family is destined for glory as well as infamy.
During that period GarcÃa Márquez discovered other childrenâs stories that were typical of the reading of bookish boys and young adults: the folktales recounted by the Brothers Grimm,
The Three Musketeers
and
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexander Dumas,
Around the World in Eighty Days
and
Voyage to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo, and
The Black Corsair, The Mystery of the Black Jungle, Sanmdoka the Great, The Tigers of Mompracem,
and
The Pirates of Malaysia
by Emilio Salgari. Ãlvaro Mutis, GarcÃa Márquezâs friend, whom he met in Barranquilla in 1949, often talked about finding the inspiration for his ubiquitous character, Maqroll el Gaviero (Maqroll the Lookout) in the adventure novels of Verne and Salgari, which he read as a young adult. Salgari also inspired other Latin American writers, from Jorge Luis Borges to Carlos Fuentes. His anti-imperialist views likely resonated among Spanish-language authors who were wary of American influence in the Southern hemisphere. Salgari, unlike Verne, appears to have gone unnoticed in the United States. 2
Then, of course, there was
Don Quixote of La Mancha,
a book to which GarcÃa Márquezâs own masterpiece has often been compared, not because they are similar in plot or cast or characters but because each has come to be seen as a testament of the time in the Spanish-speaking world. The juxtaposition of reality and fiction is at the core of Cervantesâs two-part novel, originally published in 1605 and 1615, approximately three and a half centuries before
One Hundred Years of Solitude.
GarcÃa Márquezâs reading of it, in his own words, âalways deserved a different chapter.â He had an instinctive dislike for the novel and he wasnât shy about saying so. âThe long learned speeches of the knight errant bored me, I did not find the stupidities of the squire all that amusing, and I even began to think it was not the same book that people talked so much about.â
But his secondary school teacher, Maestro Juan Ventura CassalÃns, had recommended it highly, and the respect GarcÃa Márquez had for the teacher meant that he needed to give
Don Quixote
a second look. He did so, but felt as if he were swallowing it âlike spoonsful of purgative.â GarcÃa Márquez added: âI made other attempts in secondary school, where I was obliged to study it as a requirement, and I had an irremediable aversion to it until a friend advised me to put it on the back of the toilet and try to read it while I took care of my daily needs. Only in this way did I discover it, like a conflagration, and relish it forward and back until I could recite entire episodes by heart.â 3
In 1939, the family moved to Sucre. A year later, GarcÃa Márquez started middle school at the Colegio San José. It was at the heart of the city, adjacent to the church. He had lived away from his parents for the first eight years of his life and later while he was in high school, which meant that he was largely absent from the family household. This is how his siblings remembered him during that period. They received wordof his interests, of who his friends were, but always from a distance. This remoteness would characterize his relationship with his family. They were constantly amazed by his achievements. In some instances this translated to devotion, while in others it generated envy. After he had achieved glory, he became a source of financial support for his family, at times buying someone an apartment or paying anotherâs medical bills.
As a child, GarcÃa Márquez was curious. His transcripts from elementary and secondary school show an attentive student devoted to his courses. He was shy, taciturn even. He was known to have no interest in athletic activities. While at the Colegio San José, he met Juan B. Fernández
During that period GarcÃa Márquez discovered other childrenâs stories that were typical of the reading of bookish boys and young adults: the folktales recounted by the Brothers Grimm,
The Three Musketeers
and
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexander Dumas,
Around the World in Eighty Days
and
Voyage to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo, and
The Black Corsair, The Mystery of the Black Jungle, Sanmdoka the Great, The Tigers of Mompracem,
and
The Pirates of Malaysia
by Emilio Salgari. Ãlvaro Mutis, GarcÃa Márquezâs friend, whom he met in Barranquilla in 1949, often talked about finding the inspiration for his ubiquitous character, Maqroll el Gaviero (Maqroll the Lookout) in the adventure novels of Verne and Salgari, which he read as a young adult. Salgari also inspired other Latin American writers, from Jorge Luis Borges to Carlos Fuentes. His anti-imperialist views likely resonated among Spanish-language authors who were wary of American influence in the Southern hemisphere. Salgari, unlike Verne, appears to have gone unnoticed in the United States. 2
Then, of course, there was
Don Quixote of La Mancha,
a book to which GarcÃa Márquezâs own masterpiece has often been compared, not because they are similar in plot or cast or characters but because each has come to be seen as a testament of the time in the Spanish-speaking world. The juxtaposition of reality and fiction is at the core of Cervantesâs two-part novel, originally published in 1605 and 1615, approximately three and a half centuries before
One Hundred Years of Solitude.
GarcÃa Márquezâs reading of it, in his own words, âalways deserved a different chapter.â He had an instinctive dislike for the novel and he wasnât shy about saying so. âThe long learned speeches of the knight errant bored me, I did not find the stupidities of the squire all that amusing, and I even began to think it was not the same book that people talked so much about.â
But his secondary school teacher, Maestro Juan Ventura CassalÃns, had recommended it highly, and the respect GarcÃa Márquez had for the teacher meant that he needed to give
Don Quixote
a second look. He did so, but felt as if he were swallowing it âlike spoonsful of purgative.â GarcÃa Márquez added: âI made other attempts in secondary school, where I was obliged to study it as a requirement, and I had an irremediable aversion to it until a friend advised me to put it on the back of the toilet and try to read it while I took care of my daily needs. Only in this way did I discover it, like a conflagration, and relish it forward and back until I could recite entire episodes by heart.â 3
In 1939, the family moved to Sucre. A year later, GarcÃa Márquez started middle school at the Colegio San José. It was at the heart of the city, adjacent to the church. He had lived away from his parents for the first eight years of his life and later while he was in high school, which meant that he was largely absent from the family household. This is how his siblings remembered him during that period. They received wordof his interests, of who his friends were, but always from a distance. This remoteness would characterize his relationship with his family. They were constantly amazed by his achievements. In some instances this translated to devotion, while in others it generated envy. After he had achieved glory, he became a source of financial support for his family, at times buying someone an apartment or paying anotherâs medical bills.
As a child, GarcÃa Márquez was curious. His transcripts from elementary and secondary school show an attentive student devoted to his courses. He was shy, taciturn even. He was known to have no interest in athletic activities. While at the Colegio San José, he met Juan B. Fernández
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