Part 3 (1/1)

After Luis Enrique's departure back to Cienaga, Gabito looked up Rafael Escalona, who accoh the towns of the Guajira-Urumita, Villanueva, El Molino, San Juan del Cesar, and possibly Fonseca They picked up Zapata Olivella on the way and between the parranda parranda, a kind of vallenato vallenato ja several participants and huge quantities of liquor, a session which in this case included friends and relatives such as Luis Carmelo Correa from Aracataca and Poncho Cotes, a cousin of Garcia Marquez and close friend of Rafael Escalona ja several participants and huge quantities of liquor, a session which in this case included friends and relatives such as Luis Carmelo Correa from Aracataca and Poncho Cotes, a cousin of Garcia Marquez and close friend of Rafael Escalona77 Forty-five years later Zapata told ht a car would arrive and you'd wake up the next over in the Guajira or the Sierra Nevada, that's what life was like then; we'd go out to someone's faro on celebratory outings One night a car would arrive and you'd wake up the next over in the Guajira or the Sierra Nevada, that's what life was like then; we'd go out to someone's farm and eat a sancocho sancocho, or drive over the Sierra de Perija to Manaure; but ale'd end up drinking with the best accordionists of the era, Ea, Lorenzo Morales”78 Thus Escalona took his citified friend to endary characters of the region Thus Escalona took his citified friend to endary characters of the region

The historic centre of vallenato vallenato activity is now conventionally considered to be Valledupar itself, the capital city of El Cesar, situated in the Valley of Upar ( activity is now conventionally considered to be Valledupar itself, the capital city of El Cesar, situated in the Valley of Upar (vallenato means ”born in the valley”) Once heard, traditional means ”born in the valley”) Once heard, traditional vallenatos vallenatos are instantly recognizable: they have a driving, swinging beat brought about by the unusual instrumental combination of the European accordion, the African drunizable: they have a driving, swinging beat brought about by the unusual instrumental combination of the European accordion, the African druuacharaca (scraper), led by the strong, assertive and defiantly er, usually the accordionist hi, assertive and defiantly er, usually the accordionist hi by Alonso Fernandez Onate suy very succinctly: prevailing ideology very succinctly: I'm true vallenato vallenato born born Pure of heart and stock Indian blood in my veins Some black and Spanish on top I have my vallenato vallenato pleasures pleasures Wos I love Co80 Not many Latin American writers have been in such close contact hat could be called a genuine popular culture as Garcia Marquez was to be over the next fifty years He would go so far as to say that his encounter with the vallenato vallenato genre and the ave hienre and the ave him the idea for the narrative form of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude81 The coiven that e of that novel than in any other narrative one can think of But Garcia Marquez takes it further, establishi+ng a parallel between the concreteness of the The coiven that e of that novel than in any other narrative one can think of But Garcia Marquez takes it further, establishi+ng a parallel between the concreteness of the vallenato vallenato and the direct relation between his own novels and his own life: ”There's not a line in any of my books which I can't connect to a real experience There is always a reference to a concrete reality” This is why he has always asserted that far froical realist,” he is just a ”poor notary” who copies dohat is placed on his desk and the direct relation between his own novels and his own life: ”There's not a line in any of my books which I can't connect to a real experience There is always a reference to a concrete reality” This is why he has always asserted that far froical realist,” he is just a ”poor notary” who copies dohat is placed on his desk82 Perhaps the only surprising aspect of all this is that Garcia Marquez, usually admired for his sympathy omen, should have identified quite so fully with a movement that so assertively exaltsaspect of all this is that Garcia Marquez, usually admired for his sympathy omen, should have identified quite so fully with a movement that so assertively exalts maleness and masculine values

It ith Escalona that Garcia Marquez had another of the greaticed beer and ru man strode in, dressed like a coith a wide hat, leather chaps, and a gun at his waist Escalona, who knew him well, said: ”Let me introduce you to Gabriel Garcia Marquez” Theto do with Colonel Nicolas Marquez?” ”I'randfather”83 The young h in the meuilar, like the character based on hih in the meuilar, like the character based on him in One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude Escalona, who always carried a pistol hi about the ested that he and Lisandro should try soun The threein Pacheco's truck-used ion Pacheco introduced Garcia Marquez to several of the Colonel's illegitimate children from the time of the war Escalona, who always carried a pistol hi about the ested that he and Lisandro should try soun The threein Pacheco's truck-used ion Pacheco introduced Garcia Marquez to several of the Colonel's illegitimate children fro coed, the reluctant encyclopedia sales in the heat One of the better ones was the Hotel Welcoway's The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea, which appeared in the Spanish edition of Life Life azine at the end of March, sent by his friends in Barranquilla It was ”like a stick of dynaazine at the end of March, sent by his friends in Barranquilla It was ”like a stick of dynaway the novelist was transforway the novelist was transformed

