Gabriel García Márquez

by Gerald Martin

  58. See “Habeas y los derechos humanos: despegue por lo alto,” Alternativa, 201, 26 February 1979, which announces that GGM has met Pope John Paul II on 19 January and the King and Queen of Spain on 3 February.

  59. Quoted by El Tiempo on 8 February 1979.

  60. “Gobierno de post-guerra: GGM entrevista a Sergio Ramírez,” Alternativa, 218, 21–28 June 1979.

  61. This was around the time that GGM’s film script Viva Sandino, later also known as El secuestro and El asalto, was published.

  62. Chao and Ramonet, “La guerra de la información. Tres casos: Nicaragua, Vietnam y Cuba,” Alternativa, 201, 26 February 1979.

  63. On the McBride Report, see GGM, “La comisión de Babel,” El Espectador, 2 November 1980. See also Sorela, El otro García Márquez, p. 250, who states that there were eight meetings in 1980-81: four in Paris and one each in Stockholm, Dubrovnik, Delhi and Acapulco.

  64. At the end GGM and his Chilean colleague, Juan Somavía, later Secretary General of the International Labour Organization, dissatisfied with the compromise reached by the commission, sent in a joint minority commentary.

  65. These comments were made at a lunch in Mexico City given by the Federación Latinoamericana de Periodistas to Mexican President José López Portillo.

  66. GGM, “Del malo conocido al peor por conocer,” El Espectador, 9 November 1980.

  67. See “La Revolución Cubana me libró de todos los honores detestables de este mundo,” Bohemia (Havana), 1979, in Rentería, pp. 201-9: “I have no more ideas for books. Won’t it be marvellous the day I start to get them again.”

  20 / Return to Literature: Chronicle of a Death Foretold and the Nobel Prize (1980–1982)

  1. See GGM, “La comisión de Babel,” El Espectador, 2 November 1980.

  2. Carmen Galindo and Carlos Vanella, “Soy más peligroso como literato que como político: GM,” second of two articles, El Día (Mexico City), 7 September 1981.

  3. See GGM, “Georges Brassens,” El Espectador, 8 November 1981, and “Desde París con amor,” El Espectador, 26 December 1982. Many of the articles during this period have Parisian themes.

  4. María Jimena Duzán, interview, Bogotá, 1991.

  5. Enrique Santos Calderón, interview, Bogotá, 1991.

  6. Consuelo Mendoza de Riaño, “La Gaba,” Revista Diners (Bogotá), November 1980.

  7. Excelsior, 20 March 1980.

  8. “Gabriel García Márquez. ¿Esbirro o es burro?,” El Universal, 17 May 1980.

  9. Alan Riding, “For GM, revolution is a major theme,” New York Times, 22 May 1980.

  10. See Juan Gossaín, “A Cayetano lo mató todo el pueblo,” El Espectador, 13 May 1981, p. 7a, an interview with Luis Enrique GM.

  11. See Eligio García’s Crónica de la crónica, which compares the original events with the novel, and the novel and the original events with the film and the events of its production.

  12. See GGM, “El cuento del cuento,” El Espectador, 23 August 1981, and “El cuento del cuento (Conclusión),” El Espectador, 30 August 1981.

  13. See Sorela, El otro García Márquez, p. 255, on the 1980–84 articles.

  14. GGM wrote a letter to Plinio Mendoza, 22 July 1966, in which he says—in 1966, immediately after completing OHYS but before it was published!—that he would like to do exactly this kind of journalism.

  15. See John Benson, “Notas sobre Notas de prensa 1980–1984,” Revista de Estudios Colombianos, 18 (1998), pp. 27–37.

  16. The four articles appeared in El Espectador between mid-September and early October 1980.

  17. The name and subtitle of a U.S. TV series of a subsequent era.

  18. “Sí, la nostalgia sigue siendo igual que antes,” El Espectador, 16 December 1980.

  19. GGM, “Un domingo de delirio,” El Espectador, 8 March 1981.

  20. Cobo Borda, “Crónica de una muerte anunciada: García Márquez sólo escribió su nueva novela cuando su mamá le dio permiso” (1981: later published in Cobo Borda, Silva, Arciniegas, Mutis y García Márquez, pp. 419–27).

  21. See Sorela, El otro García Márquez, pp. 259–62, on this incident: he says he knows for sure that GGM was right about the threat.

