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The General in His Labyrinth
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Gabriel García Márquez's most political novel is the tragic story of General Simón Bolívar, the man who tried to unite a continent.
Bolívar, known in six Latin American countries as the Liberator, is one of the most revered heroes of the western hemisphere; in García Márquez's brilliant reimagining he is magnificently flawed as well. The novel follows Bolívar as he takes his final journey in 1830 down the Magdalena River toward the sea, revisiting the scenes of his former glory and lamenting his lost dream of an alliance of American nations. Forced from power, dogged by assassins, and prematurely aged and wasted by a fatal illness, the General is still a remarkably vital and mercurial man. He seems to remain alive by the sheer force of will that led him to so many victories in the battlefields and love affairs of his past. As he wanders in the labyrinth of his failing powers-and still-powerful memories-he defies his impending death until the last.
The General in His Labyrinth is an unforgettable portrait of a visionary from one of the greatest writers of our time.
Gabriel García Márquez's most political novel is the tragic story of General Simón Bolívar, the man who tried to unite a continent.
Bolívar, known in six Latin American countries as the Liberator, is one of the most revered heroes of the western hemisphere; in García Márquez's brilliant reimagining he is magnificently flawed as well. The novel follows Bolívar as he takes his final journey in 1830 down the Magdalena River toward the sea, revisiting the scenes of his former glory and lamenting his lost dream of an alliance of American nations. Forced from power, dogged by assassins, and prematurely aged and wasted by a fatal illness, the General is still a remarkably vital and mercurial man. He seems to remain alive by the sheer force of will that led him to so many victories in the battlefields and love affairs of his past. As he wanders in the labyrinth of his failing powers-and still-powerful memories-he defies his impending death until the last.
The General in His Labyrinth is an unforgettable portrait of a visionary from one of the greatest writers of our time.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 1989
About the author
Gabriel García Márquez
841 books37.8k followersGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.
Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.
Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.
(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) (Ukrainian: Ґабріель Ґарсія Маркес) (Belarussian: Габрыель Гарсія Маркес) (Russian: Габриэль Гарсия Маркес)
He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.
Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.
Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.
(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) (Ukrainian: Ґабріель Ґарсія Маркес) (Belarussian: Габрыель Гарсія Маркес) (Russian: Габриэль Гарсия Маркес)
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November 18, 2021
El General en su Laberinto = The General in His Labyrinth, Gabriel García Márquez
The General in His Labyrinth is a 1989 dictator novel by Colombian writer and Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez. It is a fictionalized account of the last seven months of Simón Bolívar, liberator and leader of Gran Colombia.
The book traces Bolívar's final journey from Bogotá to the Caribbean coastline of Colombia in his attempt to leave South America for exile in Europe.
Breaking with the traditional heroic portrayal of Bolívar El Libertador (Spanish for "liberator"), García Márquez depicts a pathetic protagonist, a prematurely aged man who is physically ill and mentally exhausted.
The story explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories, in which "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life".
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «ژنرال در هزارتوی خودساخته»؛ «ژنرال در هزارتوی خود»؛ «ژنرال در لابیرنت»؛ «ژنرال در هزارتو»؛ «ژنرال درهزارتویش»؛ «خاطرات یک ژنرال»؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز هفتم ماه نوامبر سال1991میلادی
عنوان: ژنرال در لابیرنت؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم رضا فلسفی؛ تهران، سروش، سال1369؛ در226ص؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزار توی خود؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم هوشنگ اسدی؛ ویراستار: محمدتقی فرامرزی؛ تهران، کتاب مهناز، سال1369؛ در237ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، هزاره مهر، سال1382؛ در259ص؛ شابک9649412603؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، ثالث، سال1390؛ در340ص؛ شابک9789643807375؛ چاپ دوم نشر ثالث سال1392؛
عنوان: ژنرال درهزارتویش؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم: جمشید نوایی؛ تهران، توس، سال1369؛ در339ص؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خویش؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، آریابان، سال1390؛ در280ص؛ شابک9789647196543 چاپ دوم سال1392؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خودساخته؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم سید حبیب گوهری راد؛ بهاره پاریاب؛ تهران، رادمهر، نکوراد، سال1390؛ در380ص؛ شابک9789648673852؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خودش؛ مترجم: اسماعیل قهرمانی پور؛ تهران، روزگار، سال1389؛ چاپ دیگر سال1392؛ در319ص؛ شابک9789643742140؛
عنوان: خاطرات یک ژنرال؛ مترجم مینو جواهری؛ تهران، چلچله، سال1394؛ در400ص؛ شابک9789648329674؛
عنوان: ژنرال در لابیرنت؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم سیداحمد حسینی؛ تهران، فراموشی، سال1395؛ در435ص؛ شابک9786009746675؛
نخستین بار کتاب را انتشارات «سروش (صدا و سیما)»، در سال1369هجری خورشیدی، با عنوان «ژنرال در لابیرنت»، از «گابریل گارسیا مارکز» برگزید، و با ترجمه ی جناب «رضا فلسفی»؛ به نشر سپرد؛
کتاب از «ژنرال بولیوار»، آزادیخواه مشهور «آمریکای جنوبی و لاتین»، سخن میگوید، که کشور «بولیوی»، به افتخار او، چنین نام بر خود برگزیده، و پسندیده است؛ «ژنرال در لابیرنت» یا همان «ژنرال در هزارتو»، رمانی در چرایی ماهیت آدمی است، و بیوگرافی «ژنرال بولیوار» نیست، این نام را نیز از آنجا بر خود دارد، که ژنرال خسته از جنگ، و بیماری، در بستر مرگ و احتضار، لحظه ای به خود میآید، و انگار به خویشتن خویش است، که میگوید «چه وقت از این لابیرنت خارج خواهم شد»؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 10/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 26/08/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The General in His Labyrinth is a 1989 dictator novel by Colombian writer and Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez. It is a fictionalized account of the last seven months of Simón Bolívar, liberator and leader of Gran Colombia.
The book traces Bolívar's final journey from Bogotá to the Caribbean coastline of Colombia in his attempt to leave South America for exile in Europe.
Breaking with the traditional heroic portrayal of Bolívar El Libertador (Spanish for "liberator"), García Márquez depicts a pathetic protagonist, a prematurely aged man who is physically ill and mentally exhausted.
The story explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories, in which "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life".
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «ژنرال در هزارتوی خودساخته»؛ «ژنرال در هزارتوی خود»؛ «ژنرال در لابیرنت»؛ «ژنرال در هزارتو»؛ «ژنرال درهزارتویش»؛ «خاطرات یک ژنرال»؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز هفتم ماه نوامبر سال1991میلادی
عنوان: ژنرال در لابیرنت؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم رضا فلسفی؛ تهران، سروش، سال1369؛ در226ص؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزار توی خود؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم هوشنگ اسدی؛ ویراستار: محمدتقی فرامرزی؛ تهران، کتاب مهناز، سال1369؛ در237ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، هزاره مهر، سال1382؛ در259ص؛ شابک9649412603؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، ثالث، سال1390؛ در340ص؛ شابک9789643807375؛ چاپ دوم نشر ثالث سال1392؛
عنوان: ژنرال درهزارتویش؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم: جمشید نوایی؛ تهران، توس، سال1369؛ در339ص؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خویش؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، آریابان، سال1390؛ در280ص؛ شابک9789647196543 چاپ دوم سال1392؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خودساخته؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم سید حبیب گوهری راد؛ بهاره پاریاب؛ تهران، رادمهر، نکوراد، سال1390؛ در380ص؛ شابک9789648673852؛
عنوان: ژنرال در هزارتوی خودش؛ مترجم: اسماعیل قهرمانی پور؛ تهران، روزگار، سال1389؛ چاپ دیگر سال1392؛ در319ص؛ شابک9789643742140؛
عنوان: خاطرات یک ژنرال؛ مترجم مینو جواهری؛ تهران، چلچله، سال1394؛ در400ص؛ شابک9789648329674؛
عنوان: ژنرال در لابیرنت؛ نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم سیداحمد حسینی؛ تهران، فراموشی، سال1395؛ در435ص؛ شابک9786009746675؛
نخستین بار کتاب را انتشارات «سروش (صدا و سیما)»، در سال1369هجری خورشیدی، با عنوان «ژنرال در لابیرنت»، از «گابریل گارسیا مارکز» برگزید، و با ترجمه ی جناب «رضا فلسفی»؛ به نشر سپرد؛
کتاب از «ژنرال بولیوار»، آزادیخواه مشهور «آمریکای جنوبی و لاتین»، سخن میگوید، که کشور «بولیوی»، به افتخار او، چنین نام بر خود برگزیده، و پسندیده است؛ «ژنرال در لابیرنت» یا همان «ژنرال در هزارتو»، رمانی در چرایی ماهیت آدمی است، و بیوگرافی «ژنرال بولیوار» نیست، این نام را نیز از آنجا بر خود دارد، که ژنرال خسته از جنگ، و بیماری، در بستر مرگ و احتضار، لحظه ای به خود میآید، و انگار به خویشتن خویش است، که میگوید «چه وقت از این لابیرنت خارج خواهم شد»؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 10/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 26/08/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
July 21, 2021
This is wonderful. Dense with historical incident, deft characterization, and the telling detail that is García Márquez's hallmark. It's the story of Simón Bolívar--he who liberated South America from Spanish colonial tyranny--and his retreat from public life just prior to his death. The great trick of the novel is to make condensed passages of historical summary ring with life through the recollections of the dying General. Predictably perhaps he obsessively catalogs his enemies' perfidies which on some level seem to be the disease which is killing him, though it's actually TB. Such is the loyalty of the man's officers that just before his death he sends them off on various guerilla missions to undermine the governments of his enemies. Despite the sure knowledge of his impending death he seeks to promote insurrection instead of harmony.
It is for this reason that John Lynch, one of Bolívar's biographers, detests the popular idea of the man as the "George Washington of South America." Truly, he was nothing of the kind. He allowed himself to be named Liberator and Dictator of Peru and through the Ocaña Convention named himself Bolivia's "president for life" with the ability to pass on the title. He needlessly promulgated multiple contradictory edicts. He was against popular representative government. Though, paradoxically, he believed in a US-style federalist union for South America, he was incapable of putting goals for the growth of inclusive democratic institutions above his petty enmities, as Washington did with such aplomb time after time.
(N.B. Washington was a Virginia plantation owner who freed his slaves upon his death in 1799. All U.S. slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. See Speeches and Writings, 1859-1865. It was 1816, however, when Bolivar manumitted the slaves of South America, including his own.)