As well as The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea he vividly recalls having re-read Virginia Woolf's he vividly recalls having re-read Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway Mrs Dalloway in so this journey, a heat-probably not the kind of place Virginia Woolf herself would have h he had taken his nom de plume from her novel, he had not previously been so struck by it, and especially by a passage about the King of England passing by in a limousine which would later have athis journey, a heat-probably not the kind of place Virginia Woolf herself would have h he had taken his nom de plume from her novel, he had not previously been so struck by it, and especially by a passage about the King of England passing by in a limousine which would later have a major influence on The Autuot back to Barranquilla after this brief excursion Garcia Marquez had actually coh his own popular regional culture and, indeed, through his own past and his own prehistory86 He was now ready to inhabit ”Macondo”-at the very way's example would shortly lure hireat writer ”Garcia Marquez” is associated intie which is also a state of mind: ”Macondo” But ”Macondo,” as we know, is only half the Garcia Marquez story, though it is the half which would give hiion around the literary town ”Macondo” is the northern part of the old Departdalena, from Santa Marta to the Guajira by way of Aracataca and Valledupar It is the territory of his randparents, to which his father came as an unwanted interloper, one of the so-called ”leaf-trash” The other half of the story is that father's own territory: the city of Cartagena and the towns of Since and Sucre, in the departlorious dreaitimacies past and future, and therefore a territory to be rejected both because of the region's colonial, repressive splendour and the huone by its less illustrious sons; a territory which would become condensed into the anonymous He was now ready to inhabit ”Macondo”-at the very way's example would shortly lure hireat writer ”Garcia Marquez” is associated intie which is also a state of mind: ”Macondo” But ”Macondo,” as we know, is only half the Garcia Marquez story, though it is the half which would give hiion around the literary town ”Macondo” is the northern part of the old Departdalena, from Santa Marta to the Guajira by way of Aracataca and Valledupar It is the territory of his randparents, to which his father came as an unwanted interloper, one of the so-called ”leaf-trash” The other half of the story is that father's own territory: the city of Cartagena and the towns of Since and Sucre, in the departlorious dreaitimacies past and future, and therefore a territory to be rejected both because of the region's colonial, repressive splendour and the huone by its less illustrious sons; a territory which would become condensed into the anonymous pueblo pueblo, unworthy of a literary name but equally representative of Latin America-the ”real,” historical Latin A journey was over, Garcia Marquez could return briefly to Barranquilla and survey this entire conquered space-conquered, at last, by him-from its very centre, located at the apex of the entire backward-looking territory but not itself of that territory Not only was Barranquilla a gateway, it was also a twentieth-century, uilts, where one could escape froenerations and make oneself anew By now it had almost done its job

The whole period of drift was about to end at a tily, in the background Garcia Marquez was on a bus back to Barranquilla on 13 June 1953 when he learned that General Rojas Pinilla, Coovernime of Laureano Gomez Gomez, sufficiently recovered from the illness that had forced him to hand over to his Vice-President even before the coup, was trying to return to power but the military had decided that his return was not in the national interest and that they would serve out the rest of his ter national support for this coup; even the editors of some national newspapers serenaded the new leader Garcia Marquez reuas would shortly be thrown in prison for alleged fraud-the day after Rojas Pinilla ainst Gomez Garcia Marquez had even allowed hi, ”I do, I feel identified with the government of my General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla”88 His position was essentially that anything was better than Goht revolution, feared that a ht prove worse than a reactionary dictatorshi+p and argued that the military could not be trusted Both reement and a prophetic one Garcia Marquez would several tiressive dictatorshi+p was better than a fascistic govern mischief under the cover of a false de was better than Goht revolution, feared that a ht prove worse than a reactionary dictatorshi+p and argued that the military could not be trusted Both reement and a prophetic one Garcia Marquez would several tiressive dictatorshi+p was better than a fascistic govern mischief under the cover of a false democracy

