"YOU NEED CHAOS IN YOUR SOUL TO GIVE BIRTH TO A DANCING STAR".
Nietzsche © Copyright applies to all content: 2007/08/09/10/11/15/16/17...

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Gabriel García Márquez - Photo: AP
Te adoro Gabriel!


infatuate vt. - at'ed, at'ing (L. in.- intens. + fatuus, foolish) to inspire with foolish love or affection - in-fat'u-a'tion n.

INFATUATION

I must confess that I don't read much contemporary fiction I have been seriously spoiled as a teenager reading Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sartre, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda, after my attention was caught in the last two years of high school by the likes of (particularly) Shakespeare, Goethe, Plato…

So, when Gabriel came into my world in the mid 80’s, he captured my attention in a rather forceful manner (how unlike him!) and ever since I have been reduced to a mere blood hound as I voraciously “sniff” through his pages for that final morsel!
And I laugh and I cry - simultaneously most of the time.

A few times I got distracted and got side-tracked to return again, like with the Autumn of the General – ay, Chihuahua, it gave a whole new meaning to page-long sentences and forever sealed my contempt for the “much acclaimed” Margaret Atwood constipated style – Phuh!
But, I never wavered with One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera and now, late last night/this AM, with Memories of My Melancholy Whores

(Must admit I had to get past the naming of women "whores" - but, the sad reality is, that many a horse-faced man does!)

*Three sentences from p. 131 of any book... this one has only 115 - so, I will invert the numbers and quote from p. 113

"It has to be, at any price, I shouted in terror. She hung up without saying goodbye, but fifteen minutes later she calles back: "All right, she's here."


* Tag - from Krystyna's http://evolvesmb.blogspot.com/

who was herself tagged by http://cherries-and-blossoms.blogspot.com/

16 comments:

krystyna said...

Hi Angeldust!
I enjoyed your reflecions about this author Gabriel Garcia Margquez. Fiction is not my favorite but after your post...
You found great photo.
Take care and good luck!

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Ohhh Krystyna, you have not lived if you have not read Gabriel!

And, he is superbly translated into English

Start with LOve in the Time of Cholera, not that long and intricate as some of the others...
(English wise)

Big Hug

Anonymous said...

"Love in the Time of Cholera" will be my next reading.
God bless you Angeldust!

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Enjoy... he is R-E-A-L-L different

Anonymous said...

Hi angeldust, so you are a fan of Marquez too, :-) I love his writing. I peeked at "100 Years of Solitude" when I first bought it (English translation) and meant to go back to it, but alas, got sidetracked. Thank you for the reminder. :-) *Love in the Time of Cholera" is a haunting book and a great favourite. What did you think of "Love and Other Demons"? I thought the ending a little disappointing.

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Hi dear Sandy,
missed that one...
It's on my list.

But, I found the Autumn of the General quiet convoluted until about half way through... and when it got good, I put it down for some reason - time to dig it up?

Got another one, short - can't remember tittle - from Vancouver Library and it was OK, just OK - for him!

Of course he did win the Nobel Prize for 100 Years... it is absolutely phenomenal - once you read contemporaty fiction of that caliber, hard to find something to satisfy...
I thought of trying Tony Morison’s Nobel winner, but - donno...

You may like to try Carlos Fuentes - he is to die for, same genre - wow - his vocabulary exceeds the exquisite. Try him with Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins…

Love and Joy

Anonymous said...

I've checked out Amazon.uk for the Carlos Fuentes book, that one isn't there so will have to try my local bookstore, but they do have "Where the Air is Clear" and "Aura" which sound intresting.

So, thank you angeldust for adding to my mountainous TBR pile. lol

Have you read any Vladimir Nabokov?

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

No, tell me about him...
How about Kunderas?

vinay said...

i love "love in the time of cholera"...gabriel rocks!!

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Yes!!!! Vinay
I had been very impatient during some passages of the book, but I will tell you that it was about 2:30AM WHen I finished reading it and I was at the same time laughing and crying from joy!

Yes, Gabriel rocks!

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

PS.: Sandy,
I just noticed (with all yellowed pages) the correct Tittle is "The Autumn of the Patriach". 1977

"A stunning portrait of a monstrous Caribbean tyrant. He is a bird woman's bastard, conceived in a storm of bluebottle flies, born in a convent doorway, gifted at birth with a huge, deformed feet and an enlarged testicle the size of a fig, which whistles a tune of pain to him every moment of his impossibly long life.... Mystical, surrealistec, Rabelaisian in its excesses, its distortions, and its exotic language." - The New York Times

Quintissential Gabriel

Anonymous said...

My, a definate one to add. Thank you.

I haven't read Kunderas but looked him up "The Book of Laughter and Forgetfulness" is an intriquing title but not sure if I'd like him and doesn't he publish mainly in Czech and French?

Vladimir Nabokov has a love of language that makes his writing sheer poetry.

I've just ordered "Pale Fire" which is a poem, 999 lines and divided into four cantos, written by poet John Shade. It's moving, vibrant and breathtaking. And it's posthumously annotated by scholar (and head case) Charles Kinbote, supposedly from the fictional Zembla. In the "backwoods," Kinbote overdissects and reexamines the strange poem. Increasingly he is drawn into the web of words, stuck on the poem and believing it to be about him.

"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
In the false azure of the windowpane"

"Lolita" is his most famous, I must admit the pedophilia elements almost put me off, but I am so glad I bought it. It is a masterpiece of language; of love and obsession, pain and humour.
Maybe his collected short stories is one to begin with.

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Oh, Sandy this is soooo precious.
A 900 line poem, wow!
I will have to make note of tthese.

I though perhaps looking for the Fuentes title on at specialty second hand book dealers on line… could be out of print.

Same thing with Gabriel’s "Memories of my Melancholy Whores"... ouch!
Don’t like any term that is intrinsically derogatory to ab yone - less that of "whore", on top of it, the story if of a 90 year old and a 15 old virgin....
Talk about pedophilia!
Somehow - he makes it sound not only possible, but also acceptable. (!?)

Some of this reading is necessary for our education - what does actually bring/perpetuate this on, and on - among other things; what kind of culture, mentality?

A brilliant friend of mine was into Kunderas, he is available in English – although, I am sure she read him in French, while living in Paris – it is possible to be a bad translation what I got, could not get into it!
Just as I cannot get into Atwood – no matter what!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the Marquez title Angel, it helped and"The Autumn of the Patriach" is now on order at my local bookshop. Haven't had much luck with "...Melancholy Whores" and the Fuentes book, but will keep trying. :-)

A 90 year old and a 15 year old virgin? Whatever else we may think you have to admire the man for his optomism. And yes, if we are to try and see/understand the ways of the world, it's no use going through life blinkered. Apart from that,we'd miss out on some really good literature. :-)

I was hoping "Pale Fire" would arrive today, but looks as if it will be Monday's post now. Hopefully, will give you a *peek* at the poem.

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Pale Fire?

rauf said...

'Living to tell the tale' has been lying here for over a couple of months now, did not feel like touching it, I think I should start reading today. I have not been carrying books with me of late as I am completely involved in traveling though I carry music.

love and hugs Angel.