Part 7 (2/2)

Cartagena, 26 March 2007: GGM waves to adhtieth birthday

What Marse did not knoas that Garcia Marquez, who intuited how serious this probleht eventually become, had supported a direct behind-the-scenes approach to Castro over the Padilla probleed another visit to Paris to see Julio Cortazar, hoed to meet Cortazar had just separated frolooht spot, he said, was hiswith Garcia Marquez: ”I want you to know that I met Gabriel, who stayed two extra days to meet me; I found both his up like a fountain when life puts you in touch with people like them”25 The two h because they were the tould subsequently support the revolution through thick and thin and, in doing so, distance themselves from most of their conteas Llosa, Donoso, Cabrera Infante, Goytisolo and even Fuentes Garcia Marquez clai a joint letter to Fidel, though Cortazar seemed to believe it was his initiative In essence the idea seems to have been to appeal privately to Fidel not to punish Padilla in return-implicitly-for their silence No reply ever came but Padilla, who had been removed from his work at Casa de las Americas, was reinstated In 1971 the whole affair would blow up once as Llosa, Juan Goytisolo and Plinio Mendoza had already turned away froain The two h because they were the tould subsequently support the revolution through thick and thin and, in doing so, distance themselves from most of their conteas Llosa, Donoso, Cabrera Infante, Goytisolo and even Fuentes Garcia Marquez clai a joint letter to Fidel, though Cortazar seemed to believe it was his initiative In essence the idea seems to have been to appeal privately to Fidel not to punish Padilla in return-implicitly-for their silence No reply ever came but Padilla, who had been removed from his work at Casa de las Americas, was reinstated In 1971 the whole affair would blow up once as Llosa, Juan Goytisolo and Plinio Mendoza had already turned away froain

