Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ave atque vale

[Leanne]

Today we bid farewell to Columbian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have only ever read his short stories, which I remember very strongly from my teenage years -- his slight edge of unreality resonated deeply with those angsty days of isolation.

This is not a sad day, because at last he enters true immortality.

[ellajam]

I know, I read some of his novels, they're a wonderful ride and stick with you. They also led me to other authors. Well worth the jump from reality.

[ChristopherSea]

It was decades ago, but Love in the Time of Cholera was a little like one of Lorca's comedic tragedies (but it was no Blood Wedding). Agreed, that living to the ripe old age of 87 years is no tragedy, compared to being cut down in your prime at 38.

Isn't it odd, that for most of us, our appreciation of foreign literature comes through translation alone and we have no idea how the works might read in their native tongues?

[ellajam]

It was decades ago, but Love in the Time of Cholera was a little like one of Lorca's comedic tragedies (but it was no Blood Wedding). Agreed, that living to the ripe old age of 87 years is no tragedy, compared to being cut down in your prime at 38.

Isn't it odd, that for most of us, our appreciation of foreign literature comes through translation alone and we have no idea how the works might read in their native tongues?

I suck at other languages and sometimes have to work really hard at English. I'm grateful for the translations.

[ChristopherSea]

It was decades ago, but Love in the Time of Cholera was a little like one of Lorca's comedic tragedies (but it was no Blood Wedding). Agreed, that living to the ripe old age of 87 years is no tragedy, compared to being cut down in your prime at 38.

Isn't it odd, that for most of us, our appreciation of foreign literature comes through translation alone and we have no idea how the works might read in their native tongues?

I suck at other languages and sometimes have to work really hard at English. I'm grateful for the translations.

I am right there beside you sister.

[rayheinrich]

I remember reading Hundred Years of Solitude.
Couldn't write anything for three months.
(It would have been longer, but I have a terrible memory.)

Not sure what the original was like, but the translation by Gregory Rabassa was great:

From wiki:
"García Márquez waited three years for Rabassa's schedule to become open
so that he could translate One Hundred Years of Solitude. He later
declared Rabassa's translation to be superior to his own Spanish original.