We also meet his longtime, forebearing lover, Manuela Sáenz, and find her to be as formidable a character as the General himself. At one point some weeks after after the General and his retinue have traveled into exile on a cortege of barges down the Magdalena, she incites civil unrest back in Santa Fe de Bogata against his enemies:
So a beautifully written if dense narrative that satisfies on multiple levels. Do read it. One final note, there's no magic realism here as in The Autumn of the Patriarch or One Hundred Years of Solitude. But the narrative is nonchronological which demands an attentive reader. This is no in-flight or beach read! I found it deeply satisfying.
It is for this reason that John Lynch, one of Bolívar's biographers, detests the popular idea of the man as the "George Washington of South America." Truly, he was nothing of the kind. He allowed himself to be named Liberator and Dictator of Peru and through the Ocaña Convention named himself Bolivia's "president for life" with the ability to pass on the title. He needlessly promulgated multiple contradictory edicts. He was against popular representative government. Though, paradoxically, he believed in a US-style federalist union for South America, he was incapable of putting goals for the growth of inclusive democratic institutions above his petty enmities, as Washington did with such aplomb time after time.
(N.B. Washington was a Virginia plantation owner who freed his slaves upon his death in 1799. All U.S. slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. See Speeches and Writings, 1859-1865. It was 1816, however, when Bolivar manumitted the slaves of South America, including his own.)
We also meet his longtime, forebearing lover, Manuela Sáenz, and find her to be as formidable a character as the General himself. At one point some weeks after after the General and his retinue have traveled into exile on a cortege of barges down the Magdalena, she incites civil unrest back in Santa Fe de Bogata against his enemies:
In an attempt to make her life impossible, the Ministry of the Interior had asked her to turn over the [General's] archives she had in her care. She refused and set in motion a campaign of provocations that drove the government mad. In the company of two of her warrior slavewomen [manumitted] she fomented scandals, distributed pamphlets glorifying the General, and erased charcoal slogans scrawled on public walls. It was common knowledge that she entered barracks wearing the uniform of a colonel and was apt to take part in the soldiers' fiestas as in the officers' conspiracies. The most serious rumor was that right under Urdaneta's nose she was promoting an armed rebellion to reestablish the absolute power of the General.
So a beautifully written if dense narrative that satisfies on multiple levels. Do read it. One final note, there's no magic realism here as in The Autumn of the Patriarch or One Hundred Years of Solitude. But the narrative is nonchronological which demands an attentive reader. This is no in-flight or beach read! I found it deeply satisfying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2023
ان أمريكا بلد يتعذر حكمها. و الذي يخدم ثورة كأنه يحرث البحر. و هذه البلاد ستقع إلى الأبد في أيدي الشعب الهائج و الطغاة الأغبياء من كل لون و كل جنس.صورة كاريكاتورية و أحداث غير مترابطة لا زمنيا و لا مكانيا و لا حتى فيما يتعلق بالسرد. هذا إلى جانب متاهة تاريخية جغرافية بين العشرات من أسماء الشخصيات و المدن و تواريخ الأحداث.
عندما علم أن الحكومة صدقت على المعاش الذي منحه له الكونجرس مدى الحياة قال (نحن أثرياء) و في اليوم الذي تلقى فيه الجواز الذي يتيح له مغادرة البلاد راح يلوح به في الهواء و يقول (نحن أحرار) و بعد يومين و هو مستيقظ في أرجوحته بعد ساعة من النوم المضطرب فتح عينيه و قال (نحن حزينون).تعجبت من الحياة البائسة التي عاشها محرر أمريكا الجنوبية الذي أنهى الاستعمار الأسباني و أسس خمس دول ما زالت قائمة حتى الأن معترفة له بالفضل في ذلك. عمر قصير و عمل كثير و إنجازات مشرفة و ان لم يستطع توحيد القارة كما كان يأمل و لم يكن ملاك كما يظن البعض و لا شيطانا أيضا و انما كان الرجل المناسب لمرحلة تاريخية هامة.
من الروايات المغرقة في المحلية و المليئة بتفا��يل لا تهم إلا مواطني الدول التي حررها و حكمها هذا الرجل الأسطوري لذلك لم تكن ممتعة بقدر ما كانت مفيدة و مهمة لكل محب للتاريخ.
May 18, 2023
In this book, Gabriel Garcia Marquez gives us his vision of an emblematic figure of modern South American history: Simon Bolivar, "El Libertador." Herald and hero of independence, a vigorous defender of Latin American unity, Simon Bolivar is a legend whose Nobel Prize in literature proposes, somewhat irreverently, to tell the story of the last days the tone of "grandeur and decadence."
The General in His Labyrinth, it is, therefore, the account of the last trip, the flight when Bolivar resigned, and the various former rulers of Spain, instead of uniting as the Libertador would like, tear each other apart. Weakened by many years of wars, travels, and palace intrigue, Bolivar is dying at only 47 years old. Gabriel Garcia Marquez depicts him as an older man who rambles and oscillates beyond like a pendulum between the memory of past glories and the bitterness of dying without achieving Latin American unity. Therefore, this historical and glorified story constitutes an attempt to humanize an icon adored and undoubtedly unrecognized as a man, with his illusions and disillusions, weaknesses, and mood swings.
Under the pen of Garcia Marquez, Bolivar becomes a somewhat pathetic and endearing older man. This reading is also an awareness of our relationship to history and "great men," all of whom have known something without knowing who they were. Beyond the historical narrative, this reflects the author subtly invites us and is central to appreciating the novel.
The General in His Labyrinth, it is, therefore, the account of the last trip, the flight when Bolivar resigned, and the various former rulers of Spain, instead of uniting as the Libertador would like, tear each other apart. Weakened by many years of wars, travels, and palace intrigue, Bolivar is dying at only 47 years old. Gabriel Garcia Marquez depicts him as an older man who rambles and oscillates beyond like a pendulum between the memory of past glories and the bitterness of dying without achieving Latin American unity. Therefore, this historical and glorified story constitutes an attempt to humanize an icon adored and undoubtedly unrecognized as a man, with his illusions and disillusions, weaknesses, and mood swings.
Under the pen of Garcia Marquez, Bolivar becomes a somewhat pathetic and endearing older man. This reading is also an awareness of our relationship to history and "great men," all of whom have known something without knowing who they were. Beyond the historical narrative, this reflects the author subtly invites us and is central to appreciating the novel.
October 30, 2023
الجنرال في متاهته رواية يستعرض من خلالها ماركيز أحداث وتطورات الشهور الأخيرة من حياة سيمون بوليفار ..
سيمون بوليفار لُقب بالمحرر بعد أن حرر خمس دول في أمريكا الجنوبية كما سميت دولة بوليفيا باسمه تقديراً لدوره التاريخى فى تحريرها كما إن له تمثال وميدان شهير في مصر في وسط البلد...
رواية متوسطة المستوي ..مملة شوية و مليانة تفاصيل -كعادة ماركيز يعني- بس أكيد أرحم بكتير من مائة عام من العزلة...!
سيمون بوليفار لُقب بالمحرر بعد أن حرر خمس دول في أمريكا الجنوبية كما سميت دولة بوليفيا باسمه تقديراً لدوره التاريخى فى تحريرها كما إن له تمثال وميدان شهير في مصر في وسط البلد...
رواية متوسطة المستوي ..مملة شوية و مليانة تفاصيل -كعادة ماركيز يعني- بس أكيد أرحم بكتير من مائة عام من العزلة...!
April 30, 2020
Está visto que ni coroneles ni generales. Para mí, en cuestiones militares, de Márquez no me vale nada por debajo de Patriarca.
Me aburrí en este laberinto de nombres, fechas y lugares, de ambiciones, traiciones y rivalidades políticas, en el que se dan demasiadas vueltas alrededor de la misma idea. Aunque también tengo claro que nada de esto hubiera tenido importancia si no me hubiera dejado tan frío la mezcla de crónica periodística y biografía novelada en la que no he encontrado ni uno solo de los elementos de la grandeza que el autor me ha mostrado en sus otras obras. Eso o que no he sabido disfrutarla como en general no disfruto nunca la novela histórica. Habrá otras oportunidades.
Me aburrí en este laberinto de nombres, fechas y lugares, de ambiciones, traiciones y rivalidades políticas, en el que se dan demasiadas vueltas alrededor de la misma idea. Aunque también tengo claro que nada de esto hubiera tenido importancia si no me hubiera dejado tan frío la mezcla de crónica periodística y biografía novelada en la que no he encontrado ni uno solo de los elementos de la grandeza que el autor me ha mostrado en sus otras obras. Eso o que no he sabido disfrutarla como en general no disfruto nunca la novela histórica. Habrá otras oportunidades.
July 26, 2015
Idleness was painful after so many years of wars, bitter governments, and trivial loves.
The profundity of Simón Bolívar’s vision became the bane of his life. He was destined to be the man who led the Latin American people to freedom from the imperial rule of Spain. Having broken the shackles of slavery he took over the uncontested leadership of the vast continent as the President with the singular aim of unifying the freed countries of the Americas into "the greatest republic the world has ever known,” a dream that was never to come true. In this historical novel, Marquez leads the reader to travel in the heavy footsteps of the despondent and disillusioned General on his final voyage along the Magdalena river to tell the unmagical story of shattered dreams, broken allegiances, dead glories - made all the more intolerable by the General’s terminal illness.
This is a portrait of the man, Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios, not a politico-military biography of the great General who came to be known as the Liberator, and to whom generations of Latin Americans have sung songs of praise and gratitude, and in our times have named their countries after him, finding in his person a newfound confidence to defy another empire in the north that sees them as “our backyard.” But here Marquez, without ever stating it, is poised to dispel the myths, spun, on one hand, by the great mass that loved and admired him and, on the other, by his enemies and detractors among his own people who had once broken the bread of victory alongside him in the wars of liberation.
Bolívar's rise and fall is told in flashbacks within the frame story of his last river journey, which he undertook when he renounced power after an assassination attempt, to highlight major events that shaped him to become the man we have come to know. An able soldier and a great military strategist always in a state of flux, he could enact whole battlefields on his mind's screen with all the moves and strategies to be employed for various contingencies, is now relegated to his sagging hammock in which, lying at night like a deadweight, he mumbles incomprehensible twaddle in the state of recurrent delirium, such that his faithful servant, José Palacios, cannot tell whether his master’s thoughts are trapped in the throes of a nightmare or entangled in the state of waking.
He is stricken but not defeated. Life had already given him sufficient reasons for knowing that no defeat was the final one.
He cooks up imaginary battles to wrest Riohacha from the insurgents who are destroying the unity of the continent, but suddenly finding his army on the defensive, crashes into his chair. One day he announces his immediate intention to pack up and set sail for Europe to die there; yet the next morning he takes baffling detours and lingers on for weeks in a place, waiting for some portent to tell him which way to go. In a Marquezian slant the rigours of madness become a saving virtue; it is precisely his illusions which are keeping him sane.
