“Ultimately,
literature is nothing but carpentry. With both you are working with reality, a
material just as hard as wood.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Colombian novelist, short-story
writer, screenwriter and journalist Marquez, born on this date in 1927, was one
of the most significant authors of the 20th century and one of the best in the
Spanish language. Winner of the 1982
Nobel Prize in Literature, he actually started his career as a journalist and
wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and journalistic short stories before
trying fiction.
But, he is best known for his
novels, especially One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Love in the
Time of Cholera. And while he never
shied away from criticism of Colombia’s intense and often corrupt political scene,
at the time of his death in 2014 the President of Colombia called him “The
greatest Colombian who ever live.”
Not one to be tied down by any
particular style, he was a great admirer of other writers and their work and
said the most important influences on his life and writing were two American
authors. “Faulkner is a writer who has
had much to do with my soul,” he said, “but Hemingway is the one who had the
most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, but for his astounding
knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.”
chronicling his nation's life, culture and history, but
also much of other South American nations’ with his keen eye for detail and his
ability as a master storyteller. “What
matters in life is not what happens to you,” he said, “but what you remember
and how you remember it.”
Share A Writer’s
Moment with a friend by clicking the g+1 button below.
No comments:
Post a Comment