Part 8 (1/2)

Thus the raphy (especially his own predicament as a uniquely famous writer) took Garcia Marquez over as he wrote a book that seemed to be about a man as his polar opposite, and so the Patriarch slowly became him, just as Aureliano Buendia had become him in One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude, only noas truly plu the darkest depths of the human condition, reflected deep in his own soul The Patriarch, c'est lamour, influence and power, on the one hand; solitude, lust, areat autobiographical irony that the writer had in fact set out to write this book about power and celebrity in the late 1950s, many years before he himself actually experienced those phenoan the final assault on the topic, he too was famous and powerful, he too was solitary, he too was ”him,” the ”other,” the desired object The literary monster he had created but was determined to satirize and expose (but whom he had possibly always envied and desired in others) was a figure of the phenomenon he himself had become

In an intervieith Juan Gossain in 1971 Garcia Marquez had linked the the that all his characters were in soraphical, he had declared: ”You know, old friend, the appetite for power is the result of an incapacity for love”43 This statein to trace a hidden connection between all of Garcia Marquez's novels, a thread to help his readers out of the intricate ical labyrinth created by his oeuvre Perhaps at first, as his sense of his own potential gradually increased, he began to fantasize that he could have it all: he could gain power and be loved for it Then came the crisis of fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Garcia Marquez, a reat psychological penetration (with above all a remarkable power of private persuasion, an extraordinary capacity for intimacy, for non-public activity) suddenly found his-critics, journalists, agents, publishers, hangers-on-within the public domain He, who had enjoyed the power of the reporter, was now hie and a commodity which he could not himself entirely control No wonder Carent” inhis contracts with publishers She helped hi, ascan, the ”in to trace a hidden connection between all of Garcia Marquez's novels, a thread to help his readers out of the intricate ical labyrinth created by his oeuvre Perhaps at first, as his sense of his own potential gradually increased, he began to fantasize that he could have it all: he could gain power and be loved for it Then came the crisis of fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Garcia Marquez, a reat psychological penetration (with above all a remarkable power of private persuasion, an extraordinary capacity for intimacy, for non-public activity) suddenly found his-critics, journalists, agents, publishers, hangers-on-within the public domain He, who had enjoyed the power of the reporter, was now hie and a commodity which he could not himself entirely control No wonder Carent” inhis contracts with publishers She helped hi, ascan, the ”master of all his power”

So maybe then, like the dictator, he decided to take control of his public self, to become another self (which would only be partially hie); instead of protesting about his predicaht years, he would assume assuo past all his rivals, become a man of power and influence based not only on his public success achieved through the solitary act of writing but on his private, behind-the-scenes brilliance and power of seduction his fao past all his rivals, become a man of power and influence based not only on his public success achieved through the solitary act of writing but on his private, behind-the-scenes brilliance and power of seduction

Because the dictator, however crude he may seeenius, for a very simple reason: ”he saw the others just as they hile the others were never able to glih ”hermetic to himself,” the Patriarch was ”crystal clear in his ability to see the reality and future of others” Although ”hermetic to himself,” the Patriarch was ”crystal clear in his ability to see the reality and future of others”45 His patience was immense and he would alin in the end, as when finally-in the case of his unreadable and apparently indispensable adviser Saenz de la Barra-”he discovered the i for so many years in that obsidian wall of fascination” His patience was immense and he would alin in the end, as when finally-in the case of his unreadable and apparently indispensable adviser Saenz de la Barra-”he discovered the i for so many years in that obsidian wall of fascination”46 Is this a picture of Garcia Marquez hiainst all-comers, friends and faas Llosa), the world? And would Fidel Castro becoure-against whom he could not, would not dare, would not even wish, to win? Is this a picture of Garcia Marquez hiainst all-comers, friends and faas Llosa), the world? And would Fidel Castro becoure-against whom he could not, would not dare, would not even wish, to win?

The lesson-it ht be called a posth his or her reluctant co-existence with the Patriarch, is that life is undoubtedly impossible to understand but there are certainall our illusions and all our contemporary relativities47 They relate not only to charity and compassion but to power, responsibility, solidarity, commitment and, finally, love Perhaps it was the complex inter-relation between these human questions which was the lesson that Garcia Marquez hi famous and which he would not have learned unless he had become famous-which, indeed, for the most part, perhaps only the famous and powerful They relate not only to charity and compassion but to power, responsibility, solidarity, commitment and, finally, love Perhaps it was the complex inter-relation between these human questions which was the lesson that Garcia Marquez hi famous and which he would not have learned unless he had become famous-which, indeed, for the most part, perhaps only the faures who experience the process of learning go on, like the Patriarch himself, to become even more despicable as their power and influence increases It raises the radical possibility that the Garcia Marquez who began to give interviews about politics and morality between, say, 1972 and 1975 was a new Garcia Marquez who had learned what the old, still relatively naive and ”innocent” Garcia Marquez was truly like and had resolved to be better and to do better now that fah o on, like the Patriarch himself, to become even more despicable as their power and influence increases It raises the radical possibility that the Garcia Marquez who began to give interviews about politics and morality between, say, 1972 and 1975 was a new Garcia Marquez who had learned what the old, still relatively naive and ”innocent” Garcia Marquez was truly like and had resolved to be better and to do better now that fame had shown him the truth