During the last months of his life he became an ungainly mass of calcified bones and poisoned flesh held together by the pale leather of his cracking skin, whose purpose of mind no one understood, whose purpose of mind he himself did not understand.
Marquez evokes the starkly beautiful terrain of the Amazonian wild tropics with imagery that permeates the ancient landscape of his One Hundred Years of Solitude. It seems the General must have stopped at Macondo on his voyage along the Magdalena. Marquez does not mention the town perhaps because it’s fictional or does not fall along the coast, and this story is supposed to be an historically accurate depiction, which it is, save for some auxiliary details which are used to enhance Bolívar's character and to embolden his human dilemmas, enacted for the reader through the eyes of a man to whom the world had appeared a miasmic swamp of dead bodies and dead hopes. In that, Marquez has weaved an astounding horror story.
True to the maxim that there is humour in human tragedy, Marquez embellishes this sad story with the strokes of a tragicomedy in the General’s fatalistic and self-loathing utterances that confound and dishearten his loving supporters, but the General cares naught. I will illustrate it with two small examples.
A German adventurer came down to the continent to capture an oddity he’d heard described "a man with rooster claws," to put in a cage and display in European circuses. He told of his wish to the General when they met during the voyage along the river. The General had found another opportunity to direct his mordant sarcasm at himself. "I assure you you’ll earn more money showing me in a cage as the biggest damn fool in history.”
On the General's orders, his orderlies had taken on board an emaciated and limping dog found along the banks suffering from a horrible case of mange. The General bestowed special affections on the awful-looking creature, fed him by his own hand, played with him, and spent more time with him than he would with his young lover. After a few days on board….
June 2015
The profundity of Simón Bolívar’s vision became the bane of his life. He was destined to be the man who led the Latin American people to freedom from the imperial rule of Spain. Having broken the shackles of slavery he took over the uncontested leadership of the vast continent as the President with the singular aim of unifying the freed countries of the Americas into "the greatest republic the world has ever known,” a dream that was never to come true. In this historical novel, Marquez leads the reader to travel in the heavy footsteps of the despondent and disillusioned General on his final voyage along the Magdalena river to tell the unmagical story of shattered dreams, broken allegiances, dead glories - made all the more intolerable by the General’s terminal illness.
This is a portrait of the man, Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios, not a politico-military biography of the great General who came to be known as the Liberator, and to whom generations of Latin Americans have sung songs of praise and gratitude, and in our times have named their countries after him, finding in his person a newfound confidence to defy another empire in the north that sees them as “our backyard.” But here Marquez, without ever stating it, is poised to dispel the myths, spun, on one hand, by the great mass that loved and admired him and, on the other, by his enemies and detractors among his own people who had once broken the bread of victory alongside him in the wars of liberation.
Bolívar's rise and fall is told in flashbacks within the frame story of his last river journey, which he undertook when he renounced power after an assassination attempt, to highlight major events that shaped him to become the man we have come to know. An able soldier and a great military strategist always in a state of flux, he could enact whole battlefields on his mind's screen with all the moves and strategies to be employed for various contingencies, is now relegated to his sagging hammock in which, lying at night like a deadweight, he mumbles incomprehensible twaddle in the state of recurrent delirium, such that his faithful servant, José Palacios, cannot tell whether his master’s thoughts are trapped in the throes of a nightmare or entangled in the state of waking.
He was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness, 'Damn it,' he sighed. 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!
He is stricken but not defeated. Life had already given him sufficient reasons for knowing that no defeat was the final one.
He cooks up imaginary battles to wrest Riohacha from the insurgents who are destroying the unity of the continent, but suddenly finding his army on the defensive, crashes into his chair. One day he announces his immediate intention to pack up and set sail for Europe to die there; yet the next morning he takes baffling detours and lingers on for weeks in a place, waiting for some portent to tell him which way to go. In a Marquezian slant the rigours of madness become a saving virtue; it is precisely his illusions which are keeping him sane.
But he could not renounce his infinite capacity for illusion at the very moment he needed it most... he saw fireflies where there were none.
During the last months of his life he became an ungainly mass of calcified bones and poisoned flesh held together by the pale leather of his cracking skin, whose purpose of mind no one understood, whose purpose of mind he himself did not understand.
Marquez evokes the starkly beautiful terrain of the Amazonian wild tropics with imagery that permeates the ancient landscape of his One Hundred Years of Solitude. It seems the General must have stopped at Macondo on his voyage along the Magdalena. Marquez does not mention the town perhaps because it’s fictional or does not fall along the coast, and this story is supposed to be an historically accurate depiction, which it is, save for some auxiliary details which are used to enhance Bolívar's character and to embolden his human dilemmas, enacted for the reader through the eyes of a man to whom the world had appeared a miasmic swamp of dead bodies and dead hopes. In that, Marquez has weaved an astounding horror story.
True to the maxim that there is humour in human tragedy, Marquez embellishes this sad story with the strokes of a tragicomedy in the General’s fatalistic and self-loathing utterances that confound and dishearten his loving supporters, but the General cares naught. I will illustrate it with two small examples.
A German adventurer came down to the continent to capture an oddity he’d heard described "a man with rooster claws," to put in a cage and display in European circuses. He told of his wish to the General when they met during the voyage along the river. The General had found another opportunity to direct his mordant sarcasm at himself. "I assure you you’ll earn more money showing me in a cage as the biggest damn fool in history.”
On the General's orders, his orderlies had taken on board an emaciated and limping dog found along the banks suffering from a horrible case of mange. The General bestowed special affections on the awful-looking creature, fed him by his own hand, played with him, and spent more time with him than he would with his young lover. After a few days on board….
The General was taking the air in the stern when José Palacios pulled the dog over to him.
“What name shall we give him?” he asked.
The General did not even have to think about it.
“Bolívar,” he said.
June 2015
November 7, 2013
I always feel a twinge of pity when someone tells me, “I don’t read for pleasure any more” or “I only read non-fiction.” Most of the pity is sympathy for the fact that, in today’s busy world, we just don’t have the time. Whenever someone expresses awe at the number of books I read in a year and asks me how I do it, I say, truthfully, that I make the time to read, just as I make the time to write these reviews. So I realize that the act of reading is itself a commitment, an investment of time and energy, and it’s a shame we don’t have more opportunities for it.
Still.
The rest of the pity goes towards the smaller worlds in which people who don’t read fiction must live. Non-fiction is great. I love a good biography, history, or science text. But let’s be honest here: I would never, ever pick up a non-fiction book about the history of South America. It’s just not a topic that it would occur to me to read about, let alone something I’m interested in reading about as non-fiction. Even if someone gave me such a book as a gift, I’d probably struggle through it. I’d likely find it dry, confusing, difficult to relate to. The sad truth is that I learned absolutely nothing about South American history in school. While we focused on the founding of Canada and the various World Wars, South America itself was a big question mark on the map, dangling off the end of Mexico.
Hand me a novel set in nineteenth-century South America, though, and then we’re on more solid ground. Therein lies the power of fiction: it can be a tool of education as well as entertainment. It can create empathy for characters whose lives are incredibly different from our own. And it also exposes us to facts and ideas that we would never be interested in reading as non-fiction items. I don’t want to read a biography of Símon Bolivar. I did read a fictional account of his last days as he journeyed into exile.
So with The General in His Labyrinth, Gabriel García Márquez contributes to the closing of another massive gap in my knowledge of world history. Through this sliver of story I have glimpsed the genesis of the countries of South America and the remarkable role Bolivar played in their founding. I’ve also enjoyed a slow and meditative look at the mind and last days of a man of many deeds and many contradictions.
García Márquez refers to Bolivar throughout as only “the General". He could just as easily have chosen “President” or “Liberator", so in choosing the first mode of address, he emphasizes Bolivar’s military past. This is a man who is not a politician so much as a warrior and a strategist. His vision is that of the conqueror and the liberator; peace, for Bolivar, was not ever really on the table. This theme reverberates through the novel, which does not follow a straightforward chronological path; in both the past and the present, chaos seems to stalk the General at every turn.
His past is a patchwork of unrest and rebellion. Even after wresting control of South America from its absentee Spanish overlords, the General finds that pacifying his own people is itself a task of a lifetime. His dream of a unified South America recedes ever into the distance, and though every government affords him the highest honours, he is regularly the subject of assassination attempts. This mirrors the present, which has an illusion of restfulness and closure, at least within the General’s inner circle. Without, García Márquez depicts almost comical efforts to keep the General within a cocoon of misinformation: guards and servants conspire to keep him ignorant of the social unrest and protests that dog him from the start of the journey to its end. At every town, those in charge meet the General with open arms.
Of course, what makes this journey so special is the finality of it: the General is dying. Tuberculosis has ravaged his body to the point where many doubt he will survive to see Europe and exile. This spectre of mortality looms over every event of the book, as García Márquez constantly reminds us through his regular descriptions of the various ways the General’s body betrays him. For a man who stood against Spain and ruled multiple countries, the end is just as ordinary as a peasant on the streets. The General’s body slowly deteriorates, and with it so too does his sense of agency. He clings, almost desperately, to the privilege of shaving himself in the morning, despite failing eyesight and a shaking hand.
With the end of the General, so too there is the sense of an ending to the situation in South America. As long as the General travels down the river, it feels like all of South America is paused. Things are happening, yes, but they are distant and indistinct events related back by hearsay and rumour. Nevertheless, this constant murmur creates a tension that will only dissolve upon the General’s death: only then can everything rush into motion, old alliances discarded and new ones brokered along lines that have been visible for months.
García Márquez’s style is relaxing. Much like Jhumpa Lahiri in The Lowland , his reliance on artful descriptions over dialogue draws the reader into the ebb and flow of the narrative. It’s very easy to curl up with this book next to a fire and with a cup of tea and lose oneself in the General’s final journey into the annals of history. This isn’t a story in the traditional sense where things happen, one after the other, where a protagonist and antagonist do battle to resolve a conflict. Instead, it is an account, a detailed look at the last days of someone who made such a big impact on the world. García Márquez spends little time attempting to rationalize the General’s actions or intent or even trying to get inside the General’s head. As the General’s manservant, Jose Palacios, would say: “only my master knows what my master is thinking.”
And so, this is a restful book. It’s a book that invites contemplation and consideration, though it requires neither. It’s a book that offers few answers, preferring instead to offer up images and ideas, leaving you to come up with the questions yourself. It educates, but indirectly, and as discreetly as possible. It’s the perfect blend of history and literature.
Still.
