificent man who brought so much pride to the people of our scarred continent.

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