On 8 December Garcia Marquez travelled on an extraordinary expedition to Prague for a ith his new friend Julio Cortazar, Cortazar's new partner the Lithuanian writer and translator Ugne Karvelis, orked at the top Parisian publisher Gallimard, and Carlos Fuentes They were keen to find out as really happening in the newly occupied Czech capital and wanted to talk to novelist Milan Kundera about the crisis26 According to Carlos Fuentes, ”Kundera asked us to meet him in a sauna by the river bank to tell us what had happened in Prague Apparently it was one of the few places without ears in the wallsA large hole opened in the ice invited us to ease our discomfort and reactivate our circulation Milan Kundera pushed us gently towards the irremediable As purple as certain orchids, the man from Barranquilla, and I, the man from Veracruz, immersed ourselves in that water so alien to our tropical essence” According to Carlos Fuentes, ”Kundera asked us to meet him in a sauna by the river bank to tell us what had happened in Prague Apparently it was one of the few places without ears in the wallsA large hole opened in the ice invited us to ease our discomfort and reactivate our circulation Milan Kundera pushed us gently towards the irremediable As purple as certain orchids, the man from Barranquilla, and I, the man from Veracruz, immersed ourselves in that water so alien to our tropical essence”27 Despite these adventures, the do this period is that of the solitary hero, tied to his vocation as to a ball and chain yet bereft of inspiration, wandering the dead-end corridors and eet that he lived in a small apartment) like some Citizen Kane of narrative fiction; or perhaps like Papa Heway only with literary bullets that were blanks instead of live ones He was actually far fro of The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autu of as he had been during the writing of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude Still, his anguish was undoubtedly real, despite the often ludicrous spectacle of his private tores of newspapers all across Latin Aan to visit Car several days a week, ostensibly to leave the latest section of The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autu-Car substantial sections of the novel as early as 1 April 1969 and was still receiving theust 1974, with strict instructions ”Not to be read”-but also to use her telephone on an unlinations This kept business out of the hoht have upset her, not least the large aive away over the co years and, as time went on, the political and other affairs in which he becaan to act as a kind of sister, a sister he could tell al, a person ould come to love him dearly and ould make any sacrifice on his behalf ”After he had been in Barcelona for a while,” she told me, ”he would come in and say, 'Get ready, I've a job for Superman' That was me And that's who I've been ever since for hi-Car substantial sections of the novel as early as 1 April 1969 and was still receiving theust 1974, with strict instructions ”Not to be read”-but also to use her telephone on an unlinations This kept business out of the hoht have upset her, not least the large aive away over the co years and, as time went on, the political and other affairs in which he becaan to act as a kind of sister, a sister he could tell al, a person ould come to love him dearly and ould make any sacrifice on his behalf ”After he had been in Barcelona for a while,” she told me, ”he would come in and say, 'Get ready, I've a job for Superman' That was me And that's who I've been ever since for hih Years later he asked her during a telephone conversation, ”Do you love me, Carmen?” She replied, ”I can't answer that You are 362 per cent of our incoh Years later he asked her during a telephone conversation, ”Do you love me, Carmen?” She replied, ”I can't answer that You are 362 per cent of our inco up Garcia Marquez would later remark that the relationshi+p between parents and children, unchanging for centuries, was radically transfor for ever, those who did not were even older than o, today a successful film-maker in Hollywood, told h we had a very social life it was really just the four of us, always Just the four of us in the world We were a wheel with four spokes, never five So o I was traumatized, I simply couldn't believe that now there was a fifth spoke And that's afteraway from home for many years”29 He added: ”The two of us were breast-fed with a nus you just had to know One was the great ie emphasis on the sheer fascination of other people and their lives It wasYou had to know about their lives and all their business and you had to share in other people's experiences and share your oith theht up to be conificant respects Firstly, Latin American people were the best people in the world They were not necessarily the cleverest, they ht not have built a lot, but they were the very best people in the world, the enerous On the other hand, if anything rong you always had to know that it was the govern And if it wasn't the government, it was the United States I've since discovered that my father loves the United States and has a lot of admiration for its achievements and a lot of affection for so up the United States was to bla back, it was a very huh I was christened by Caious education Religion was bad, politicians were bad, the police and the army were bad30 ”There were other essentials too If there was one e kept hearing it was 'seriousness' For example, my parents were very strict about manners You had to hold doors open for ladies and you couldn't talk with your reat belief in seriousness, in rades, you couldn't possibly not get good grades But you also had to fool around, you had to kno to fool around and when to fool around; it was al around was part of 'seriousness' And if ent over the top and fooled around too s in the world were really worthy of respect: service-being a doctor or a teacher or so works of art But it was always embedded in our brains that fame was of no importance at all, he always said it wasn't 'serious' You could be iht even be suspicious For example, he said, his friends Alvaro Mutis and tito Monterroso were very great writers but no one had ever heard of them On the other hand, we boys quite liked it when Dad started to be recognized in the street”31 It was around this ti He had been an addict since the age of eighteen and at the tiarettes a day of black tobacco Only two years before he had said that he would rather die than give up s over dinner with his psychiatrist friend Luis Feduchi, who explained how he hiiven up a month before and why Garcia Marquez would not reveal the full details of this conversation for arette he was sh he was outraged teeks later when Luis Feduchi started s over dinner with his psychiatrist friend Luis Feduchi, who explained how he hiiven up a month before and why Garcia Marquez would not reveal the full details of this conversation for arette he was sh he was outraged teeks later when Luis Feduchi started s a pipe33 In January 1970 One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude was nan Novel of 1969 in France, recipient of a prize first instituted in 1948; but Garcia Marquez flatly refused to attend the ceremony Months afterwards he would tell an interviewer that ”the book doesn't feel right in French” and hadn't sold very well despite positive reviews-perhaps because, unfortunately, ”the spirit of Descartes has defeated that of Rabelais” in France was nan Novel of 1969 in France, recipient of a prize first instituted in 1948; but Garcia Marquez flatly refused to attend the ceremony Months afterwards he would tell an interviewer that ”the book doesn't feel right in French” and hadn't sold very well despite positive reviews-perhaps because, unfortunately, ”the spirit of Descartes has defeated that of Rabelais” in France34 Ironically, the situation was totally different with regard to the United States No novel in recent history had received an to receive there John Leonard, in the New York Times Book Revie York Tie from this marvelous novel as if froure at the hearth, part historian, part haruspex, in a voice by turns angelic and eable reality, then locks you into legend and le bound, Gabriel Garcia Marquez leaps onto the stage with Gunter Grass and Vladiination, his fatalis35 London followed on 16 April In June The Times The Times, the then establishment pillar and in some respects the most conservative newspaper in the world, which had only recently pere to the first chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude, accoht have been stolen from the Beatles' cartoon movie Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine In December the New York Times named In December the New York Times named One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude one of the twelve books of the year: it was the only fiction title alish version of one of the twelve books of the year: it was the only fiction title alish version of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude idely considered the best foreign translation of the year idely considered the best foreign translation of the year

As for the other ”Boo-heralded move to Spain that summer He had completed his monumental novel Conversation in the Cathedral Conversation in the Cathedral the previous year and now left his teaching position at the University of London and moved to Barcelona His friends would call Mario ”the cadet,” not only because of the topic-a military academy-of his best-seller the previous year and now left his teaching position at the University of London and moved to Barcelona His friends would call Mario ”the cadet,” not only because of the topic-a military academy-of his best-seller The Time of the Hero The Time of the Hero (1962) but because Mario hianized and, in theory at least, ai Yet controversy often surrounded hiput behind hie to his aunt which would later become the subject of his novel (1962) but because Mario hianized and, in theory at least, ai Yet controversy often surrounded hiput behind hie to his aunt which would later become the subject of his novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Meanwhile, another of his projects, a biographically oriented study of Garcia Marquez's narrative fiction, was surely one of the e in literature froreat writer to another It was to be entitled Meanwhile, another of his projects, a biographically oriented study of Garcia Marquez's narrative fiction, was surely one of the e in literature froreat writer to another It was to be entitled Garcia Marquez: The Story of a Deicide Garcia Marquez: The Story of a Deicide ( (Garcia Marquez: historia de un deicidio), and it rele best book ever written on Garcia Marquez and still a fundamental reference source today-even if, as many critics have said, it turned the Colombian into a writer with many of the attributes and the obsessions of Mario himself