The rest of the pity goes towards the smaller worlds in which people who don’t read fiction must live. Non-fiction is great. I love a good biography, history, or science text. But let’s be honest here: I would never, ever pick up a non-fiction book about the history of South America. It’s just not a topic that it would occur to me to read about, let alone something I’m interested in reading about as non-fiction. Even if someone gave me such a book as a gift, I’d probably struggle through it. I’d likely find it dry, confusing, difficult to relate to. The sad truth is that I learned absolutely nothing about South American history in school. While we focused on the founding of Canada and the various World Wars, South America itself was a big question mark on the map, dangling off the end of Mexico.
Hand me a novel set in nineteenth-century South America, though, and then we’re on more solid ground. Therein lies the power of fiction: it can be a tool of education as well as entertainment. It can create empathy for characters whose lives are incredibly different from our own. And it also exposes us to facts and ideas that we would never be interested in reading as non-fiction items. I don’t want to read a biography of Símon Bolivar. I did read a fictional account of his last days as he journeyed into exile.
So with The General in His Labyrinth, Gabriel García Márquez contributes to the closing of another massive gap in my knowledge of world history. Through this sliver of story I have glimpsed the genesis of the countries of South America and the remarkable role Bolivar played in their founding. I’ve also enjoyed a slow and meditative look at the mind and last days of a man of many deeds and many contradictions.
García Márquez refers to Bolivar throughout as only “the General". He could just as easily have chosen “President” or “Liberator", so in choosing the first mode of address, he emphasizes Bolivar’s military past. This is a man who is not a politician so much as a warrior and a strategist. His vision is that of the conqueror and the liberator; peace, for Bolivar, was not ever really on the table. This theme reverberates through the novel, which does not follow a straightforward chronological path; in both the past and the present, chaos seems to stalk the General at every turn.
His past is a patchwork of unrest and rebellion. Even after wresting control of South America from its absentee Spanish overlords, the General finds that pacifying his own people is itself a task of a lifetime. His dream of a unified South America recedes ever into the distance, and though every government affords him the highest honours, he is regularly the subject of assassination attempts. This mirrors the present, which has an illusion of restfulness and closure, at least within the General’s inner circle. Without, García Márquez depicts almost comical efforts to keep the General within a cocoon of misinformation: guards and servants conspire to keep him ignorant of the social unrest and protests that dog him from the start of the journey to its end. At every town, those in charge meet the General with open arms.
Of course, what makes this journey so special is the finality of it: the General is dying. Tuberculosis has ravaged his body to the point where many doubt he will survive to see Europe and exile. This spectre of mortality looms over every event of the book, as García Márquez constantly reminds us through his regular descriptions of the various ways the General’s body betrays him. For a man who stood against Spain and ruled multiple countries, the end is just as ordinary as a peasant on the streets. The General’s body slowly deteriorates, and with it so too does his sense of agency. He clings, almost desperately, to the privilege of shaving himself in the morning, despite failing eyesight and a shaking hand.
With the end of the General, so too there is the sense of an ending to the situation in South America. As long as the General travels down the river, it feels like all of South America is paused. Things are happening, yes, but they are distant and indistinct events related back by hearsay and rumour. Nevertheless, this constant murmur creates a tension that will only dissolve upon the General’s death: only then can everything rush into motion, old alliances discarded and new ones brokered along lines that have been visible for months.
García Márquez’s style is relaxing. Much like Jhumpa Lahiri in The Lowland , his reliance on artful descriptions over dialogue draws the reader into the ebb and flow of the narrative. It’s very easy to curl up with this book next to a fire and with a cup of tea and lose oneself in the General’s final journey into the annals of history. This isn’t a story in the traditional sense where things happen, one after the other, where a protagonist and antagonist do battle to resolve a conflict. Instead, it is an account, a detailed look at the last days of someone who made such a big impact on the world. García Márquez spends little time attempting to rationalize the General’s actions or intent or even trying to get inside the General’s head. As the General’s manservant, Jose Palacios, would say: “only my master knows what my master is thinking.”
And so, this is a restful book. It’s a book that invites contemplation and consideration, though it requires neither. It’s a book that offers few answers, preferring instead to offer up images and ideas, leaving you to come up with the questions yourself. It educates, but indirectly, and as discreetly as possible. It’s the perfect blend of history and literature.
November 27, 2019
বলিভারকে বাইরের দুনিয়ায় আজ কে চেনে? অথচ একটি আস্ত মহাদেশকে মুক্তি এনে দিয়েছিলেন তিনি - ঐতিহাসিক গুরুত্বে লেনিন বা জর্জ ওয়াশিংটনের চেয়ে কোন অংশে কম নয়। বহির্বিশ্বে তিনি বিস্মৃত হলেও ল্যাটিন আমেরিকা তাকে মনে রেখেছে ঠিকই - বোধ করি এমন কোনো শহর বা গঞ্জ খুঁজে পাওয়া যাবে না যেখানে বলিভারের নামে একটি সড়ক বা চত্বর বা স্কুল বা হাসপাতাল নেই। একটি দেশ আছে তার নামে - বলিভিয়া। আর আছে একটি সুপরিচিত, সর্বজনস্বীকৃত ডাকনাম - "মহাত্মা" বা "বঙ্গবন্ধু" যেমন - "এল লিবের্তাদোর", বা মুক্তিদাতা।
এই মহাদেশীয় আইকনকে নিয়ে না লিখলে হয়তো মহাদেশের আরেক মহীরূহের সাহিত্যিক ক্যারিয়ার কিছুটা অসম্পূর্ণই থেকে যেতো। আর তাই কয়েক বছরের গবেষণা ও লেখালেখি শেষে ১৯৮৯ সালে গাব্রিয়েল গার্সিয়া মার্কেস প্রকাশ করেন "এল হেনেরাল এন সু লাবেরিন্তো।" কারো মতে তার সর্বশেষ স্বার্থক উপন্যাস। বইটা তার লেখার কথা ছিল না যদিও, কারন একই কাহিনী নিয়ে লিখছিলেন গার্সিয়া মার্কেসেরই অন্যতম ঘনিষ্ঠ বন্ধু, কলম্বিয়ান সাহিত্যিক আলভারো মুতিস। কিন্তু মুতিস তার গল্প অসমাপ্ত রেখে দেয়ায় গার্সিয়া মার্কেস অনুমতি নিয়ে তার নিজের বলিভার প্রজেক্ট আরম্ভ করেন।
"নভেলা দেল দিক্তাদোর" বা "স্বৈরাচারী উপন্যাস" আধুনিক ল্যাটিন আমেরিকার উপন্যাসের পরিচিত এমনকি বিখ্যাত ঘরানা। কুড়ির দশকে "তিরানো বান্দেরাস" দিয়ে যার যাত্রা শুরু, তারই বিস্তার ঘটিয়েছেন পরবর্তীকালের ল্যাটিন সাহিত্যিকরা। চিন্তা করে দেখলাম যে তিনজন উপন্যাসিক আজ অব্দি নোবেল জিতেছেন, তাদের প্রত্যেকেরই ব্যাগে আছে একটি করে ডিক্টেটর নভেল - মিগেল আনহেল আস্��ুরিয়াসের "এল সেনিওর প্রেসিদেন্তে", মারিও ভার্গাস ইয়োসার "দ্য ফীস্ট অফ দ্য গোট", আর গার্সিয়া মার্কেস আরো এক কাঠি উপরে - একটি নয়, দুটি ডিক্টেটর নভেল লিখেছিলেন তিনি - ১৯৭৫ সালের "দ্য অটাম অফ দ্য প্যাট্রিয়ার্ক" এবং তার দেড় দশক পরে বলিভার উপন্যাসটি।
তবে গতানুগতিক পাওয়ার ট্রিপ নয় এটি, রাশভারী স্বৈরাচারীর হুজ্জতির গল্পও নয়। বরং অন্য কিছু, হয়তো আরো বেশী কিছু। ৪৭ বছর বয়সী সিমোন বলিভার জীবনের অর্ধেক সময় ব্যয় করেছেন স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধে আর স্বাধীনতা রক্ষার যুদ্ধে, অংশ নিয়েছেন অগুণতি সম্মুখ সমরে, সরাসরি মুক্তি এনে দিয়েছেন অন্তত পাঁচট�� দেশকে। কিন্তু তার স্বপ্ন তো ছিল একটি অখণ্ড মহাদেশ - রাজনৈতিকভাবে একীভূত একটি বৃহৎ রাষ্ট্র যেটি একদিন হবে পৃথিবীর সবচেয়ে বড়, সবচেয়ে ঐশ্বর্যময়, সবচেয়ে শক্তিশালী এবং সবচেয়ে বৈচিত্র্যময় দেশ। কিন্তু জীবদ্দশাতেই বলিভারের স্বপ্ন ভেঙে খানখান হয়ে যাচ্ছিল - regionalism এর প্রবল চাপে চৌচির হয়ে যাচ্ছিল তার কল্পিত নুয়েভা গ্রানাদা বা গ্রান কলম্বিয়া।
শুধু তাই নয়, রাজধানী বোগোটার অকৃতজ্ঞ সমাজ যখন তার বিরুদ্ধে চলে যেতে শুরু করলো, তখন ক্ষমতা ছেড়ে দিতে বাধ্য হলেন বলিভার। এক প্রকার অভিমান করেই সিদ্ধান্ত নিলেন থাকবেন না আর এখানে, চলে যাবেন নির্বাসনে, সাগর পাড়ি দিয়ে তার তারুণ্যের ইউরোপে। ১৮৩০ সালের মে মাসের এক মেঘলা দিনে বোগোটা থেকে চিরপ্রস্থান করেন, উদ্দেশ্য কলম্বিয়ার নীলনদ বা গঙ্গাসম মাগদালেনা নদী বেয়ে চলে যাবেন উত্তরে, ক্যারিবীয় উপকূলের ঐতিহাসিক কার্তাহেনা বন্দর থেকে ধরবেন জাহাজ।
ইউরোপে কোনদিন পৌঁছাননি বলিভার। কলম্বিয়ার উপকূলই ছাড়তে পারেননি, সান্তা মার্তা শহরের অদূরে একটি ফার্মহাউসে মারা যান সেই বছরের ডিসেম্বর মাসে। দুই যুগের hard living এবং আরো harder fighting তাকে বুড়িয়ে দিয়েছিল, বয়স পঞ্চাশ না হলেও দেখে মনে হতো আরো অনেক অনেক বেশি। নানা রোগ-বালাইয়ে পর্যুদস্ত বলিভারের শেষ বয়সের ভরসা ছিল তার বিশ্বস্ত ভৃত্য হোসে পালাসিওস এবং একদল সামরিক অফিসার যারা তাদের মহাবীরকে কোন অবস্থাতেই ছেড়ে যাবার কথা কল্পনা করতে পারেনি।
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একদিক থেকে গার্সিয়া মার্কেস এই গল্প বলার পারফেক্ট মিডিয়াম। কারণ তিনি নিজেই ক্যারিবীয় উপকূলের লোক, ট্রপিক্যাল জঙ্গুলে সেই পৃথিবীকে চিনতেন নিজের হাতের তালুর মতোই, উপকূলের প্রেক্ষাপটে লিখেছেন একের পর এক বই। প্রথম বই লীফ স্টর্ম থেকে শুরু করে ওয়ান হান্ড্রেড ইয়ার্স অফ সলিচ্যুড, বা ক্রনিকল অফ এ ডেথ ফোরটোল্ড, বা লাভ ইন দ্য টাইম অফ কলেরা - সবগুলো কাহিনীই এই ভৌগোলিক চৌহদ্দির ভেতর সাজানো।
হাইস্কুলে পড়ার জন্যে দেশের অভ্যন্তরে অবস্থিত রাজধানী শহর বোগোটায় চলে যেতে হয়েছিল তাকে, সেই যাত্রা করতে হতো ফেরি মারফত, মাগদালেনা নদীর ওপর দিয়েই। জানা যায়, প্রায় এক ডজন বার এই "জার্নি বাই বোট" তিনি সেরেছিলেন। মাঝবয়সে এসে যখন অনেকগুলো স্মৃতিচারণমূলক প্রবন্ধ লিখছিলেন, তার নস্টালজিয়ার জালে আটকে গিয়েছিল নদীও। নীচের উদ্ধৃতি গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের অন্যতম মর্মস্পর্শী প্রবন্ধ "জীবন-নদী মাগদালেনা" থেকে নেয়া - চল্লিশের দশকের গল্প বলছেন এখানে।
"সেযুগে ভ্রমণ ছিল ধীরলয়ের, বিবিধ বিস্ময়ে ভরপুর। দিনের বেলায় খোলা ডেকের উপর বসে নদীর জীবন দর্শন করতাম আমরা যাত্রীরা। কাইমান নামের ছোট কুমির প্রজাতি চোখে পড়তো, দেখে মনে হতো গাছের গুড়ি পড়ে আছে তীরে। হা করে মুখ পেতে রাখতো, অপেক্ষায়, কখন টুপ করে শিকার এসে পড়বে মুখে... প্রতি ভোরে আমাদের ঘুম ভাঙ্গতো বাঁদরের বিবশ-করা হট্টগোলে, টিয়াপাখির কর্কশ কুৎসা-চর্চায়।"
আর তারও ১১৫ বছর আগে বলিভারের অন্তিম যাত্রাকে কল্পনা করেছেন তিনি এভাবে:
"The heat grew intolerable during the day and the raucous screams of the monkeys and birds became maddening, but the nights were silent and cool. On the broad beaches the alligators lay motionless for hours on end, their jaws open to catch butterflies."