  22. See Cromos, 31 March 1981, “El viaje de GM: crónica de una salida antici-pada.”

  23. See Vidal, Viaje a la memoria, pp. 128–39.

  24. “GGM y su nuevo libro vistos a través de su editor,” El Espectador, 3 May 1981.

  25. See Excelsior, 12 May 1981.

  26. Excelsior, 7 May 1981.

  27. See GGM, “Mitterrand, el otro: el presidente,” El Espectador, 24 May 1981.

  28. Felipe González, interview, Madrid, 1997.

  29. Excelsior, 4 August 1981.

  30. “Torrijos,” El Espectador, 9 August 1981.

  31. See Beatriz López de Barcha, “‘Gabito esperó a que yo creciera,’” Carrusel, Revista de El Tiempo, 10 December 1982.

  32. Quoted by José Pulido, “No quiero convertirme en la estatua del Premio Nobel,” Muro de confesiones (Caracas, El Libro Menor, Academia Nacional de la Histo-ria, 1985), pp. 9–18.

  33. See also “Habla GM: ‘Votaré por primera vez en mi vida por López,’” El Tiempo, 23 May 1982.

  34. GGM, “Crónica de mi muerte anunciada,” El Espectador, 14 March 1982.

  35. “Con las Malvinas o sin ellas,” El Espectador, 11 April 1982.

  36. “Otra vez del avión a la mula. …! Qué dicha!,” El Espectador, 31 January 1982.

  37. “Bangkok la horrible,” El Espectador, 28 March 1982.

  38. “Peggy, dame un beso,” El Espectador, 4 April 1982.

  39. “Como sufrimos las flores,” El Espectador, 6 December 1981.

  40. Claudia Dreifus, “GGM,” Playboy 30:2, February 1983, pp. 65–77, 172–8.

  41. Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, ed., El olor de la guayaba (Barcelona, Bruguera, April 1982).

  42. María Esther Gilio, “Escribir bien es un deber revolucionario,” Triunfo (Madrid), 1977, in Rentería, ed., pp. 141–6.

  43. This section is based on Núñez Jiménez, “GM y la perla de las Antillas,” pp. 69–103.

  44. Ibid.

  45. “Beguin y Sharon, premios ‘Nobel de la muerte’” El Espectador, 29 September 1982.

  46. Alfonso Fuenmayor, “Transparencia de un Nobel,” in Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, pp. 30–33.

  47. See “Gabriel José visto por Eligio Gabriel, el benjamín,” Cromos, 26 October 1982, pp. 20–21.

  48. See GGM, “William Golding, visto por sus vecinos,” El Espectador, 9 October 1983, in which GGM remembers when he heard the news about his own award in 1982.

  49. Eligio García, “Así se recibió el Nobel,” Revista Diners (Bogotá), November 1982.

  50. GGM, “Obregón o la vocación desaforada,” El Espectador, 20 October 1982.

  51. GGM, “USA: mejor cerrado que entreabierto,” El Espectador, 7 November 1982.

  52. See for example the Latin American Times for December 1982, cover story.

  53. Joseph Harmes, “A spellbinding storyteller,” Newsweek, 1 November 1982.

  54. Salman Rushdie, “Márquez the Magician,” Sunday Times (London), 24 October 1982.

  55. See Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, for the best insight into the Nobel experience and what it meant for Colombia.

  56. Plinio Mendoza, “Postales de Estocolmo,” in ibid., pp. 96–103.

  57. See Guillermo Cano, “Crónica anticipada de unas ceremonias,” El Espectador, 5 December 1982.

  58. Anthony Day and Marjorie Miller, “Gabo talks: GGM on the misfortunes of Latin America, his friendship with Fidel Castro and his terror of the blank page,” Los Angeles Times Magazine, 2 September 1990.

  59. Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, p. 30.

  60. Mendoza, “Postales de Estocolmo,” in ibid., p. 96.

  61. Eligio García, “Gabriel José visto por Eligio Gabriel,” Cromos, 14 December 1982.

  62. GGM, “Cena de paz en Harpsund,” El Espectador, 19 December 1982.
<
br />   63. Beatriz López de Barcha, “‘Gabito esperó a que yo creciera,’” Carrusel, Revista de El Tiempo, 10 December 1982.