Despite his reluctance to return to El Heraldo El Heraldo, Garcia Marquez onlyinto a different fire Alvaro Cepeda Sa nurtured the desire to compete with El Heraldo El Heraldo and build a better newspaper which would doiven a chance to run and build a better newspaper which would doiven a chance to run El Nacional El Nacional, hoping to turn it into the kind of modern paper he had learned about in the USA He hired his newly unemployed friend as his assistant Garcia Marquez later re hts at the newspaper office, yet very few editions actually came out, and hardly any of them on time Unfortunately there are no collections extant so it is ie their efforts All we really know is that Cepeda directed theedition, which he sent to the interior, and Garcia Marquez directed the evening edition, which sold in Barranquilla They concluded that at least part of the problee an innovatory newspaper89 Unfortunately the truth appears to be that Cepeda proved incapable at that tie such an operation Garcia Marquez recalls discreetly that ”Alvaro left with a slam of the door” Unfortunately the truth appears to be that Cepeda proved incapable at that tie such an operation Garcia Marquez recalls discreetly that ”Alvaro left with a slam of the door”90 Garcia Marquez hi desperately to survive by using olda new story, ”One Day After Saturday,” another of the few early tales of his which he would later ad for the fact that, although still reminiscent of ”The House,” it was set in a place called ”Macondo” Not only that: anyone who had been there could have worked out that ”Macondo” was clearly based on Aracataca, with, somehow, a transparency of focus despite the air of rim darkness that seems to characterize both ”The House” and ”the town” (el pueblo), based on Sucre Why, there was even a railway station! At the sahly condensed novella-was no longer confined within a house, likeon the mayor and the local priest Moreover Colonel Aureliano Buendia and Jose Arcadio Buendia were named, as was their relative Rebeca, ”the embittered ” There was also a poor boy from outside the town, treated with a quite new syed with social and political critique At the sae of ould later be Garcia Marquez's favourite theue of dead birds) and the concept of human solitude91 Alvaro Mutis, as now Head of Public Relations with Esso, returned to Barranquilla close to the end of the year and, seeing his friend's predicaota He told hiood reason to believe that Garcia Marquez could get a job with Mutis had good reason to believe that Garcia Marquez could get a job with El Espectador El Espectador Nothing in the Nothing in the costeno costeno wanted to go and he flatly refused Mutis said, ”Well, I'll send you an open ticket and you can coo and he flatly refused Mutis said, ”Well, I'll send you an open ticket and you can come when you're ready”93 Finally Garcia Marquez had second thoughts but realized that he couldn't go to Bogota even if he wanted to, because he had no clothes He scraped his last pesos together and bought a business suit, a couple of shi+rts and a tie Then he took the air ticket out of his drawer and looked at it Then he put it in the pocket of his new suit He had tried his very hardest but there was no way a poor boy without a degree could earn a decent living on the Costa Maybe one day he would be able to marry Mercedes, to whom he had now committed himself, at least in his own mind His friends said, ”Fine, but don't cohts but realized that he couldn't go to Bogota even if he wanted to, because he had no clothes He scraped his last pesos together and bought a business suit, a couple of shi+rts and a tie Then he took the air ticket out of his drawer and looked at it Then he put it in the pocket of his new suit He had tried his very hardest but there was no way a poor boy without a degree could earn a decent living on the Costa Maybe one day he would be able to marry Mercedes, to whom he had now committed himself, at least in his own mind His friends said, ”Fine, but don't come back a cachaco cachaco” Then they took him down to celebrate his departure in one of their favourite down-market bars, The Third Man And that was that

8

Back to Bogota: The Ace Reporter 19541955 GARCIA M MaRQUEZ ARRIVED back in Bogota in early January 1954 He ca that would only deepen over the years Alvaro Mutis, whose life had long been full of planes, and autoreeted him at the airport The new arrival had a suitcase and two hand-carried packages, which he gave to his friend to stow in the boot of the car: the ota in early January 1954 He ca that would only deepen over the years Alvaro Mutis, whose life had long been full of planes, and autoreeted him at the airport The new arrival had a suitcase and two hand-carried packages, which he gave to his friend to stow in the boot of the car: the manuscripts of ”The House” and Leaf Storht to his office in the centre of the city; back into the cold and the rain, back into a world of tensions and alienations which he thought he had left behind for ever when he flew out of the city almost six years before1 At this ti on Avenida Jimenez de Quesada as the new premises of El Espectador El Espectador, which had moved from its previous site just a few blocks away Mutis's office in public relations was four storeys above that of the editor of the newspaper, Guilleruous about how they should proceed during the early days of Garcia Marquez's stay-even the prospect of a job with El Espectador El Espectador was left in lian to grow He was never confident in new situations or with men and women he didn't know; people were rarely iained confidence through inti what he could do However, Mutis, in whose personality the entrepreneur and the aesthete seeined, was not a man to take no for an answer He was a master salesman even when he was not sure of the quality of his product; when he had a commodity as valuable as this almost unknoriter he was usually irresistible And Alvaro Mutis cared deeply about literature and was an unusually generous loorow He was never confident in new situations or with men and women he didn't know; people were rarely iained confidence through inti what he could do However, Mutis, in whose personality the entrepreneur and the aesthete seeined, was not a man to take no for an answer He was a master salesman even when he was not sure of the quality of his product; when he had a commodity as valuable as this almost unknoriter he was usually irresistible And Alvaro Mutis cared deeply about literature and was an unusually generous man

Physically the two could hardly have been ant, vulpine; Garcia Marquez short, skinny, scruffy Garcia Marquez had been writing novels and stories since he was eighteen; in those days Mutis was exclusively a poet and would only start writing novels in his mid-sixties, after his retirement from a succession of jobs in the employ of US-based international companies Even nohen both are internationally famous novelists, the two Colombians are separated by the whole history of Latin American literature And they have always stood at opposite poles of the political spectrum: Mutis, almost theatrically reactionary, a monarchist in a country which has been a republic for almost two hundred years, has always had, in his oords, ”a complete lack of interest in all political phenomena later than the fall of Byzantium into the hands of the infidels,” that is, later than 1453;2 while Garcia Marquez's post-1917 predilections would later becoh never a communist, he would be closer to that world-view in its broadest sense than to any other ideology in a long life of practical co, close relationshi+p but never a confessional one while Garcia Marquez's post-1917 predilections would later becoh never a communist, he would be closer to that world-view in its broadest sense than to any other ideology in a long life of practical co, close relationshi+p but never a confessional one