আন্দাজ করা যায় বলিভার যা দেখে গিয়েছিলেন, ভিন্ন আরেক শতাব্দীতে সেই একই জিনিস চোখে পড়েছিল গার্সিয়া মার্কেসেরও।
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মরণরোগটি সম্ভবত যক্ষা ছিল। "ল্যাবিরিন্থ" মূলত এক অসুস্থ অসহায় অকালবৃদ্ধের গল্প, যার শরীর ক্রমশ ভেঙে পড়ছে, যার সময় বেশি বাকি নেই, কিন্তু গৌরবময় অতীত থেকে তিনি পালাতে পারছেন না, স্মৃতি তাকে তাড়া করে বেড়াচ্ছে নিরন্তর - প্যারিস, লন্ডন, জ্যামাইকা, মেক্সিকো - আর দক্ষিণ আমেরিকা মহাদেশের এপার থেকে ওপার পর্যন্ত যুদ্ধ আর নারী, বিজয় আর বিশ্বাসঘাতকতা, প্রেম আর পরাজয়ের স্মৃতি। নিদারুন বর্তমানে তিনি প্রায় নি:স্ব এবং পরের করুণার প্রতি নির্ভরশীল। এক দৃশ্যে বলিভার এক থালা ভর্তি পেয়ারা দেখতে পান - গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের ফিকশন এবং নন-ফিকশনে "olor de guayabas" বা "পেয়ারার সুবাস" এক অপ্রতিরোধ্য অপরাজেয় শক্তি, ক্যারিবিয়ানের সমস্ত মাদকতা লেখক বারবার ডিস্টিল করে এনেছেন এই তিনটি মাত্র শব্দে।
বলিভার নিজেকে আর থামাতে পারেন না, গপাগপ খেয়ে ফেলেন সবগুলো পেয়ারা। ফলাফল অনিবার্য - ডায়রিয়ার প্রবল প্রকোপে ধরাশায়ী হন তিনি। "He stayed in the hammock, prostrate with torturous shooting pains and fragrant farts, feeling his soul slip away in abrasive waters."
গান্ধী বা মাও বা মুজিব বা লেনিনকে নিয়ে এমন কি কেউ লিখেছেন বা লিখতে পারবেন বা লেখার সাহস করেছেন? জানা নেই - তবে এই কথা জেনে অবাক হইনি যে বইটি ছাপার পর ভেনেজুয়েলা এবং কলম্বিয়ার অফিশিয়াল হর্তাকর্তা গোছের লোকজন বেজায় নাখোশ হয়েছিলেন জাতির পিতার এহেন চিত্রায়নে। কারণ গার্সিয়া মার্কেস যেটা করেছেন - he humanized the legend, and demythologized the man.
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উপন্যাসটি পারফেক্ট বলবো না - বেশ ঢিমতালে এগোয় গল্পটি, অনেকটা মন্থরস্রোতা মাগদালেনার মতোই, রিপিটিশন আছে, পারিপার্শ্বিক চরিত্র আছে একগাদা, লম্বা লম্বা খানদানী স্প্যানিশ নামের মারপ্যাঁচে তাদের সবার তাৎপর্য বোঝে ওঠা এমনকি পরিচয়ের হিসাব ঠিক রাখাও সহজ কাজ নয়। সুসাহিত্যের যে গুণ আর কি, একবার না বরং বারংবার পড়লেই স্বাদটা ঠিকমতো খোলে।
তবুও যত উপকূলের দিকে এগোন বলিভার, যত মৃত্যুর সন্নিকটে চলে আসেন, গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের গদ্যও উঠে যেতে থাকে নতুন নতুন উচ্চতায়, সেখানে ল্যাটিন আমেরিকার মুক্তিদাতার জীবনের nobility, tragedy, grandeur সব যেন মিলে মিশে এক হয়ে গেছে। নিষ্ঠুর তার প্রতিকৃতি, কিন্তু আগাগোড়া মানবিক। যতদূর জানা যায়, মাগদালেনা নদীতে বলিভারের শেষ যাত্রার কোন প্রামাণ্য এভিডেন্স নেই, তাই গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের এই গল্পকে ঐতিহাসিক দলিল না ভেবে একটি ইমাজিনেটিভ রিকন্সট্রাকশন হিসেবে দেখাই শ্রেয়। কিন্তু এই প্রয়াসে তিনি প্রবলভাবেই সফল।
আর তার লেখনীর তুলনা তো তিনি নিজেই - সেই স্বভাবসুলভ সর্পিল গদ্য, শক্তিশালী শাখা-প্রশাখায় জন্ম নেয় অপূর্ব অসম্ভব সব ডিটেইল, এই কথা আমি আগেও বলেছি আবারো বলবো, গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের সেরা সাহিত্যে যেই মাদক সেনসুয়্যালিটি আছে, যেই ইন্দ্রিয়সুখ সিক্ত হয়ে আছে, তা প্রায় কামুক পর্যায়ের... ফেলে আসা ট্রপিক্যাল ক্যারিবিয়ানের রূপ-রস-গন্ধ যেন আজীবনই চুঁইয়ে চুঁইয়ে পড়েছিল তার কলমের নিব থেকে। আমার ফোনে টুকে রেখেছিলাম কিছু শব্দ - meandering like the Magdalena, smoky with the heat of the tropics, light with the breeze of the Caribbean.
পুনশ্চ: ঈশ্বর চাহে তো যাওয়ার ইচ্ছে আছে ক্যারিবিয়ানের কোলে, ফ্রান্সিস ড্রেক এবং গার্সিয়া মার্কেসের কার্তাহেনায়, গাবোর জন্মস্থান আরাকাতাকায়, সাহিত্যে যার চিরঞ্জীৰ নাম মাকোন্দো। আর বলিভার যেখানে শেষ নিঃশ্বাস ফেলেছিলেন, সান্তা মার্তার অদূরে সেই সান পেদ্রো আলেহান্দ্রিনা খামারবাড়িতেও ঢুঁ দিতে চাই ক্ষণিকের জন্যে হলেও - জীবন সাহিত্য ভ্রমণ সবকিছু মাখামাখি করে না ফেললে কি চলে?
June 12, 2021
Inside your labyrinth you’ll meet your own private minotaur
A novel that mixes South American history with legend and the lush verbiage of a Nobel Prize-winning author can’t be bad. Yet, like too much dulce de leche ice cream, this story of the last months of Simon Bolívar, liberator from Spanish colonial rule of much of South America, may prove overwhelming. As the sick, declining hero heads from Bogotá, present day Colombia’s rainy capital, to the tropical northern coast down the Magdalena River (famously portrayed in “Love in the Time of Cholera” by the same author), he is beset not only by many physical ailments, but also by memory. He mourns his ultimate inability to construct a single large nation out of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. His dream of such an entity has collapsed into civil wars, coups, rebellions, and quarreling generals-turned-politician. He recalls the glory days when he won many a battle, but regards himself as a failure while many erstwhile citizens of these new countries still revere him as an all-conquering hero.
The slow disintegration of the Liberator himself and of all his hopes for a new continent occupies the entire book. There is no ancillary plot. He recalls a few lost loves, he gives away or forgets about his treasure, and is surrounded by doctors or soldiers. You meet many characters as he slowly progresses towards what can never be escape from his failed creation. As he sinks gradually into physical decrepitude, entering and leaving states of madness or delirium, he is stuck forever in the labyrinth of his mind and memories.
While I doubt if there will ever be a more literary exposition of Bolívar’s life, readers from outside the Bolivarian region may find this volume to be more than they bargained for. It’s a tour de force, but probably not for everyone.