  64. See El Espectador, 11 December 1982.

  65. Mendoza, “Postales de Estocolmo,” in Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, p. 98.

  66. Ana María Cano, “Para leer en la mañana: El arrugado liquiliqui,” El Espectador, 13 December 1982.

  67. Plinio Mendoza, “La entrega del Nobel: un día inolvidable,” El Tiempo, 12 December 1982.

  68. Mendoza, “Postales de Estocolmo,” in Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, p. 103.

  69. “La cumbia del Nobel,” Gente (Buenos Aires), December 1982.

  70. See Tom Maschler, Publisher (London, Picador, 2005), pp. 128–9.

  71. Nereo López, “Humanas y hermosas anécdotas de la delegación folklórica colombiana en Estocolmo,” in Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo, pp. 91–5.

  72. See Gloria Triana in El Espectador, 6 October 2002, “Hasta la Reina Silvia se divirtió.”

  73. GGM, “El brindis por la poesía,” El Espectador, 12 December 1982.

  74. Alexandra Pineda, “El Nobel Gabo piensa en El Otro,” El Espectador, 12 December 1982.

  75. El Espectador, 10 December 1982.

  76. Rita GM, in Galvis, Los GM, p. 249.

  77. Eligio García, “La entrega del Nobel: Estocolmo fue una fiesta y una rosa amarilla,” El Mundo al Vuelo, Avianca, 64, February-March 1983.

  78. Alvaro Mutis, “Apuntes sobre un viaje que no era para contar,” in Mera, ed., Aracataca-Estocolmo pp. 19–20.

  79. El Tiempo, 12 December 1982.

  21 / The Frenzy of Renown and the Fragrance of Guava: Love in the Time of Cholera (1982–1985)

  1. GGM, “Felipe,” El Espectador, 2 January 1983.

  2. “Diálogo de Gabo con Felipe González,” El Tiempo, 27 December 1982.

  3. See Leo Braudy The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History (New York, Vintage, 1986; 1997).

  4. Sorela, El otro García Márquez, p. 259.

  5. Roberto Pombo, “El año de GM,” Semana (Bogotá), January 1997.

  6. David Streitfeld, “The intricate solitude of GGM,” Washington Post, 10 April 1994.

  7. Juan Cruz, “Relato de un tímido,” El País (Madrid), 11 January 1993.

  8. Rodolfo Braceli, “El genio en su laberinto,” Gente (Buenos Aires), 15 January 1997.

  9. GGM, “Las veinte horas de Graham Greene en La Habana,” El Espectador, 16 January 1983.

  10. Reproduced in Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Mea Cuba (London, Faber & Faber, 1994), p. 210.

  11. GGM, “Regreso a Mexico,” El Espectador, 23 January 1983.

  12. GGM, “Sí: ya viene el lobo,” El Espectador, 30 January 1983.

  13. See Alfonso Botero Miranda, Colombia, no alineada? De la confrontación a la cooperación: la nueva tendencia en los No Alineados (Bogotá, Tercer Mundo, 1995).

  14. Núñez Jiménez, “GM y la perla de las Antillas.”

  15. GGM, “Regreso a la guayaba,” El Espectador, 10 April 1983.

  16. Very unusually GGM hit back in “Con amor, desde el mejor oficio del mundo,” El Espectador, 24 April 1983.

  17. GGM, “Cartagena: una cometa en la muchedumbre,” El Espectador, 5 June 1983.

  18. GGM, “Contadora, cinco meses después,” El Espectador, 10 July 1983.

  19. Tomás Eloy Martínez, “El día en que empezó todo,” Página 12 (Buenos Aires), 21 August 1988.

  20. See GGM, “Bishop,” El Espectador, 23 October 1983.

  21. See María Teresa Herrán, “GM ante el mito de Gabo,” El Espectador, 5 November 1983.

  22. Laura Restrepo, interview, Bogotá, 1991.

  23. GGM, “Vuelta a la semilla,” El Espectador, 18 December 1983.

  24. See Claudia Dreifus, “Gabriel García Márquez,” Playboy 30:2, February 1983, p. 172.

  25. Régis Debray, Les Masques (Paris, Gallimard, 1987), pp. 26–8.

  26. See Arango, Un ramo de nomeolvides, p. 247.

  27. Ibid., p. 120.

  28. See Marlise Simons, “The best years of his life: an interview with GGM,” New York Times Book Review, 10 April 1988.

  29. “GGM usa escritura computarizada,” Excelsior, 16 October 1984.