For the first couple of weeks Garcia Marquez sat around not in El Espectador El Espectador but in Mutis's office, s to Mutis's recently appointed ”assistant”-none other than his old friend Gonzalo Mallarino, who had first introduced the his thumbs Sometimes, especially in Latin America and other parts of the so-called ”Third World,” where most people are completely powerless, you just have to wait for situations to evolve (This is why soand hoping-it is the sa and shi+vering, as he always did in Bogota, talking to Mutis's recently appointed ”assistant”-none other than his old friend Gonzalo Mallarino, who had first introduced the his thumbs Sometimes, especially in Latin America and other parts of the so-called ”Third World,” where most people are completely powerless, you just have to wait for situations to evolve (This is why soand hoping-it is the sas that may never come and usually don't) Then, near the end of January, El Espectador El Espectador suddenly offered him a staff position and the incredible sum of 900 pesos a month To earn that in Barranquilla he would have had to write three hundred ”Giraffes”-ten a day! It would be the first time he had ever had any spare ena, sending enough for both rent and utilities suddenly offered him a staff position and the incredible sum of 900 pesos a month To earn that in Barranquilla he would have had to write three hundred ”Giraffes”-ten a day! It would be the first time he had ever had any spare ena, sending enough for both rent and utilities

He had been living temporarily in Mutis'shouse with no name” near the Parque Nacional, the home of a French wo days He had his own suite of rooh he would spend little time there Occasionally in the le some transient female into his apartment3 Mainly, however, he would spend the next year and a half between the newspaper, the boarding house, Mutis's office and Bogota's gothic cine out his duties as staff writer, cinema critic and, eventually, star reporter Mainly, however, he would spend the next year and a half between the newspaper, the boarding house, Mutis's office and Bogota's gothic cine out his duties as staff writer, cinely, perhaps, newspaper warfare in Bogota was reat Liberal newspapers El Espectador El Espectador had been founded in 1887 by the Cano faota in 1915), and was thus older than its bitter rival, had been founded in 1887 by the Cano faota in 1915), and was thus older than its bitter rival, El Tieht by Eduardo Santos in 1913 The Santos faht up to 2007, when the Spanish publishi+ng house Planeta took a ht up to 2007, when the Spanish publishi+ng house Planeta took a majority stake The director of El Espectador El Espectador when Garcia Marquez arrived that January was Guillerrandson of the founder; he had only recently taken over this position because, incredibly, he was still in his early twenties He and Garcia Marquez would be in touch for more than thirty years when Garcia Marquez arrived that January was Guillerrandson of the founder; he had only recently taken over this position because, incredibly, he was still in his early twenties He and Garcia Marquez would be in touch for more than thirty years

Garcia Marquez already had two solid contacts a writers: Eduardo Zalamea Borda, who had discovered hi,” who had begun to work on the paper while a law student in 1946 It was Zalamea Borda who baptized him with the name by which the whole planet would later know him, ”Gabo” A well-known photo from those days shows a new and wholly unfaant, with refined features, eyes at once questioning yet already knowing, with the merest whisper of a smile beneath his Latin moustache Only the hands betray the permanent state of tension in which this man lives

The news editor at El Espectador El Espectador was Jose ”Mono” (”Blond” but also ”Monkey”) Salgar, a dean was ”news, news, news” Garcia Marquez would say that working for him was ”the exploitation of man by ar, a dean was ”news, news, news” Garcia Marquez would say that working for him was ”the exploitation of man by monkey”4 He had been employed by the paper since he was little more than a boy and had thus been educated both in the school of journalism and that of life; he was to becoht From the start he was unimpressed by Garcia Marquez's reputation and deeply suspicious of his unible ”lyricism” He had been employed by the paper since he was little more than a boy and had thus been educated both in the school of journalism and that of life; he was to becoht From the start he was unimpressed by Garcia Marquez's reputation and deeply suspicious of his unible ”lyricism”5 After a couple of weeks, however, Garcia Marquez showed his worth with two articles on monarchical power and solitude, , was ”Cleopatra,” a piece which fervently prayed that a new statue reputedly of the Egyptian queen would not e men have had of her for two thousand years; the second, ”The Queen Alone,” was about Elizabeth the Queen Mother of England, recently ed Itelaboration in that era of certain themes-especially the conjunction of power, fame and solitude-which would reach their culmination twenty years later in The Autumn of the Patriarch: The Auturandmother, is truly alone for the first time in her life And as she wanders, acco the ihae in which she never drea a queen, and lived with her husband and their two daughters in a house overfloith intimacyLittle did she know that a mysterious blow of fate would turn her children and the children of her children into kings and queens; and her into a queen alone A desolate and inconsolable housewife, whose house would fade into the iham Palace, its endless corridors and that limitless backyard which extends to the bounds of Africa6 This article in particular convinced Zalamea Borda, who so Queen Elizabeth II, that Garcia Marquez was ready to s7 Guillermo Cano said that when Garcia Marquez arrived he naturally had to adapt to the newspaper's cautious and somewhat anonyan to adjust to the newcomer's brilliant improvisations and then to imitate him Guillermo Cano said that when Garcia Marquez arrived he naturally had to adapt to the newspaper's cautious and somewhat anonyan to adjust to the newcomer's brilliant improvisations and then to i at his desk writing a piece for the paper's ”Day by Day” coluar or Guillermo Cano would tell hier, how one out of his journalisota did not provide him with the vital stimulation he found everywhere on the coast In late February, already bored to tears, he ement to let him try out as a film critic and publish his review on Saturdays It must have been a wonderful relief to escape several ti under a dictatorshi+p in ”the gloomiest city in the world,” and under an irksome and unnecessary apprenticeshi+p in the newspaper office, and to take refuge in the fantasy world of theof a pioneer, because no other journalist had written a regular movie column in any Colombian newspaper before this ti plot su the stars