Another writer now in residence was the hypochondriac Chilean Jose Donoso, whom Garcia Marquez had first met in Carlos Fuentes's house in 1965 Donoso was the ”fifththe ”fifth Beatle”), writer of the reht (1970) Donoso later authored two important chronicles of the era, his Personal History of the ” (1970) Donoso later authored two important chronicles of the era, his Personal History of the ”Boom” (1972) and his novel, The Garden Next Door The Garden Next Door (1981), which casts a satirical-and envious-eye on the relationshi+p between Carmen Balcells (Nuria Monclus) and her ”favourite” writer, Garcia Marquez (Marcelo Chiriboga) (1981), which casts a satirical-and envious-eye on the relationshi+p between Carmen Balcells (Nuria Monclus) and her ”favourite” writer, Garcia Marquez (Marcelo Chiriboga)36 And Plinio Mendoza and his wife Marvel Moreno had decided to move across the Atlantic, first to Paris and then to Mallorca37 Living in the ent austerity, Mendoza would soon become a frequent visitor to Barcelona, thanks to Garcia Marquez's largesse, but he found things difficult: ”I would stay in his house But in that apartment on Caponata Street, roomy and quiet, that lady with airs and pearl necklaces, Celebrity, was also staying” Living in the ent austerity, Mendoza would soon become a frequent visitor to Barcelona, thanks to Garcia Marquez's largesse, but he found things difficult: ”I would stay in his house But in that apartment on Caponata Street, roomy and quiet, that lady with airs and pearl necklaces, Celebrity, was also staying”38 It was at this time that Garcia Marquez met Pablo Neruda and his wife Matilde Neruda was Latin Areatest poet, an old-style communist as also an old-style bon vivant whose approach to life even the sybaritic Alvaro Mutis must have envied and ad, Neruda was on his way back by boat from a trip to Europe to be present at the elections which would bring socialist candidate Salvador Allende to power One of the victorious Allende's first decisions would be to make Neruda Chile's ambassador to Paris in 1971 When Neruda's shi+p stopped in Barcelona in the su Garcia Marquez was one of his principal objectives39 Afterwards Garcia Marquez wrote to Mendoza, ”It's a shame you didn't see Neruda The bastard caused a hell of an uproar during the lunch, to the point where Matilde had to send hiht him here for a siesta and before they went back to the boat we had a fantastic time” Afterwards Garcia Marquez wrote to Mendoza, ”It's a shame you didn't see Neruda The bastard caused a hell of an uproar during the lunch, to the point where Matilde had to send hiht him here for a siesta and before they went back to the boat we had a fantastic time”40 This was the occasion on which Neruda, who had still not quite completed his all-important siesta, dedicated a book to Mercedes Garcia Marquez recalls, ”Mercedes said she was going to ask Pablo for his signature 'Don't be such a creep!' I said and went to hide in the bathroomHe wrote, 'To Mercedes, in her bed' He looked at it and said, 'This sounds a bit suspicious,' so he added, 'To Mercedes and Gabo, in their bed' Then he thought, 'The truth is it's even worse now' So he added, 'Fraternally, Pablo' Then, roaring with laughter, he said, 'Now it's worse than ever but there's nothing to be done about it'” This was the occasion on which Neruda, who had still not quite completed his all-important siesta, dedicated a book to Mercedes Garcia Marquez recalls, ”Mercedes said she was going to ask Pablo for his signature 'Don't be such a creep!' I said and went to hide in the bathroomHe wrote, 'To Mercedes, in her bed' He looked at it and said, 'This sounds a bit suspicious,' so he added, 'To Mercedes and Gabo, in their bed' Then he thought, 'The truth is it's even worse now' So he added, 'Fraternally, Pablo' Then, roaring with laughter, he said, 'Now it's worse than ever but there's nothing to be done about it'”41 The next few h-water an when Carlos Fuentes's play The One-Eyed Man Is King The One-Eyed Man Is King was preust and he invited all his Booanized froas Llosa and Patricia, who had only just moved to the Catalan capital, Jose Donoso and Pilar, and Gabo and Mercedes, with their two sons, all took the train fronon for the premiere Spanish novelist Juan Goytisolo, another honorary non was only forty non, Julio Cortazar's country horoup, and ust For his part Cortazar organized a huge lunch at a local restaurant and then the entire party descended on his house and spent a long afternoon and evening there was preust and he invited all his Booanized froas Llosa and Patricia, who had only just moved to the Catalan capital, Jose Donoso and Pilar, and Gabo and Mercedes, with their two sons, all took the train fronon for the premiere Spanish novelist Juan Goytisolo, another honorary non was only forty non, Julio Cortazar's country horoup, and ust For his part Cortazar organized a huge lunch at a local restaurant and then the entire party descended on his house and spent a long afternoon and evening there