A novel that mixes South American history with legend and the lush verbiage of a Nobel Prize-winning author can’t be bad. Yet, like too much dulce de leche ice cream, this story of the last months of Simon Bolívar, liberator from Spanish colonial rule of much of South America, may prove overwhelming. As the sick, declining hero heads from Bogotá, present day Colombia’s rainy capital, to the tropical northern coast down the Magdalena River (famously portrayed in “Love in the Time of Cholera” by the same author), he is beset not only by many physical ailments, but also by memory. He mourns his ultimate inability to construct a single large nation out of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. His dream of such an entity has collapsed into civil wars, coups, rebellions, and quarreling generals-turned-politician. He recalls the glory days when he won many a battle, but regards himself as a failure while many erstwhile citizens of these new countries still revere him as an all-conquering hero.
The slow disintegration of the Liberator himself and of all his hopes for a new continent occupies the entire book. There is no ancillary plot. He recalls a few lost loves, he gives away or forgets about his treasure, and is surrounded by doctors or soldiers. You meet many characters as he slowly progresses towards what can never be escape from his failed creation. As he sinks gradually into physical decrepitude, entering and leaving states of madness or delirium, he is stuck forever in the labyrinth of his mind and memories.
While I doubt if there will ever be a more literary exposition of Bolívar’s life, readers from outside the Bolivarian region may find this volume to be more than they bargained for. It’s a tour de force, but probably not for everyone.
April 23, 2014
When I heard that Gabriel Garcia Marquez had died, I walked over to my shelf of South American literature and picked up The General in His Labyrinth. The story is about the last days of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, as he took a 14-day cruise down the Rio Magdalena to the Caribbean, from whence he would ship out for Europe.
But this was not to be. Not only was the Liberator dying, but he had the misfortune of seeing the proud republics he had founded falling prey to disunity and squabbling. In answer to the pleas of his friends to continue in the leadership, he backs off:
It was a kind of double sadness anticipating the death of this incredible conqueror, in the shadow of the death of Garcia Marquez, who wrote this book in 1989, a quarter of a century ago.
The General in His Labyrinth is, like others of his works that I have read, a simple story, bathed in the magic of the tropics, and told with a kind of sublime generosity toward his characters. There is not a shred of irony or post-modernism to destroy the effect. Garcia Marquez joins other great storytellers like Isaac Bashevis Singer and Nikolai Leskov in his respect for the primacy of the tale itself.
He will be missed.
But this was not to be. Not only was the Liberator dying, but he had the misfortune of seeing the proud republics he had founded falling prey to disunity and squabbling. In answer to the pleas of his friends to continue in the leadership, he backs off:
It was the end. General Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar y Palacios was leaving forever. He had wrested from Spanish domination an empire five times more vast than all of Europe, he had led twenty years of wars to keep it free and united, and he had governed it with a firm hand until the week before, but when it was time to leave he did not even take away with him the consolation that anyone believed in his departure. The only man with enough lucidity to know he really was going, and where he was going to, was the English diplomat, who wrote in an official report to his government: "The time he has left will hardly be enough for him to reach his grave."And so it was. When Bolivar and his retinue reach the shores of the Caribbean, he temporizes about leaving while dealing with rumors of the dissolution of Colombia and Venezuela. He is half tempted to go back to war to restore Riohacha. Except he is desperately ill, and his moment of glory is past. Even as death approaches, he is a remarkable man; and his letters fly all around South America and the Caribbean trying futilely to hold all the pieces together one last time.
It was a kind of double sadness anticipating the death of this incredible conqueror, in the shadow of the death of Garcia Marquez, who wrote this book in 1989, a quarter of a century ago.
The General in His Labyrinth is, like others of his works that I have read, a simple story, bathed in the magic of the tropics, and told with a kind of sublime generosity toward his characters. There is not a shred of irony or post-modernism to destroy the effect. Garcia Marquez joins other great storytellers like Isaac Bashevis Singer and Nikolai Leskov in his respect for the primacy of the tale itself.
He will be missed.
April 9, 2024
The Liberator of South America is very ill, nearing the end of his life, and has lost or given up all power. Going into exile, Simón Bolívar leaves Santa Fé de Bogotá, which at the time was the capital of Gran Colombia. He takes a river boat to depart, going north along the Magdalena River to the Caribbean, where he may catch a ship to Europe. Accompanying him are some loyal vassals, soldiers and servants, and lots of suspicion that he in fact is not abdicating his vocation of leadership and commitment to unified liberty of the continent.
What García Márquez has done is not create a history of Bolívar’s last months of life so much as give us a tapestry of images blurred and rough around the edges, of a man’s life, his memories, his impact on the people and the society and nations around him. At first I assumed I would be getting a literary biography, but that idea was fairly soon squashed. Look elsewhere to know how one man’s determination freed so many nations from the Spanish colonial grip. But look here to see how the man’s life ended, how intrigue and love and loyalty and faith shaped the tail end of one man’s astonishing life.
3 1/2 stars.
What García Márquez has done is not create a history of Bolívar’s last months of life so much as give us a tapestry of images blurred and rough around the edges, of a man’s life, his memories, his impact on the people and the society and nations around him. At first I assumed I would be getting a literary biography, but that idea was fairly soon squashed. Look elsewhere to know how one man’s determination freed so many nations from the Spanish colonial grip. But look here to see how the man’s life ended, how intrigue and love and loyalty and faith shaped the tail end of one man’s astonishing life.
3 1/2 stars.
June 15, 2021
Garcia Marquez has the uncanny ability to make me fall in love with his characters. No, really, head over the heels in love, crushing hard, stomach churning, heart contracting. It happened the first time many moons ago when I read Nobody Writes to the Colonel, an aching story of loneliness and abandonment that brought me to my knees. This time I fell in love with Simón Bolívar. I can pinpoint the exact moment it happened, too:
Through his father and his mother he [José Laurencio Silva] was a dark-skinned member of the lower class of pardo half-breeds, but the General had married him to Felicia, another of his nieces. During his career he had risen from a sixteen-year old volunteer in the liberating army to a field general at the age of fifty-eight, and he had suffered more than fifteen serious wounds and numerous minor ones, inflicted by a variety of weapons, in fifty-two battles in almost all the campaigns for independence. The only difficulty he encountered as a pardo was his rejection by a lady of the local aristocracy during a gala ball. The General then requested they repeat the waltz, and he danced it with Silva himself.
The image of these two friends dancing together after one of them was snubbed by racists was so vivid and clear in my mind, the beautiful resolution of an ugly moment. I know little about the historical Bolívar; Garcia Marquez paints him as a man steeped in contradictions, trying to adapt to adverse circumstances, aiming for the best, but resigned to the worse. There is one consistent idea he never abdicates: that of the unification of South America. This was the dream of a Gran Colombia whose dissolution, he fears, would plunge into chaos a territory which extended from Panama to the Amazon river.
Bolívar knows this land like the lines of his hand. Ever since he left his home town of Caracas to go to Europe as a teenager, he never stopped wandering. Upon his return to South America, he conspired, fought and liberated all these countries by marching incessantly from battlefield to battlefield, over mountains, down rivers, and into cities, in a mockery of today’s national borders. Homeless and uprooted, unable to return to his country and unwilling to compromise, his home became the Continent, or rather, this dream of a unified South America. If Gran Colombia persisted, then he’d be justified in his unending travels. He would finally arrive at something.
Marquez documents his last journey down and along the Magdalena river. Bolívar tells everyone he’s going to a European exile, but no one believes him, least of all himself. He can’t tear himself off his dream, the land he gave his life to, and so he continues to wander aimlessly, hoping to become relevant again but knowing he won’t, waiting for letters that won’t arrive, hiding his disease and denying his impending death.
Pursued by ghosts who died, betrayed him or simply stayed behind, the final 20 pages gift us a man at his most genuine: alone, aware that he’s dying, the fight slowly draining from him. Only then, perhaps, did he become truly great. Or truly human. What is the difference, after all?
Through his father and his mother he [José Laurencio Silva] was a dark-skinned member of the lower class of pardo half-breeds, but the General had married him to Felicia, another of his nieces. During his career he had risen from a sixteen-year old volunteer in the liberating army to a field general at the age of fifty-eight, and he had suffered more than fifteen serious wounds and numerous minor ones, inflicted by a variety of weapons, in fifty-two battles in almost all the campaigns for independence. The only difficulty he encountered as a pardo was his rejection by a lady of the local aristocracy during a gala ball. The General then requested they repeat the waltz, and he danced it with Silva himself.
The image of these two friends dancing together after one of them was snubbed by racists was so vivid and clear in my mind, the beautiful resolution of an ugly moment. I know little about the historical Bolívar; Garcia Marquez paints him as a man steeped in contradictions, trying to adapt to adverse circumstances, aiming for the best, but resigned to the worse. There is one consistent idea he never abdicates: that of the unification of South America. This was the dream of a Gran Colombia whose dissolution, he fears, would plunge into chaos a territory which extended from Panama to the Amazon river.
Bolívar knows this land like the lines of his hand. Ever since he left his home town of Caracas to go to Europe as a teenager, he never stopped wandering. Upon his return to South America, he conspired, fought and liberated all these countries by marching incessantly from battlefield to battlefield, over mountains, down rivers, and into cities, in a mockery of today’s national borders. Homeless and uprooted, unable to return to his country and unwilling to compromise, his home became the Continent, or rather, this dream of a unified South America. If Gran Colombia persisted, then he’d be justified in his unending travels. He would finally arrive at something.
Marquez documents his last journey down and along the Magdalena river. Bolívar tells everyone he’s going to a European exile, but no one believes him, least of all himself. He can’t tear himself off his dream, the land he gave his life to, and so he continues to wander aimlessly, hoping to become relevant again but knowing he won’t, waiting for letters that won’t arrive, hiding his disease and denying his impending death.
Pursued by ghosts who died, betrayed him or simply stayed behind, the final 20 pages gift us a man at his most genuine: alone, aware that he’s dying, the fight slowly draining from him. Only then, perhaps, did he become truly great. Or truly human. What is the difference, after all?
February 27, 2021
In The General in His Labyrinth, Márquez takes the glorious figure of Simón Bolívar—the man who led the South American peoples in the present states of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, and Bolivia to their freedom from the Spanish Empire—and pours into the mould of his political imprint on the continent an endlessly humanising tribute. Reimagining the least documented period of Bolívar's life, Márquez situates the liberator to reckon with his mortality and failures on his final journey down the river Magdalena.
Whereas the author's densely atmospheric and descriptive style (the beauty of which Michael Bell once described with the phrase "psychological suppleness") lends the prose in this book moments of magical clarity, this is in fact a decidedly unmagical tale. Bolívar here is a man swirling about the last dregs of hope: having renounced power he is set to leave the continent forever, held back at the same time by a reluctance to let go—of power, of his dream of a united South American republic, one he would never fulfil, and; at last; of life.