From the start his view of cinema was literary and huraphic9 In fact Garcia Marquez's fast-evolving political ideology at the time must have sharpened his sense that he had a chance to ”educate the people” and perhaps relieve them of the false consciousness that ed Hollywood product to the more aesthetically crafted works from France and, especially, those ”authentically” conceived and executed works from Italy which he particularly favoured But in any case the filarde evaluations of the inning obsessed with the idea of viewing reality fro on, of course, to ressive directions Certainly his filically questionable ”common-sense” positions; but one of the qualities of Garcia Marquez, always, is that his version of ”coood sense” and is al political ideology at the time must have sharpened his sense that he had a chance to ”educate the people” and perhaps relieve them of the false consciousness that ed Hollywood product to the more aesthetically crafted works from France and, especially, those ”authentically” conceived and executed works from Italy which he particularly favoured But in any case the filarde evaluations of the inning obsessed with the idea of viewing reality fro on, of course, to ressive directions Certainly his filically questionable ”common-sense” positions; but one of the qualities of Garcia Marquez, always, is that his version of ”coood sense” and is al he was hostile to what he perceived to be the shallow coical values of the Hollywood system-he considered Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin exceptions-and he routinely defended European cineht for the development of a national cinema in Colombia This, with an added Latin American dimension, would becoly preoccupied with technical questions-script, dialogue, direction, photography, sound, ht into what he would later call the ”carpentry” of his literary works: professional ”tricks of the trade” that he has never been fully willing to share, at least not in terms of the novel11 He insisted that scripts should be econo shots should receive the sa with the concept of the well-made story, an obsession which would remain with hi reverence for He insisted that scripts should be econo shots should receive the sa with the concept of the well-made story, an obsession which would remain with hi reverence for The Thousand and One Nights, Dracula, The Count of Monte Cristo The Thousand and One Nights, Dracula, The Count of Monte Cristo and and Treasure Island Treasure Island-all brilliantly narrated works of popular literature This hat he looked for in the cinema too Objective reality should predominate but the inner world, even the fantastic world, should not be neglected He noted that the outstanding feature of Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thieves The Bicycle Thieves was its ”human authenticity” and its ”lifelike method” These central ideas would dominate his perspective for the next few years, and were not far reeois and socialist realisarde they were not He showed little awareness of the theories of the nascent French New Wave to be found araphers at this time Indeed, his selections for best films of the year on 31 December demonstrate unequivocally that for Garcia Marquez in 1954 Italian neo-realism as its ”human authenticity” and its ”lifelike method” These central ideas would dominate his perspective for the next few years, and were not far reeois and socialist realisarde they were not He showed little awareness of the theories of the nascent French New Wave to be found araphers at this time Indeed, his selections for best films of the year on 31 December demonstrate unequivocally that for Garcia Marquez in 1954 Italian neo-realis movies Certainly it is ironic to consider that De Sica, his favourite film-maker in this era, and Cesare Zavattini, the incoot involved in fil movies Certainly it is ironic to consider that De Sica, his favourite film-maker in this era, and Cesare Zavattini, the incoot involved in fil a script like the plot of Leaf Storm Leaf Storm Which is why, for theanyas intense At its end he took part in the journalists' regular ”cultural Fridays,” a euphe across the avenue in the Hotel Continental, where the El Espectador El Espectador and and El Tiee drinks and insults; soe drinks and insults; sometimes they drank until dawn12 He also participated in the Bogota cine-club organized by another of the et to know over the years His nareat critic Georges Sadoul on He also participated in the Bogota cine-club organized by another of the et to know over the years His nareat critic Georges Sadoul on L'ecran Francais L'ecran Francais and was nowthe cine-club with two Colombians, the film critic Hernando Salcedo and the painter Enrique Grau After the cine-club's sessions he would go on to the inevitable party at the house of Luis Vicens and his Colombian wife Nancy, not far fro in Colo the cine-club with two Colombians, the film critic Hernando Salcedo and the painter Enrique Grau After the cine-club's sessions he would go on to the inevitable party at