For many reasons, but above all because this was the first and only tiether, the occasion has since taken on a legendary character Unfortunately, behind the joviality there lurked a couple of proble ever since the first Padilla Affair in Cuba in 1968 and had deepened with Castro's support of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia Now both problenificant latent divisions between the six friends would shortly becoeable But not quite yet The first problem was Cuba's repression of writers and intellectuals; the second, related to it, was Juan Goytisolo's project for a new azine, to be located in Paris and to be entitled Libre Libre, ”Free,” a naether were convinced would itself be considered a provocation in Havana and proof that the architects of the Boom were, as the Cubans already suspected, a bunch of ”petty-bourgeois” liberals

A week after the party Cortazar would write: ”It was at once very nice and very strange; so outside of ti that escapes s enshrined in the Boom could still be partly sustained as a collective enterprise; and it was ironical that this first great gathering had taken the for, he who had always avoided crowds and false bonhoether by frequenttowards the vast collectivist projects of the socialist dreas enshrined in the Boom could still be partly sustained as a collective enterprise; and it was ironical that this first great gathering had taken the for, he who had always avoided crowds and false bonhoether by frequenttowards the vast collectivist projects of the socialist dream

On 4 September Salvador Allende was elected as President of Chile on a urated on 3 Nove the Chilean people ”socialism within liberty” But even before he was installed, a CIA-inspired attack fatally wounded General Rene Schneider, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean army, on 22 October Garcia Marquez had recently rapher of Neruda, whose role in Cuba as Chilean ambassador would have much to do with the ultimate outcome of the Padilla Affair

A week before Christne drove fronon After their arrival all the writers and their wives went off to a Catalan speciality restaurant, La Font des Ocellets (The Bird Bath) in the old quarter The system there was for the customers to write their orders on a printed for that after an extended period of time the form was still blank and the waiter co, and with heavy Catalan sarcasm uttered the immortal words: ”Don't any of you knorite?” There was a silence, part enation and part amusement After a moment Mercedes spoke up, ”Yes, I knorite,” and she proceeded to read out the endary Once an anxious Pilar Serrano rang to tell her that Donoso, an inveterate hypochondriac, was convinced he had leukemia Mercedes replied, ”Don't worry, Gabito's just had cancer in his head and now he's doing fine”43 Christas Llosas so that the Peruvian couple could pack their young children off to bed Cortazar, who had already been throwing soballs at all and sundry, now engaged Vargas Llosa in a frenetic co cars the boys had received for Christmas Then, after Christanized a party to which both Spaniards and Latin Alish sense of restraint and decorum, recalled in 1971: ”For me, the Boom as an entity caination and if, in fact, it has ended-in 1970 at the home of Luis Goytisolo in Barcelona with a party presided over by Maria Antonia hile weighed down by outrageous, expensive jewelry and into mind a Leon Bakst model for Scheherezade or Petrouchka Scheherezade or Petrouchka Wearing his brand-new beard in shades of red, Cortazar danced souests who encircled theas Llosas danced a Peruvian waltz and, later, the Garcia Marquezes entered the same circle, which awarded theue Meanwhile, our literary agent, Carmen Balcells, lay back on the plu the ingredients of this delicious stew, feeding, with the help of Fernando Tola, Jorge Herralde, and Sergio Pitol, the fantastic, hungry fish that in their lighted aquariums decorated the walls of the roos that made us all dance like marionettes, and she studied us: perhaps with ader, perhaps with afish in their aquariu of thehis brand-new beard in shades of red, Cortazar danced souests who encircled theas Llosas danced a Peruvian waltz and, later, the Garcia Marquezes entered the same circle, which awarded theue Meanwhile, our literary agent, Carmen Balcells, lay back on the plu the ingredients of this delicious stew, feeding, with the help of Fernando Tola, Jorge Herralde, and Sergio Pitol, the fantastic, hungry fish that in their lighted aquariums decorated the walls of the roos that made us all dance like marionettes, and she studied us: perhaps with ader, perhaps with afish in their aquariu of the azine Libre Libre was talked about” was talked about”44 After Cortazar and Ugne returned to Paris through the late-Deceradually wound down Garcia Marquez and Mercedes have always liked to organize New Year parties rather than Christroup of reas Llosas and the Donosos-welcomed in the year 1971 Little did they know that this was the last ti anything together The Boom was about to implode