In fact, Márquez urges one to read the General's body; so ravaged by tuberculosis that most people doubt he will survive to his exile in Europe; as intimately connected with this imagined nation. The spectre of mortality which looms large over every detail in this fictionalised account thus points not only at Bolívar's impending death, but also at the country he fought for disintegrating before his eyes. This connection sees its clearest example in the manner in which the perfidies of his enemies are described and catalogued, as if it is these betrayals, and not the disease, that torment him to his death.
All that being said, I did find myself struggling with this book often and took an inordinately long time (ten days!) to finish it; not-entirely-pleasant experiences I attribute largely to my lack of familiarity with the history of Latin America. For fans of Márquez who are similarly under-educated on these topics, this may prove to be a magical read in the same way as Chronicle of a Death Foretold —The General in His Labyrinth has all of the author's humour and narrative charms with hardly a smidgen of the magic realism that is his hallmark.
While it will go down as the least impressive Márquez I've read so far, it is still an astounding book. I particularly enjoyed the last chapter and the raw lucidity with which it articulates the tension at the heart of this biographical fiction, using the General's own last words:
Whereas the author's densely atmospheric and descriptive style (the beauty of which Michael Bell once described with the phrase "psychological suppleness") lends the prose in this book moments of magical clarity, this is in fact a decidedly unmagical tale. Bolívar here is a man swirling about the last dregs of hope: having renounced power he is set to leave the continent forever, held back at the same time by a reluctance to let go—of power, of his dream of a united South American republic, one he would never fulfil, and; at last; of life.
In fact, Márquez urges one to read the General's body; so ravaged by tuberculosis that most people doubt he will survive to his exile in Europe; as intimately connected with this imagined nation. The spectre of mortality which looms large over every detail in this fictionalised account thus points not only at Bolívar's impending death, but also at the country he fought for disintegrating before his eyes. This connection sees its clearest example in the manner in which the perfidies of his enemies are described and catalogued, as if it is these betrayals, and not the disease, that torment him to his death.
The writer undertook copious research for two years in order to fill out the characters in his fictionalisation, which is evident in the detail and veracity with which he describes the complex and often contradictory figure that the General was, including his ways with women, his often contradictory nationalist ideals, and his relationship with his slave and closest personal aide, José Palacios. Though the Bolívar that Márquez sketches out for us is frail and dying, he nevertheless exudes a dignified charm, and the memories of his youthful conquests weave in and out of the narrative like threads snagging in time.
Sketch of Simón Bolívar at age 47, made from life (and nearing his death) by José María Espinosa, 1830
All that being said, I did find myself struggling with this book often and took an inordinately long time (ten days!) to finish it; not-entirely-pleasant experiences I attribute largely to my lack of familiarity with the history of Latin America. For fans of Márquez who are similarly under-educated on these topics, this may prove to be a magical read in the same way as Chronicle of a Death Foretold —The General in His Labyrinth has all of the author's humour and narrative charms with hardly a smidgen of the magic realism that is his hallmark.
While it will go down as the least impressive Márquez I've read so far, it is still an astounding book. I particularly enjoyed the last chapter and the raw lucidity with which it articulates the tension at the heart of this biographical fiction, using the General's own last words:
He was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness.
'Damn it,' he sighed.
'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?’
May 7, 2019
The General in His Labyrinth recounts the final voyage of a fascinating historical figure, Simón Bolívar, who secured South America's independence from Spain and was president of several nations, but who failed in his grand ambition to unite the continent. The character of Bolívar is one of flaws and contradictions: a great yet humble man, ambitious in his aims, though not desirous of personal glory. He died in relatively modest conditions, having rejected political power and exhausted his vast fortune. It was perhaps his virtues as much as his faults that hindered unification, and instead left behind a foundation of uncertainty and instability for these nations to build upon.
I wish I'd had a greater prior familiarity with the figures, places and events of this novel; unfortunately so much of the historical detail was lost on me. But the novel is also about personal decline, about success and failure as seen in the frame of the finality of death. All this conveyed, of course, though García Márquez's masterful prose, which moves with such gentle, understated ease between the present and the remembered past, constantly shifting between the internal and external, yet arriving at each consecutive point in the narrative in a way that feels entirely natural and consequential.
I wish I'd had a greater prior familiarity with the figures, places and events of this novel; unfortunately so much of the historical detail was lost on me. But the novel is also about personal decline, about success and failure as seen in the frame of the finality of death. All this conveyed, of course, though García Márquez's masterful prose, which moves with such gentle, understated ease between the present and the remembered past, constantly shifting between the internal and external, yet arriving at each consecutive point in the narrative in a way that feels entirely natural and consequential.
November 22, 2020
“Damn it,' he sighed. 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!”
Read
March 30, 2018Follows the last few weeks and days of the life of Simon Bolivar as he surrenders political power and travels down the Magdalena River to the coast on his last journey. While he travels there are reflections on his past, his role in the wars of independence against Spain and his political ambitions.
This is an interesting historical novel in (shades of Wolf Hall here) that the author was trying to remodel the popular image of the man. Bolivar has been seen as a founding father for many of the former Spanish colonies but here we see his dream of a unified republic containing the modern states of Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador dying as he too fades out of life as the river flows home to the sea.
The failure of his political ambitions will allow him to be recast as a safe patriotic icon and the man seems to struggle against this, the fate of a person to be recast as an icon as soon as he is barely cold in his grave, as he is racked with ill-health on his final journey.
This is an interesting historical novel in (shades of Wolf Hall here) that the author was trying to remodel the popular image of the man. Bolivar has been seen as a founding father for many of the former Spanish colonies but here we see his dream of a unified republic containing the modern states of Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador dying as he too fades out of life as the river flows home to the sea.
The failure of his political ambitions will allow him to be recast as a safe patriotic icon and the man seems to struggle against this, the fate of a person to be recast as an icon as soon as he is barely cold in his grave, as he is racked with ill-health on his final journey.
September 8, 2020
La storia romanzata degli ultimi anni di Simon Bolivar, liberatore dell'Americano Latina dal dominio coloniale spagnolo a inizi Ottocento. Ma è anche la storia di un uomo e di una figura in declino, con le sue luci d le sue ombre, gioie e scheletri, che, nel rievocare i fasti del suo passato da Libertador, sempre più spesso si mostra per ciò che in realtà è: un uomo come tanti che ha solo saputo scoprir l'eroe celato dentro di lui.
May 28, 2016
بدايةً لم تحبطني روايةً مثل تلك الرواية.. توقعتُ فيما توقّعتُ أن أقف على مقطوعة أدبيّة عالية الطراز.. منمّقة في أدقّ تفاصيلها.. تأخذ أنفاسك في لوحاتها المرسومة بعناية بقلم ماركيز الجميل.. لكنّي، ويالحسرتي، لم أجدُ فيها ما تمنّيتُ.. بحثتُ عن ماركيز هنا فلم أجدْهُ..
عموماً، تصف الروايةُ المنعطف الأخير في حياة الأسطورة بوليفار.. أسطورةٌ هو أَمْ دون خوان متعددّ العلاقات هائم في عشق كلّ ماهو أنثويّ.. لا يهمّ هو أسطورةٌ على كلّ حال.
من شابّ يافع لم يكن يأبه بالنضال تلقّى تعليمه بفرنسا إلى محرر لأمريكا الجنوبية من يدِ واحدةٍ من أعتى الإمبراطوريات على وجه الأرض حينها.. أسبانيا.
وبين شراسة الأعداء وخيانة رفقاء ثورة التحرّر، طحنت السنين عظامه وأكلت لحمه وتملّم المرض من رئتيه فأصبح في آخر حياته شبه إنسان.. شبه ميّت.. تلقّى الطعنات من كلّ جانب.. حتى من جانب من تحرّروا على يديه.. أطعمهم الحرّية فاتهموه بالديكتاتوريّة.. كان يريد أمريكا الجنوبيّة حرّةً موحّدة.. يحلم بها واحدةً من أقوى وأكبر جمهوريّات الأرض.. فتحققت له الأولى.. وشجّت رأسَهُ الثانيةُ.. ومات وهو في طريقهِ إلى المنفى إثر تخلّيه عن الرئاسة.
مللتُ الروايةُ كونها مليئة فوق الاحتمال بالتفاصيل.. حتّى ظننت أنني أنا الذي في المتاهة لا الجنرال.. باعتقادي أن ترجمة الطبعةُ التي قرأتها على يد (محمد عبد المنعم جلال) سبباً في شعوري بتلك المتاهة.. عامّة هما نجمتان ونصف مجبوراتٍ إلى ثلاثٍ.
تحيّاتي..
عموماً، تصف الروايةُ المنعطف الأخير في حياة الأسطورة بوليفار.. أسطورةٌ هو أَمْ دون خوان متعددّ العلاقات هائم في عشق كلّ ماهو أنثويّ.. لا يهمّ هو أسطورةٌ على كلّ حال.
من شابّ يافع لم يكن يأبه بالنضال تلقّى تعليمه بفرنسا إلى محرر لأمريكا الجنوبية من يدِ واحدةٍ من أعتى الإمبراطوريات على وجه الأرض حينها.. أسبانيا.
وبين شراسة الأعداء وخيانة رفقاء ثورة التحرّر، طحنت السنين عظامه وأكلت لحمه وتملّم المرض من رئتيه فأصبح في آخر حياته شبه إنسان.. شبه ميّت.. تلقّى الطعنات من كلّ جانب.. حتى من جانب من تحرّروا على يديه.. أطعمهم الحرّية فاتهموه بالديكتاتوريّة.. كان يريد أمريكا الجنوبيّة حرّةً موحّدة.. يحلم بها واحدةً من أقوى وأكبر جمهوريّات الأرض.. فتحققت له الأولى.. وشجّت رأسَهُ الثانيةُ.. ومات وهو في طريقهِ إلى المنفى إثر تخلّيه عن الرئاسة.
مللتُ الروايةُ كونها مليئة فوق الاحتمال بالتفاصيل.. حتّى ظننت أنني أنا الذي في المتاهة لا الجنرال.. باعتقادي أن ترجمة الطبعةُ التي قرأتها على يد (محمد عبد المنعم جلال) سبباً في شعوري بتلك المتاهة.. عامّة هما نجمتان ونصف مجبوراتٍ إلى ثلاثٍ.
تحيّاتي..
March 20, 2017
Se trata de una novela histórica que recrea los últimos días de Simón Bolívar, uno de los principales líderes de los procesos de independencia política desarrollados en América del Sur en el primer cuarto del siglo XIX.
Es el libro que menos me gusta de Gabriel García Márquez porque es un libro histórico.
Es el libro que menos me gusta de Gabriel García Márquez porque es un libro histórico.
