gSriSH &
1 r
ters; situational irony results when
events prove contradictory to what
. had been expected.
Magic Realism: fiction in which no dis-
tinction is made between realistic
and nonrealistic events; Cuban nov-
elist Alejo Carpentier is usually con-
sidered the first to apply the term to
literature, believing that a type of sto-
rytelling in which the distinction
between fantasy and reality is blurred
was typical of Carribean authors.
Garcia Marquez argues that the ratio~
nalism of European readers tends to
prevent them from accepting that
magic realism is inspired by everyday
life in Latin America in which reality
is full of extraordinary things.,
Mestizo: a person of mixed Spanish and
Indian blood"
Narrator: a novel or story may be told
either by a first-person narrator, usu-
ally a character in the story, or by a
third-person narrator, who is most
often omniscient, or all-knowing,
and sees into the motives of all the
characters. An omniscient narrator
may intrude into the narrative to
comment on the action or the charac-
ters. Garda Marquez uses a quasi~omni­
scient narrator, who surprises the
reader by using the first person, tll"
or UWe" or "OUf," and so defining
himself as a member of the commu-
nity about which he is writing.
Naturalism: a fonn of realism, but with
particular attention to the raw physi-
cal details of life, It views its charac-
ters as creatures of nature, animal in
their needs and desires.
Picaresque: an episodic novel that chron-
icles a series of adventures and daring
escapades of a roguish character
known as a picaro, or knave, who is
generally mischievous, sly, crafty, and
a rascal. Both of the Spanish novels
addressed by Garcia Marquez, Laz-
anllo de Tonnes and Don Quixote, are
picaresque novels.,
Plot: the sequence of events in a story,
linked, usually but not always,
through causal connections. The
action of a novel, or, what happens,
Realism: the major tradition in the novel
of
that began as 'a form entertainment
for the middle classes. It demands
verisimilitude of the action, a resem-
blance to everyday life as the reader
knows it~ the behavior of the charac-
ters in a realist work is causally con-
nected, and action in the present can
be traced to causes in the past., Real-
ism minimizes the use of coincidence
or accidenc
Setting: the background of the story or
novel, not only the room or the
weather or the streets, but the histor-
ical and cultural context of the work
of fiction.. The setting of Garcia
Marquez's novels figures importantly
in both plot and characterization,
and even becomes a character in its
own right, particularly in Chronicle oj
a Death Foretold and Love in the Time
of Cholera, where by the end the river
takes over the foreground of the nar-
rative. Most often Garcia Marquez
sets his stories on the Caribbean
coast of Colombia, the region of his
birth..
Verisimilitude: the credibility of a story,
its similarity to life as we know it..
La Violencia: literall)\ "the violence"; the
period of political violence that
wracked Colombia from the early
1940s to the middle of the 19605,
Zambos: people of mixed African and
Indian descent..
 ISSN 15'l6·15)0

LITERARY
II
I
MASTERS
i Volume 5
Gabriel Garcia Mdrq,uez

Joan Mellen l
~<;.

A MAl'lLY';IN--C: BOOK

~AlE .ROUP

P.lroll
'sa" Frorlcllfo
h"do"
Ba"D"
Wao.r~,ldll•• CT
1 GABRIEL GARCiA MARQUEZ

Mlluhew J. Bruccoll ;and Richard layman, Edllorlal D1n:C1an

A Not, (0 the Reader
While evtry errort has been made 10 en5un~ the rdillbllhy of the Inrormallcm presented In the
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GABRIEL GARCiA MARQUEZ
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GARCIA MARQUEZ AT WORt< ...........•.•.....•.........•..•..... 24
Gelling Established 24
TechnIques 28
ISDN 0·7876·)970·2
ISSN 1526·1.530 Subject To RevisIon 46

.1 Critical Receplion 49

GARCiA MARQUEZ'S ERA •.•..•••••.........•.....•..•.•.•..•.•.... 60

Printed In the Unhcd StDtes of America
GarCia Md'l'llleZ~ COllntty 60
10 9 6 7 6 j .. 3 2 t
GarcICl Md'lJuez~ Era and Time In History 65
Lifestyle and Culture 76

GARCiA MARQUEZ'S WORKS •........•.....•.•..••.•..•............ 83

Boohs B3
SClipts aud Screenplays 103