18

The Solitary Author Slowly Writes: The Autumn of the Patriarch and the Wider World 19711975 BY 1971, after more than three years in Barcelona and with his book still not completed, Garcia Marquez had decided on a break fro and set off for nine months in Latin America He felt he needed to refamiliarize himself with his world His own preference was Barranquilla but the previous March he had told Alfonso Fuenmayor that he was not sure the family would let him return there: ”The boys are chronically homesick for Mexico and only now have I realized that they lived there long enough for that to be the Macondo they'll drag around the world for the rest of their lives The only rotten patriot in this house is ht all the time” 1971, after more than three years in Barcelona and with his book still not completed, Garcia Marquez had decided on a break fro and set off for nine months in Latin America He felt he needed to refamiliarize himself with his world His own preference was Barranquilla but the previous March he had told Alfonso Fuenmayor that he was not sure the family would let him return there: ”The boys are chronically homesick for Mexico and only now have I realized that they lived there long enough for that to be the Macondo they'll drag around the world for the rest of their lives The only rotten patriot in this house is h, he had convinced his reluctant fa Mexico Soh, he had convinced his reluctant fa Mexico

So in mid-January the Garcia Barcha family arrived in Colombia Garcia Marquez save a double thuraphs show hiuayabera shi+rt, leatherfull of cares With all the inactivity and extra carbohydrates in Barcelona he had filled out; his hair had filled out too and was now in a semi-Afro style characteristic of the era and he sported an equally characteristic Zapata lasses apparently pretending to be somewhere else, but the two boys, who hardly knew the country, looked bold and excited2 The local press and radio were out in force and the taxi drivers shouted from a distance that they would take Gabito to Macondo for just thirty pesos, for old ti Barcelona had announced, at first sight rather ungraciously, that he was going home ”for a detox,” The local press and radio were out in force and the taxi drivers shouted from a distance that they would take Gabito to Macondo for just thirty pesos, for old ti Barcelona had announced, at first sight rather ungraciously, that he was going hoht of ahis visit and coined one of his defining phrases when he said that he had followed his nose back to the Caribbean after the ”sht of ahis visit and coined one of his defining phrases when he said that he had followed his nose back to the Caribbean after the ”suava”4 The family travelled down to the honificent white h-ominously-Cepeda himself was in New York forwith tita until they could find a suitable house or apartment Journalist Juan Gossain was allowed in on the first round of beers and listened to the conversation Garcia Marquez explained, as if in confidence, why he had al return All his life he had wanted to be a world-famous writer and had endured years of misery as a reporter in order to become one Now that he really was a full-tiain, a searcher after information, and so his life had coer am”5 Some weeks later a Mexican journalist, Guillerena, where he, Mercedes and the boys were relaxing underneath a coconut pal a visit to his parents Ochoa's first article would concentrate on Luisa Santiaga and helped inaugurate her legend To celebrate the return of her eldest son she had lovingly fattened a turkey: ”But I discovered I couldn't kill it,” she told us And then, with that stern gentleness that typifies Ursula Iguaran, the character of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude that she inspired, she added: ”I'd become fond of him” The turkey is still alive and well and Gabito, on his return, had to be content with the seafood soup he has eaten every day since he got back to the city That's how Luisa Marquez de Garcia is She's a woht ”If I did, it would delay the sailors,” she explains ”What is the greatest satisfaction of your life?” we asked her And she, without hesitation, replied: ”Having a daughter who's a nun” that she inspired, she added: ”I'd become fond of him” The turkey is still alive and well and Gabito, on his return, had to be content with the seafood soup he has eaten every day since he got back to the city That's how Luisa Marquez de Garcia is She's a woht ”If I did, it would delay the sailors,” she explains ”What is the greatest satisfaction of your life?” we asked her And she, without hesitation, replied: ”Having a daughter who's a nun”6 The house Gabito and Mercedes rented in Barranquilla was almost on the outskirts of the city at that ti environment and he retains pleasant h their parents had fixed up a school in advance, the boys ot into the house and they hunted for iguanas to relieve the to be back in the tropics and to be enveloped in the lives of two large extended faena and Arjona, and a whole network of new friends in Barranquilla, they were also acutely aware that they were Mexico City boys: ”The truth is that Rodrigo and I are both urban people; we have almost no experience of the rural world Whereas our parents are both rural people, and above all tropical people I can hardly recognize theena or Havana They are both relatively uptight everywhere else”7 In the first week of April Garcia Marquez and Mercedes set off for Caracas alone He was concerned to recharge his Caribbean batteries to bring his new book alive but it was also in a real sense a syether and then a journey around the Caribbean, as well as the beginning of a pattern in which, increasingly, the boys would be left behind while their parents travelled the world in response to the lures and obligations of Garcia Marquez's ever-increasing fa around the Caribbean on this second honey about a probleest of its islands, a problem which would make this cruise the last relatively uncomplicated overnment had arrested Heberto Padilla,8 the writer whose poems had caused such a storm of controversy on and off the island in the sury confrontation with Juan Marse in Barcelona Now the Cuban poet was accused of subversive activities connected to the CIA On 5 April, still in prison, Padilla signed a long-and obviously insincere-statement of self-criticism the writer whose poems had caused such a storm of controversy on and off the island in the sury confrontation with Juan Marse in Barcelona Now the Cuban poet was accused of subversive activities connected to the CIA On 5 April, still in prison, Padilla signed a long-and obviously insincere-stateh so many writers lived in Barcelona, Paris was still in many respects the political capital of Latin Aanized a protest letter addressed to Fidel Castro, first published in Le Monde Le Monde in Paris, in which they said that although they supported the ”principles” of the revolution they could not accept the ”Stalinist” persecution of writers and intellectuals The list of na many others, Jean-Paul Sartre and Sias Llosa (the true instigators of the protest), Julio Cortazar and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (organizers, with Goytisolo, of the forthcoazine Libre) andGabriel Garcia Marquez in Paris, in which they said that although they supported the ”principles” of the revolution they could not accept the ”Stalinist” persecution of writers and intellectuals The list of na many others, Jean-Paul Sartre and Sias Llosa (the true instigators of the protest), Julio Cortazar and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (organizers, with Goytisolo, of the forthcoazine Libre) andGabriel Garcia Marquez9 In fact Garcia Marquez had not signed the letter: Plinio Mendoza had assuned for hie to his relationshi+p with Cuba was done, followed by lasting difficulties with all the friends who rened up: the worst of all outcole most important crisis in Latin American literary politics in the twentieth century, one which divided both Latin American and European intellectuals for decades to come Writers and intellectuals had no choice but to commit and take sides in this cultural equivalent of a civil war Nothing would ever be the saain, not least the relationshi+p between Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llosa, which would eventually prove to be the noisiest and most violent of all the casualties of this political drama It was the more ironic because just at that very as Llosa's Garcia Marquez, the Story of a Deicide Garcia Marquez, the Story of a Deicide, which would appear in December of 1971, as their faas Llosa would not allow a second edition of the book for thirty-five years10 As Castro's reactions becaly furious and defiant Garcia Marquez, who this period, nevertheless ed the coolest and ed ”intervieith Barranquilla journalist Julio Roca He conceded that Padilla's self-criticised that this had done dae of the revolution; but he also insisted that he had never signed the first letter, claimed that Fidel Castro had beensupport for the Cuban regime and, in a characteristic move, stated that if there were Stalinist elements in Cuba Fidel Castro would be the first to say so and to start to root theh Garcia Marquez's response was, its attempt to be solomonic and to please all sides failed to satisfy anyone On 10 June the Colombian press demanded that he ”define himself publicly on the Cuban issue” and the next day, still dodging and weaving but less so, he announced: ”I am a communist who has not yet found a place to sit” Most of his friends and colleagues preferred the Chilean route to socialis, did not Of his behaviour Juan Goytisolo would later say, with undisguised bitterness, ”With his consuht corners, Gabo would carefully distance hi confrontation with theist of his own enorood in this world, and promoter at the planetary level of real or would-be 'advanced' causes, was about to be born”12 Garcia Marquez went through a very particular agony of anxiety and indecision because, just before the Padilla crisis broke, he had accepted an invitation from Columbia University in New York to be presented with an honorary doctorate at the beginning of June The ti could hardly have been more disastrous He knew only too well that Pablo Neruda, a well-known coinning, had both been exco visits to New York And here was he, already seen byshi+p around the ti an honour from New York's premier university, an honour which, to Cuban eyes, was obviously an attee of the era) for US interests13 Eventually his official line was that he was accepting the award ”on behalf of Coloainst the regi in the USA, as indeed was Columbia University itself, and that he had consulted ”the taxi drivers of Barranquilla”-champions of common sense, he declared-in order to make up his mind14 Nevertheless, if his future relationshi+p with the United States-hi him-was now established, to his evident relief, he was back in the doghouse as far as Cuba was concerned For the next two years, despite his statened the first letter, he again had no contact whatever with the revolutionary island Nevertheless, if his future relationshi+p with the United States-hi him-was now established, to his evident relief, he was back in the doghouse as far as Cuba was concerned For the next two years, despite his statened the first letter, he again had no contact whatever with the revolutionary island

