One Hundred Years Of Solitude
One Hundred Years Of Solitude presents the life and times of the members of the Buendia family. The story is narrated is a non-linear fashion, i.e., the time frames and events are not arranged in chronological order. It spans seven generations of the family. The book is set in the city of Macondo, which was founded by the patriarch of the family. It presents a metaphorical picture of Colombian history. The book begins with José Arcadio Buendia, who leaves his home in Riohacha, Colombia, with his wife Ursula. Together they set out in search of an improved life and a new place to call home. One night, while they are camping on the banks of a river, José dreams of a city full of mirrors that reflects the world outside and within it. He takes it as a good omen and decides to establish such a city on the riverbank. He names the city Macondo and gradually shapes it to match his perceptions. Macondo turns out to have a mythical, magical quality that brings unusual events in its wake. These extraordinary events have a profound influence on the following six generations of the Buendia family. The adventurous spirit of the Buendia clan places it right in the midst of several significant historical events of Colombia. Youth, love, lust, senility, wealth, poverty, war, passion—the book weaves a rich tapestry of emotions and experiences that span the length and breadth of every humans’ life. In keeping with Márquez’s trademark literary style, the story blurs the lines between the magical and the mundane. Solitude, incest, and the fluid nature of time are some of the prominent themes explored in the book. One Hundred Years Of Solitude was first published in Spanish in the year 1967. Since then, it has sold over twenty million copies, and has been translated into 37 languages. It has received global acclaim and won several awards. It even earned Márquez the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 1982. The credit for the English translation goes to Gregory Rabassa. This particular edition of the book was published in 1996.