the house of Luis Vicens and his Colombian wife Nancy, not far from the newspaper office13 Nevertheless this new, rather otanos could hardly replace the sheer fun and exhilaration, not to say interest, of life on the Costa Early in his stay in Bogota Garcia Marquez wrote to Alfonso Fuenmayor: could hardly replace the sheer fun and exhilaration, not to say interest, of life on the Costa Early in his stay in Bogota Garcia Marquez wrote to Alfonso Fuenmayor: Your noble paternal concerns will be eased if I tell you that h the question now is to consolidate it There is an excellent atmosphere in the newspaper and up to now I've been allowed the saest-ter is that I still don't feel at hoo on as they are I'll have no option but to get used to it As I don't lead an ”intellectual” life here I'm lost as to developments in the novel, because ”Ulysses” [Zalareat big indigestible novels in English Recommend me some translations I received a copy of Sartoris Sartoris in Spanish but it fell to pieces and I returned it in Spanish but it fell to pieces and I returned it14 His new-found prosperity did allow hio back from time to time to Barranquilla, to visit his friends, to keep a watchful eye on Mercedes, to keep in touch with his roots-and of course see the sun; plus the bonus of siota Certainly the fact that he would appear in the credits for a film which Alvaro Cepeda would shortly direct, a short experigests that his visits to the Costa were reasonably frequent15 By now his old friends had a new hang-out and the Barranquilla Group would become synonymous with a less portentous crowd, ”the piss-takers of the Cueva,” as Garcia Marquez would dub the after he had left Barranquilla the gang had regrouped and moved the focus of their activities away from the old city centre to the Barrio Boston, not far from where Mercedes Barcha lived Alfonso Fuenmayor's cousin Eduardo Vila Fuenmayor, a reluctant dentist (Mercedes had been one of his patients), started up a bar which was at first called The To and Fro (El Vaiven), the naroup later baptized ”The Cave” (”La Cueva”-like the dockside bar in Cartagena) This place would become immortalized, like soh the ularity So roas it, with so , that Vila would eventually put up a sign which said, ”Here the custoota, Garcia Marquez itness to one of the new ime's most notorious atrocities on 9 June 1954 as he returned in the lateAvenida Jias, as serving out his jail sentence in the Model Prison He heard a sudden burst ofon a student de several dead, before the horrified writer's eyes It was the event that ended the uneasy truce between the new government and the Liberal press Garcia Marquez's radical political views had been quite unequivocal from the tiotazo Bogotazo; but this third experience of living in or close to Bogota brought hiy-socialism-but also, for a few years at least, to a particular way of viewing and interpreting reality and a particular way of expressing and co it technically The result would be his political reportage, and the writing of the novels No One Writes to the Colonel No One Writes to the Colonel and and In Evil Hour In Evil Hour and the stories of and the stories of Big Ma for several years now to be given the opportunity to be a reporter; but El Universal El Universal and and El Heraldo El Heraldo lived off international cables and, given their resources and, i Their , that was not the usual Conservative propaganda The owners of lived off international cables and, given their resources and, i Their , that was not the usual Conservative propaganda The owners of El Espectador El Espectador were made of sterner stuff And they now had at their disposal a young writer as fascinated by the variety of people in his country, by the things they did and the things that happened to them; a man who loved stories, henever possible turned his own life into a story and would now seize the opportunity to turn the lives of others also into narratives which would grip the iination were made of sterner stuff And they now had at their disposal a young writer as fascinated by the variety of people in his country, by the things they did and the things that happened to them; a man who loved stories, henever possible turned his own life into a story and would now seize the opportunity to turn the lives of others also into narratives which would grip the ienerally terrible It was the height of the Violencia Violencia Massacres of Liberals continued in rural areas, carried out by the oligarchy's barbaric paramilitary assassins known as chulavitas chulavitas or or pajaros pajaros, and Liberal guerrillas were fighting desperate rearguard actions in many parts of the country Torture, rape and the sadistic desecration of corpses were commonplace Rojas Pinilla had imposed press censorshi+p on 6 March and hardened it after the killing of the students in Bogota Ex-President Lopez Pu the country on 25 March, an idea which would bear fruit three years later with the invention of the so-called National Front but was not greeted positively at this time