Yet once again Garcia Marquez was about to be lucky If Cuba was closed to hi, another controversy was about to blohich would show, again, that on the political baros almost everywhere but Cuba and Colombia Whether coincidentally or not we do not know, a feeeks later a Spanish journalist called Ramon Chao pushed a uel Angel Asturias and asked hiations that the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude had plagiarized a novel by Balzac, had plagiarized a novel by Balzac, The Quest of the Absolute The Quest of the Absolute Asturias paused for ato the accusation Chao published his scoop in the Madrid weekly Asturias paused for ato the accusation Chao published his scoop in the Madrid weekly Triunfo Triunfo and and Le Monde Le Monde reprinted it in Paris on 19 June reprinted it in Paris on 19 June15 In October 1967 Asturias had become only the second Latin American, and the first novelist from the continent, to win the nobel Prize But he had been heavily criticized in recent years for taking a politically controversial ambassadorshi+p in Paris He was about to discover that ”Gabriel Garcia Marquez,” not ”Mguel Angel Asturias,” was now the name of Latin American literature The truth was that Garcia Marquez had been provoking Asturias for years, despite the older writer's generous coer man's work and achievement Early in 1968 Garcia Marquez had vowed that with his new book about a Latin American political patriarch, he would ”teach” the author of The President, Asturias's signature work, ”horite a real dictator novel”16 It seems possible that Garcia Marquez's attitude to Asturias was conditioned in part by the fact that Asturias had won the nobel Prize, the accolade that he, Garcia Marquez, had wanted to be the first Latin American novelist to win, and in part because Asturias was obviously the Latin Aical realism (of which One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude is frequently considered the paradigh The President, of the dictator novel (of which is frequently considered the paradigh The President, of the dictator novel (of which The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch was, si version) Asturias et because of his own vulnerability over the ambassadorshi+p and because he was never the most lucid or coherent of debaters; and by noas old and sick Taking hi an elephant from a safe distance In fact, Asturias's decision in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to act as a kind of literary fellow traveller to world coeneral but without having to tie himself down in detail, was a model for precisely what Garcia Marquez hi Asturias's relations with Guatemala's Marxist President Jacobo Arbenz, Garcia Marquez would shortly befriend the most charismatic of all Latin American Communist revolutionaries, Fidel Castro was, si version) Asturias et because of his own vulnerability over the ambassadorshi+p and because he was never the most lucid or coherent of debaters; and by noas old and sick Taking hi an elephant from a safe distance In fact, Asturias's decision in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to act as a kind of literary fellow traveller to world coeneral but without having to tie himself down in detail, was a model for precisely what Garcia Marquez hi Asturias's relations with Guatemala's Marxist President Jacobo Arbenz, Garcia Marquez would shortly befriend the most charismatic of all Latin American Communist revolutionaries, Fidel Castro