  30. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, p. 93.

  31. Arango, Un ramo de nomeolvides, p. 136.

  32. Eric Nepomuceno, “GGM afronta en su nueva obra los peligros de la novela rosa,” El País, 28 August 1984.

  33. Margot GM, in Galvis, Los GM, p. 67.

  34. Eligio GM, in ibid., pp. 285–6. Remarkably, Tía Pa was in attendance at the time. She would die herself a year later.

  35. Jaime GM, in ibid., p. 55.

  36. Eligio GM, in ibid., p. 286.

  37. GGM, “La vejez juvenil de don Luis Buñuel,” El Espectador, 1 August 1982. Not only Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) but also the seeds of Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004) lie in this article.

  38. Marlise Simons (of New York Times), “Sexo y vejez: una charla con GM,” El Tiempo, 14 April 1985. In 1988 Simons would interview him again: Marlise Simons, “The best years of his life: an interview with GGM,” op.cit.

  39. Yasunari Kawabata, La casa de las bellas durmientes (Barcelona, Luis de Caralt, 2001), p. 79.

  40. María Elvira Samper, “Habla Gabo,” Semana, 13 May 1985.

  41. The most obvious point of reference is Valéry Larbaud’s Fermina Marquez (Paris, 1911), about a beautiful Colombian girl in France and the loves she inspires. Its title was bound to attract GGM’s attention; then the plot also captured his imagination.

  42. Semana, 9 December 1985.

  43. Hernán Díaz, “Una historia trivial antes del huracán,” Revista Diners (Bogotá), September 1985.

  44. Belisario Betancur, interview, Bogotá, 1991. It is to these circumstances that GGM’s later book News of a Kidnapping (1996) looks back, in order to set the political context for the events (1990–93) that he himself narrates.

  45. “It’s taken me half a century to write about love,” Excelsior, 17 January 1986.

  46. Thomas Pynchon, “The heart’s eternal vow,” New York Times Book Review, 10 April 1988.

  47. GGM, in conversation, Mexico City, 1999.

  22 / Against Official History: García Márquez’s Bolívar (The General in His Labyrinth) (1986–1989)

  1. “‘Colombia está al borde del holocausto’: GM,” Excelsior, 28 July 1986.

  2. In the Brazilian edition of Playboy, among other places; also in a debate with Günter Grass at the end of the 45th PEN Congress in New York in January 1986.

  3. Núñez Jiménez, “GM y la perla de las Antillas.”

  4. Interviews with Fidel Castro, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Fernando Birri, Alquimia Peña, Cacho Pallero, María Luisa Bemberg, Eliseo Alberto, Jorge Alí Triana, Lisandro Duque, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Jorge Sánchez, Ignacio Durán, Mario García Joya, Berta Navarro; conversations with Julio García Espinosa, Dolores Calviño, Stella Malagón, Martha Bossío, Miguel Littín.

  5. Littín was best known for The Jackal of Nahueltoro, 1971; but he had also filmed García Márquez’s story Montiel’s Widow in Mexico in 1978, with Geraldine Chaplin in the starring role.

  6. GGM, Clandestine in Chile (Cambridge, Granta, 1989).

  7. This issue had distanced GGM from Mitterrand. France was still testing in the South Pacific. In July 1985, Greenpeace’s ship Rainbow Warrior had been sunk in Auckland harbour by French agents ordered—we now know—by Mitterrand himself.

  8. “Con emotivo discurso de Gabo se instaló ‘reunión de los 6,’” El Tiempo, 7 August 1986. See GGM’s speech, “El cataclismo de Dámocles,” Conferencia Ixtapa, 1986 (Bogotá, Oveja Negra, 1986).

  9. Gonzalo and Pía would marry in 1987 and a son, Mateo, García Márquez’s first grandchild, would be born in late September.

  10. See Andrew Paxman, “On the lot with GGM” (interview), Variety, 25–31 March 1996.

  11. Michel Brandeau, “Le tournage de ‘Chronique d’une mort annoncée,
’” Le Monde, July 1986.

  12. See La Razón, Buenos Aires, 7 December 1986, for text of GGM’s speech.