All of this was in part the reflection in a peripheral country of the Cold War frenzy of the era McCarthyisht in the United States; Eisenhower even outlawed the Coust 1954 and McCarthy was finally censured by the Senate only in Dece on the Warsaw Pact, which would be signed in May 1955 In Barranquilla Garcia Marquez had listened e Rondon thanhis last period in Barranquilla, several months after the death of Stalin in Moscow and several weeks after the Rojas Pinilla coup in Colombia, Garcia Marquez had been visited by awatches as in fact a Co journalists, in exchange for his tiota, where he orking froues, another watch sales Garcia Marquez found himself in contact with Gilberto Vieira, Secretary General of the Colo clandestinely just a few blocks from the city centre16 It beca him ever since he had worked with Cepeda on El Nacional and considered hireed that his best use for the Party was in writing committed journalism which did not appear to coly continue to take this view of Garcia Marquez's activities down the years and usually supported his positions if at all possible It beca him ever since he had worked with Cepeda on El Nacional and considered hireed that his best use for the Party was in writing committed journalism which did not appear to coly continue to take this view of Garcia Marquez's activities down the years and usually supported his positions if at all possible

At the end of July Salgar suggested that Garcia Marquez go to Antioquia to find out ”what the fuck really happened” in the 12 July landslide He found himself on a plane to Medellin where the hillside community out at La Media Luna, east of the city, had collapsed teeks before with heavy loss of life There were suspicions that the blaovern Garcia Marquez's brief was to reconstruct the truth on the spot The intrepid reporter would later confess that he was so nervous about flying that Alvaro Mutis travelled with him to calm his nerves and installed him in the upmarket Hotel Nutibara When he was left alone there he felt sick with nerves and totally intie and the ned from the newspaper on his first day in Medellin After he had ed to calm himself he discovered that there was no one out by the Media Luna anyto be added to the reports of journalists who had been there long before him He hadn't the faintest idea what to do A violent rainstorota; finally sheer desperation, and a chance conversation with a taxi driver, prodded hian to think, truly think, about the event he was investigating: what o, what he should do Slowly but with accelerating excite a reporter-detective, the creativity of discovering-and in a way inventing-the truth, the power of shaping and even changing reality for tens of thousands of people He realized that the idea of people travelling out to deaths they could not anticipate was his ”angle” and he had a taxi driver take hiht out to Las Estancias, the zone from which most people who had died in the catastrophe had travelled He soon discovered evidence of official negligence, both short ter for sixty years!), but also revealed an unexpected and edy, one that most readers would have preferred not to know: that many deaths had been due to people frouidance or assistance and thereby triggering a second landslide He interviewed numbers of survivors and witnesses, and also the authorities, including local politicians, firemen and priests17 Then he started to write Very likely it began as soway but by the time he finished it was pure Garcia Marquez, with that inimitable presentation of life as a drama filled with the horrors and ironies of fate, the fate of huoverned by ti on the ledge ran down below, preceded by a girl of about fourteen and a boy of ten His coon and Fernando Calle, ran in the opposite direction The first, half buried, died of asphyxia The second, an astho on” He was never heard of again ”When I ran doith the girl and the boy,” Juan Ignacio said, ”I caround” The boy never got up again The girl, who Angel was unable to identify aain screa above the hollow An avalanche of s were paralysed The ed to free his right arm He stayed like that until the thunder-like noises ceased and he felt in his legs, at the bottoirl who, at the beginning, held on to hith, then clawed at hirip on his ankle18 The sub-headings were aledy began sixty years ago”; ”Medellin, victiold edy?”19 He had learned how to convert his oorld-view into a set of journalistic ”angles” ”Gabo,” the best friend to his friends, had only recently been born; now the great story-teller ”Gabriel Garcia Marquez” had finally appeared on the scene It was noteworthy that although he was pleased to blame the authorities for their part in the disaster, he was also concerned to tell the whole truth, including the involuntary contribution of so edy He had learned how to convert his oorld-view into a set of journalistic ”angles” ”Gabo,” the best friend to his friends, had only recently been born; now the great story-teller ”Gabriel Garcia Marquez” had finally appeared on the scene It was noteworthy that although he was pleased to blame the authorities for their part in the disaster, he was also concerned to tell the whole truth, including the involuntary contribution of so edy