Garcia Marquez did not yet know that he had once again been banished from the Cuban political Eldorado and played brilliantly to the leftist gallery He had not directly caused Asturias's difficulties but he had helped provoke theht say The question then arises whether Garcia Marquez had not also been setting a series of psychological traps for Mario Vargas Llosa, his only serious rival a his contemporaries, traps which would cause another even more violent confrontation a few years down the road And whether the final version of The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch, a self-critical work about a man who cannot tolerate competition from those close to him, whether in public or private life, is not in some measure an expiation for these sins

On 9 July the Garcia Barcha family left Soledad Airport in Barranquilla for Mexico They had spent less than six months back in Colombia Garcia Marquez arrived in the Mexican capital on 11 July co the stopover in Florida because the ”Executive Authority” ith hily tedious down the years He spent his first day escorted around the city by journalists and photographers from Excelsior, to whom he declared that this was the city he knew best in the world and that he felt as if he had never left The journalists watched hi jokes (”I'uy on the inside but not on the outside”) Young Rodrigo said he would rather be a baseball player or a mechanic than a student ”You can be what you want,” said his indulgent father Still accoraphers, he visited Carlos Fuentes and his actress wife Rita Macedo-dressed in black leather hot pants-at their house in San Angel Fuentes shouted ”Plagiarist, plagiarist!” as Garcia Marquez's car arrived17 That evening Fuentes held one of his faressive intellectuals and artists That evening Fuentes held one of his faressive intellectuals and artists

Garcia Marquez was a different person in Mexico now, the person he would ren son and honorary Mexican Mexicans would never forget that it was in their capital city, not Paris or London, that One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude had been written It was one of the ways of papering over the bad ood publicity and Garcia Marquez lent hiust he went to see President Luis Echeverria, who had been Minister of the Interior at the time of Tlatelolco, at the presidential residence of Los Pinos, where they talked, so Garcia Marquez clai and liberation” had been written It was one of the ways of papering over the bad ood publicity and Garcia Marquez lent hiust he went to see President Luis Echeverria, who had been Minister of the Interior at the time of Tlatelolco, at the presidential residence of Los Pinos, where they talked, so Garcia Marquez clai and liberation”18 He would never publicly criticize either Echeverria or ex-President Diaz Ordaz for the events of 1968, just as he would never criticize Fidel Castro over any of Cuba's controversies Cuba and Mexico were both involved in a cole with the United States and, to a lesser extent, with each other The Mexicans were forced to cooperate with US anti-co a diplomatic corridor to Cuba until the end of the PRI period at the close of the twentieth century Castro and Garcia Marquez would both be grateful to the out He would never publicly criticize either Echeverria or ex-President Diaz Ordaz for the events of 1968, just as he would never criticize Fidel Castro over any of Cuba's controversies Cuba and Mexico were both involved in a cole with the United States and, to a lesser extent, with each other The Mexicans were forced to cooperate with US anti-co a diplomatic corridor to Cuba until the end of the PRI period at the close of the twentieth century Castro and Garcia Marquez would both be grateful to the out