April 1, 2022
داستان یکنواخت پیش می ره… یک داستان تاریخی، سیاسی.. چقدر ژنرال عذاب کشیده بیچاره..
امتیاز ش ۳.۵ هست از نظر من…
به خزان خودکامه نمی رسه
و به صد سال تنهایی حتی نزدیک هم نیست..
اولش نمی خواستم نظر بدم… وقتی یک کتاب برام معمولی هست نظر دادن در موردش سخت میشه .. ولی چون در بین ریویو ها نوشته ای از دوستان گودریدزی و حتی به جز چند نفر محدود ایرانی ندیدم.. گفتم یک چیزی بنویسم اقلا 😉
امتیاز ش ۳.۵ هست از نظر من…
به خزان خودکامه نمی رسه
و به صد سال تنهایی حتی نزدیک هم نیست..
اولش نمی خواستم نظر بدم… وقتی یک کتاب برام معمولی هست نظر دادن در موردش سخت میشه .. ولی چون در بین ریویو ها نوشته ای از دوستان گودریدزی و حتی به جز چند نفر محدود ایرانی ندیدم.. گفتم یک چیزی بنویسم اقلا 😉
July 30, 2019
Gabo ο αγαπημένος, Gabo ο πολυβραβευμένος, Gabo ο μέγιστος. Όμως όχι εδώ.
Να εξηγούμαι: αγαπώ τη γραφή του García Márquez, την υπέροχη χρήση της γλώσσας και το μαγικό ρεαλισμό του κι όταν καταπιάνεται με τις τελευταίες ημέρες ζωής του Simón Bolívar - ενός συμβόλου ελευθερίας για ολόκληρη τη Λατινική Αμερική - οι προσδοκίες είναι υψηλές.
Σ' αυτό του έργο, η ιστορία κυλάει λίγο πιο αργά, η αφήγηση γίνεται λίγο πιο δυσκίνητη και πολλά από τα στοιχεία που αγαπήσαμε σε προηγούμενα βιβλία του αν και δεν απουσιάζουν, είναι σαφώς πιο δυσδιάκριτα. Είναι αναπόφευκτη η σύγκριση με Το φθινόπωρο του πατριάρχη, που έχει αρκετά παρεμφερές θέμα, αν κάποιος, δε, θέλει να ασχοληθεί με το ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα θα πρότεινα Την είδηση μιας απαγωγής που αφήνει να φανεί το αφηγηματικό ταλέντο του συγγραφέα, καθώς και το δημοσιογραφικό του παρελθόν.
Έχασα το χρόνο μου μαζί του; Σε καμία περίπτωση. Σε σχέση με τους δύο παραπάνω τίτλους, ωστόσο, το βρήκα υποδεέστερο.
3/5
Να εξηγούμαι: αγαπώ τη γραφή του García Márquez, την υπέροχη χρήση της γλώσσας και το μαγικό ρεαλισμό του κι όταν καταπιάνεται με τις τελευταίες ημέρες ζωής του Simón Bolívar - ενός συμβόλου ελευθερίας για ολόκληρη τη Λατινική Αμερική - οι προσδοκίες είναι υψηλές.
Σ' αυτό του έργο, η ιστορία κυλάει λίγο πιο αργά, η αφήγηση γίνεται λίγο πιο δυσκίνητη και πολλά από τα στοιχεία που αγαπήσαμε σε προηγούμενα βιβλία του αν και δεν απουσιάζουν, είναι σαφώς πιο δυσδιάκριτα. Είναι αναπόφευκτη η σύγκριση με Το φθινόπωρο του πατριάρχη, που έχει αρκετά παρεμφερές θέμα, αν κάποιος, δε, θέλει να ασχοληθεί με το ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα θα πρότεινα Την είδηση μιας απαγωγής που αφήνει να φανεί το αφηγηματικό ταλέντο του συγγραφέα, καθώς και το δημοσιογραφικό του παρελθόν.
Έχασα το χρόνο μου μαζί του; Σε καμία περίπτωση. Σε σχέση με τους δύο παραπάνω τίτλους, ωστόσο, το βρήκα υποδεέστερο.
3/5
October 28, 2020
" لا بد للوجود قبل التغيير و لن نعرف إذا كان للوطن وجود أم لا إلا بعد إنقشاع الأفق السياسي "
رواية بطابع تاريخي عن رحلة الجنرال سيمون بوليفار الأخيرة في قلب أمريكا اللاتينية ...هو الذي خلص أمريكا الجنوبية من براثن الإستعمار الإسباني طامحا بذلك لتكوين دولة موحدة قبل أن تقوض الإنقسامات الداخلية و السياسية حلمه...من قرأ رائعة مئة عام من العزلة سيتأكد أكثر فأكثر أن تلك الرواية لم تكن هي الأخرى سوى سرد عن تاريخ كولومبيا و أمريكا اللاتينية عامة خلال القرن التاسع عشر و عزلتها الممتدة مئة عام كاملة، و التي كانت وراء تخلفها عن ركب الأمم المتقدمة بعد أن أنتجت صراعاتها السياسية و حروبها الأهلية مسوخا على شكل دول متشضية و أنظمة فاسدة في مجملها...و ما عالمنا العربي عن التاريخ اللاتيني ببعيد لذلك لا تستغرب متى وجدت قادة القارة يناصرون قضايانا فيما نحن لا نعلم عنها أو عنهم الشيء الكثير
28/10/2020
00:26
August 28, 2018
An honest and compassionate tribute to a truly remarkable hero in the last days of his life.
September 24, 2022
نهاية حزينة لقائد عظيم...
السياسة دائما مليئة بالخيانة و الاعمال السيئة...
السياسة دائما مليئة بالخيانة و الاعمال السيئة...
September 15, 2008
Everyone knows of the big historical events that took place in the 1800 during the liberation of Latin America from the Spanish colonization that are of course associated with Simon Bolivar-aka the Liberator. Apart from his vision for a united Latin America that would form the biggest country that would be "half of the world," his wars for integration, and his glories, no one cares to know about his end.
Gabo had to do extensive reasearch for two years, contacting people from so many different walks of life to make this book about the general's final 14 days during the trip along the Magdalena River, as accurate as possible- he even had a university professor help him in figuring out all the days in which there was a full moon during those years...
The book gives a totally different image of Simon Bolivar who is a hero to many and a villain to some. the book reveals the flesh-and-bone man, with his obsessions, sickness, weaknesses, and above all vulnerability. It helps us understand how one's childhood and youth affect who you become, and your life as an adult affects how you die. His vulgar language, his constant fevers and delirium, his sexual adventures, all define the stories of the men and women who were involved in his life and were kept together around it even after it faded away.
The Bolivarian dream lives on...
Gabo had to do extensive reasearch for two years, contacting people from so many different walks of life to make this book about the general's final 14 days during the trip along the Magdalena River, as accurate as possible- he even had a university professor help him in figuring out all the days in which there was a full moon during those years...
The book gives a totally different image of Simon Bolivar who is a hero to many and a villain to some. the book reveals the flesh-and-bone man, with his obsessions, sickness, weaknesses, and above all vulnerability. It helps us understand how one's childhood and youth affect who you become, and your life as an adult affects how you die. His vulgar language, his constant fevers and delirium, his sexual adventures, all define the stories of the men and women who were involved in his life and were kept together around it even after it faded away.
The Bolivarian dream lives on...
February 1, 2023
2.5 stars
This novel is a fictionalised exploration of the glorious figure of Bolívar, known as the Liberator of South America. Márquez does not reduce his characterisation to only concern the glamour of political and cultural legacy, but unabashedly writes the man as a man. He depicts the mortal ordeals, the illnesses, the bodily pleasures and pains that exist in the figure of Bolívar.
I appreciate the unfiltered, demystified portrait that Márquez paints with his words, although I can’t say that I overly enjoyed the experience of reading.
This novel is a fictionalised exploration of the glorious figure of Bolívar, known as the Liberator of South America. Márquez does not reduce his characterisation to only concern the glamour of political and cultural legacy, but unabashedly writes the man as a man. He depicts the mortal ordeals, the illnesses, the bodily pleasures and pains that exist in the figure of Bolívar.
I appreciate the unfiltered, demystified portrait that Márquez paints with his words, although I can’t say that I overly enjoyed the experience of reading.
November 26, 2019
لا أحد يماثل الماركيز
February 12, 2022
TW: Doença, Morte
É o terceiro livro que leio do autor e voltei a corroborar um pensamento: a sua escrita transporta-nos sempre para os cenários e as ações que descreve. Neste caso, seria impossível, até porque remonta a um tempo em que ainda não era nascida, mas senti-me quase parte de todos os acontecimentos; senti-me a caminhar ao lado do protagonista, a acalentar as suas decisões e a partilhar as suas dores. Assim, neste romance de caráter histórico, acompanhamos os últimos meses de Simón Bolívar - «acalmado pelo povo como Libertador». E o relato desta viagem é, sem qualquer dúvida, intrigante e comovente. Conscientes do desfecho, cresce em nós o desejo de ver o destino a mudar a sua rota, mas é extraordinário como Gabriel García Márquez interliga a tragédia e o maravilhoso.
É o terceiro livro que leio do autor e voltei a corroborar um pensamento: a sua escrita transporta-nos sempre para os cenários e as ações que descreve. Neste caso, seria impossível, até porque remonta a um tempo em que ainda não era nascida, mas senti-me quase parte de todos os acontecimentos; senti-me a caminhar ao lado do protagonista, a acalentar as suas decisões e a partilhar as suas dores. Assim, neste romance de caráter histórico, acompanhamos os últimos meses de Simón Bolívar - «acalmado pelo povo como Libertador». E o relato desta viagem é, sem qualquer dúvida, intrigante e comovente. Conscientes do desfecho, cresce em nós o desejo de ver o destino a mudar a sua rota, mas é extraordinário como Gabriel García Márquez interliga a tragédia e o maravilhoso.
May 2, 2018
Ky është libri i katërt i Marquez-it që kam lexuar. E kam shijuar shumë për stilin dhe ndërtimin e një personazhi në mënyrë aq të plotë, sa nuk ke zgjedhje tjetër veç admirimit kundrejt tij. Një roman me tipare historike, por që rrëshqet në mënyrë të heshtur dhe pa bujë drejt një drame (tragjedie!) të shpirtit njerëzor, të gërryer pa mëshirë nga tradhëtitë, humbjet dhe mbi të gjitha prej shkëlqimit të humbur. Prekja e trajtës më të fshehur të një embleme si Simon Bolivari, asaj që ai u pëpoq aq shumë ta fshehë pas shpërthimeve të papërmbajtshme dhe kllapive të tuberkulozit.
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