The next piece of pioneering reporting was a series on one of Coloions, the department of El Choco, on the Pacific side of the country On 8 Septeovernment decided to carve up the Choco, an undeveloped, forested department, and distribute the pieces between the departments of Antioquia, Caldas and Valle There were vehement protests and Garcia Marquez was sent doith a cameraman, Guillermo Sanchez, to report on the conflict The journey was so bad, in an aircraft so old, that he re inside the plane” and says that even the pilots were terrified The Choco, a department mainly inhabited by Afro-Colombians, reminded Garcia Marquez at once of Aracataca and its hinterland For him the proposed disota's cold and heartless h other commentators blamed the ambitious Antioquians When he arrived he discovered that the deot a friend to organize some more! This ensured the success of his row and other reporters flew in to cover it, the government cancelled its plan to restructure the four departments20 In late October it was announced that Garcia Marquez's new role as to be awarded the nobel Prize for Literature, just as Faulkner had been when he was in his Faulkner phase Garcia Marquez wrote a note under the ”Day by Day” byline repeating comments he had made before about the nobel Prize pheno the possible ione to so way, he speculated,occasions in a life ”so full of exciting moments”21 The year 1955 would see the publication of Garcia Marquez'sinterview, in fourteen sessions of four hours each, with a Colombian navy sailor called Luis Alejandro Velasco, the only survivor of eight creho fell overboard from the destroyer Caldas Caldas when she rolled out of control in late February-supposedly during a stor in Mobile, Alabaena Velasco survived on a raft for ten days without anything to eat and very little to drink He became a national hero, decorated by the President and feted by thethe new television service All this up to the moment when Garcia Marquez decided to interview himThe interviehich were Guillerone cold-took place in a small cafe on Avenida Jimenez when she rolled out of control in late February-supposedly during a stor in Mobile, Alabaena Velasco survived on a raft for ten days without anything to eat and very little to drink He became a national hero, decorated by the President and feted by thethe new television service All this up to the moment when Garcia Marquez decided to interview himThe interviehich were Guillerone cold-took place in a s memory and was himself an excellent narrator But Garcia Marquez had developed a facility for asking revealing questions and then highlighting the essence of the answers or getting to the an by stressing the heroic point of view: the battle with the waves, the probleainst the sharks, the struggle with his mind, until Garcia Marquez interrupted: ”Don't you realize that four days have passed and you still haven't had a pee or a shi+t!” Velasco had an astonishi+ng memory and was himself an excellent narrator But Garcia Marquez had developed a facility for asking revealing questions and then highlighting the essence of the answers or getting to the an by stressing the heroic point of view: the battle with the waves, the probleainst the sharks, the struggle with his mind, until Garcia Marquez interrupted: ”Don't you realize that four days have passed and you still haven't had a pee or a shi+t!”23 After each intervieould go back to the office in the late afternoon and write up the corresponding chapter until deep in the night Jose Salgar would take theht over to the printers Guillermo Cano told Garcia Marquez he would have liked it to run to fifty chapters After the fourteen-part series had coo back to the office in the late afternoon and write up the corresponding chapter until deep in the night Jose Salgar would take theht over to the printers Guillermo Cano told Garcia Marquez he would have liked it to run to fifty chapters After the fourteen-part series had come to an end, El Espectador El Espectador put out a special supple the entire story hat it claiest print run any Colombian newspaper has ever published!” put out a special supple the entire story hat it claiest print run any Colombian newspaper has ever published!”

Garcia Marquez, with his rigorous and exhaustive questioning, and his search for new angles, had inadvertently revealed that the boat had not pitched and rolled in a violent storal ulation safety procedures were grossly inadequate The story put El Espectador El Espectador in direct confrontation with the overnment and undoubtedly made Garcia Marquez still overnment and undoubtedly rata persona non grata, a troubleie and commitment should certainly reflect on this period in his life Garcia Marquez h he has characteristically played down the dangers of the tis whenever he had to walk ho uneasily in the tension of aof a miracle that he survived unscathed24 Many years later the story was re-published, after Garcia Marquez became a world-famous writer It was entitled The Story of a shi+pwrecked Sailor (Relato de un naufrago The Story of a shi+pwrecked Sailor (Relato de un naufrago, 1970) Astonishi+ngly, it beca 10 million copies in the next twenty-five years Garcia Marquez never directly challenged the reactionary government in 19545 but in report after report he took up a point of viehich was ied the ruling systeues, guided always by rigorous investigation, reflection and communication of the realities of the country All in all, it was a sustained and brilliant demonstration of the power of the story-teller's art and of the power and central iination even in the representation of factual material

I pieces, Leaf Storota at the end of May under a little-known imprint owned by the publisher Lisman Baum and produced by Sipa Editions at five pesos a copy Garcia Marquez's friend the painter Cecilia Porras designed the cover, which depicted a little boy sitting on a chair with his legs dangling, waiting for so: the little boy that Garcia Marquez had once been in the drearandfather died and which he had now transposed into his first published novel The printers claimed to have produced 4,000 copies, fehich were ever sold finally appeared in Bogota at the end of May under a little-known imprint owned by the publisher Lisman Baum and produced by Sipa Editions at five pesos a copy Garcia Marquez's friend the painter Cecilia Porras designed the cover, which depicted a little boy sitting on a chair with his legs dangling, waiting for so: the little boy that Garcia Marquez had once been in the drearandfather died and which he had now transposed into his first published novel The printers claimed to have produced 4,000 copies, fehich were ever sold25 Its publication e counterpoint to his current status as a hard-hitting, high-profile journalist, for it belonged not only to an era but to a narrative mode that Garcia Marquez had left behind: at once static and time-tore counterpoint to his current status as a hard-hitting, high-profile journalist, for it belonged not only to an era but to a narrative mode that Garcia Marquez had left behind: at once static and time-tormented, fatalistic and h it had by no ed his obsessions, it was a book based directly on his own childhood, so which had suddenly ”dropped off” ”The House” after he had a, now five years before The title had been rapidly improvised in 1951 in order to be able to send the novel off to Buenos Aires; and some time in the months before publication Garcia Marquez coue or coda dated ”1909,” which ave the novel a perspective, both historical and ical at one and the same