In late September the family flew back to Barcelona from Mexico City via New York, London and Paris Garcia Marquez now got back to work It was more than four years since a new book of his had appeared and he was keen to reduce the pressure During the period since late 1967, although The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch was undoubtedly hishis first short stories for several years, and he added to the new ones-which included ”A Very Old Man with Enors”-the earlier ”The Sea of Dead Time” from 1961 was undoubtedly hishis first short stories for several years, and he added to the new ones-which included ”A Very Old Man with Enors”-the earlier ”The Sea of Dead Tiether as Innocent Erendira and Other Stories in 1972 Innocent Erendira itself had a long history-in one sense going back to the randparents in the deserts of the Guajira The direct source, however, was from a real life story which had already inspired a brief episode in They would all be published together as Innocent Erendira and Other Stories in 1972 Innocent Erendira itself had a long history-in one sense going back to the randparents in the deserts of the Guajira The direct source, however, was from a real life story which had already inspired a brief episode in One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude about a young prostitute who is forced to sleep with hundreds of men per day The finished story had been conceived as a fil short story, and had been published in that for prostitute who is forced to sleep with hundreds of men per day The finished story had been conceived as a fil short story, and had been published in that forazine Siempre! Siempre! as early as November 1970 as early as November 197020 Because all the stories had been started before-in so before-Garcia Marquez was able to use them to ”warm up his arm” for the return to his unfinished novel Because all the stories had been started before-in so before-Garcia Marquez was able to use them to ”warm up his arm” for the return to his unfinished novel

The stories of Innocent Erendira Innocent Erendira are not at all what one would have expected from a writer who had returned to the Caribbean to re-experience the ”sht ical (sea, sky, desert and the frontier) than the stories of are not at all what one would have expected from a writer who had returned to the Caribbean to re-experience the ”sht ical (sea, sky, desert and the frontier) than the stories of Big Ma Mama, but in a rather painterly and ”literary” way, as if the fantastic ele applied to a concrete geographical scenario; as if Macondo and the ”Pueblo” were real, whereas the Guajira (which Garcia Marquez had never even seen) is a realhlands being always, by contrast, a bogeyland of shadows and h, these stories-on which the critics are divided-are reical realist predecessor, Miguel Angel Asturias, for example in The Mirror of Lida Sal The Mirror of Lida Sal21 Now, for the first time, Garcia Marquez set about The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch with the certainty that he would be co it There were no more excuses, he had had his sabbatical and there was nowhere to escape to, even in his azine with the certainty that he would be co it There were no more excuses, he had had his sabbatical and there was nowhere to escape to, even in his azine Libre Libre had appeared in Paris, a year after Cortazar's party in the south of France, at which it had originally been discussed, and less than sixave an interview to Plinio Mendoza, the azine's editor, for had appeared in Paris, a year after Cortazar's party in the south of France, at which it had originally been discussed, and less than sixave an interview to Plinio Mendoza, the azine's editor, for Libre Libre no 3, in Franco's Spain no 3, in Franco's Spain

In October the traditional left-and Salvador Allende's beleaguered Popular Unity government in Chile-received a boost when Pablo Neruda, Allende's ambassador in Paris, was announced as the winner of the nobel Prize for 1971 Neruda, who frail and ill, was asked if he would recommend any other Latin Aht was Garcia Marquez, ”author of one of the best novels in the Spanish language”22 Just before the official announcement of the aas made Neruda called Garcia Marquez and invited hi Garcia Marquez naturally said that it was iiven his fear of flying but Neruda used his well-known tactic of sounding as if he was about to cry and the Coloot there the neas out and they dined in Neruda's house with the Mexicanassassinated Trotsky, and certainly had once attee Edwards, recently expelled frois Debray, back in Paris after his release from prison in Bolivia and a subsequent period in which he was closely involved with the Allende regirapher Henri Cartier-Bresson-a politically challenging dinner party if ever there was one Just before the official announcement of the aas made Neruda called Garcia Marquez and invited hi Garcia Marquez naturally said that it was iiven his fear of flying but Neruda used his well-known tactic of sounding as if he was about to cry and the Coloot there the neas out and they dined in Neruda's house with the Mexicanassassinated Trotsky, and certainly had once attee Edwards, recently expelled frois Debray, back in Paris after his release from prison in Bolivia and a subsequent period in which he was closely involved with the Allende regirapher Henri Cartier-Bresson-a politically challenging dinner party if ever there was one

In Deceas Llosa's Garcia Marquez: History of a Deicide Garcia Marquez: History of a Deicide was published in Barcelona by Barral The triters, whom friends from that era describe as ”alht suggest: both had experienced an especially painful version of the childhood ”family romance” Both would always have problee Vargas Llosa thought his father was dead), men ould attack their characters and question their literary vocations Both had been ht up in the house of theiryears of their lives Both would leave the coours of a boarding-school regime and an early acquaintance with prostitution and other low-life experiences Both worked as jou