As for love, when readers these days think about Garcia Marquez and love they are inclined to senuous romantic Florentino Ariza from Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Ti face of Garcia Marquez himself reproduced on the covers of millions of novels Yet his treat face of Garcia Marquez himself reproduced on the covers of millions of novels Yet his treatment of love and sex, both in The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch and elsewhere, is curiously brutal and disenchanted The Patriarch's attitude to woinative in the extreme, with two exceptions: the beauty queen Manuela Sanchez, the unattainable woets to know, and at the other extreure whom he seduces when he is already senile Still, the only woman he has ever truly loved appears to be his a a key to this novel? And does Manuela Sanchez represent an illusory quest for lamour? And does Leticia Nazareno stand for the destiny of all wives (Mercedes is one of Leticia's other names)? And is all of it soiven that in this novel there are not even any grandfathers? Because the Patriarch regards hienerated: and elsewhere, is curiously brutal and disenchanted The Patriarch's attitude to woinative in the extreme, with two exceptions: the beauty queen Manuela Sanchez, the unattainable woets to know, and at the other extreure whom he seduces when he is already senile Still, the only woman he has ever truly loved appears to be his a a key to this novel? And does Manuela Sanchez represent an illusory quest for lamour? And does Leticia Nazareno stand for the destiny of all wives (Mercedes is one of Leticia's other names)? And is all of it soiven that in this novel there are not even any grandfathers? Because the Patriarch regards hienerated:he considered no one the son of anyone but his mother, and only her That certainty seemed valid even for him, as he knew that he was a man without a father like the most illustrious despots of history, that the only relative known to him and perhaps the only one he had was his mother of my heart Bendicion Alvarado to who conceived hi received in a dream the hermetical keys to his messianic destiny, and whom he proclaimed matriarch of the land by decree48 The truth, it appears, both prosaic and profound, is that et one they find they wanted ato want other, idealized lovers During the Patriarch's early times with Leticia Nazareno she would sit him down each day to learn to read and write; then they would spend every afternoon naked under her mosquito net, and she would wash him and dress him like a baby Thus one half of a man is moved to suppress and rape woer” and inferior to him, and to wrest them away from other men; the other half wants to be treated like a child or baby by those same woain, equality and democratic interaction are considered unrealistic or even (because unexciting) undesirable In this book as in others Garcia Marquez hardly ever uses the word ”sex,” which causes per of love and the relation between sex and love Evidently the only certainty that most of us can have about love is that our mother loves us, whatever our faults or criiven to Garcia Marquez himself in the early years of his life

By the end of his life the Patriarch can hardly re with spectres whose voices he couldn't even decipher,”49 a sex, since love is forever denied hi him women from abroad, but to no avail, because best of all he still likes ju-class woht January e, still vainly wanting sex, since love is forever denied hi him women from abroad, but to no avail, because best of all he still likes ju-class woht January moon ”)50 Finally, at the very end of the novel, he re, ”a ree shi+vering on the icy barrens and the ie of his mother Bendicion Alvarado who stole the innards of a rae-heap buzzards for lunch” Finally, at the very end of the novel, he re, ”a ree shi+vering on the icy barrens and the ie of his mother Bendicion Alvarado who stole the innards of a rae-heap buzzards for lunch”51 Childhood, as Childhood, as Memories of My Melancholy Whores Memories of My Melancholy Whores will also remind us, does not necessarily excuse but it may explain will also remind us, does not necessarily excuse but it may explain

GARCIA M MaRQUEZ WOULD CONTINUE to tinker with the novel during the latter part of 1973 and well into 1974 to tinker with the novel during the latter part of 1973 and well into 197452 But the book was essentially finished and he was able to start planning the future He had been a solitary writer locked away in solitary conflict with a solitary protagonist, yet si an interminable conversation with the world about his solitude and about that most collective of matters: politics It had been a bizarre spectacle for newspaper readers, to say the least, and Garcia Marquez only justan international fool of himself; but carry it off he did and the experience ave hie of the many which his talent and his fame would have in store for him But the book was essentially finished and he was able to start planning the future He had been a solitary writer locked away in solitary conflict with a solitary protagonist, yet si an interminable conversation with the world about his solitude and about that most collective of matters: politics It had been a bizarre spectacle for newspaper readers, to say the least, and Garcia Marquez only justan international fool of himself; but carry it off he did and the experience ave hie of the many which his talent and his fa of 1973 he and Mercedes had travelled up fro in Paris She and Charles were finally ht-and went to live opposite the hospital where she had miscarried in 1956; later they would move to the Rue du Bac She would recall, ”Gabriel was bestand my sister Irene was matron of honour Gabriel is also the Godfather oftoo, it would have been wonderful-but he was so unreliable and unpredictable”53 There is no reason whatever to think that Garcia Marquez had any regrets about the separation from Tachia, other than theinsistently about love, she would remain a productive point of reference, a symbol of paths not taken, of relationshi+ps outside of amy itself There is no reason whatever to think that Garcia Marquez had any regrets about the separation from Tachia, other than theinsistently about love, she would remain a productive point of reference, a symbol of paths not taken, of relationshi+ps outside of amy itself

Later that year, at the very ties of The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch, Garcia Marquez received another major international honour, the Neustadt Prize, awarded in association with the azine Books Abroad Books Abroad of the University of Oklaho and indeed commendable decision for an American institution to take only sixhis donation of the Gallegos Prize to MAS of the University of Oklaho and indeed commendable decision for an American institution to take only sixhis donation of the Gallegos Prize to MAS54 After perfunctorily perforle feather and cheque, Garcia Marquez flew to Los Angeles and San Francisco for a brief family holiday and then on to Mexico City, where the family were to spend the suether, ao and Gonzalo's true nation hoht a ramshackle country house on the outskirts of Cuernavaca, that beautiful resort town given notoriety by Malcol his duty in Oklahole feather and cheque, Garcia Marquez flew to Los Angeles and San Francisco for a brief family holiday and then on to Mexico City, where the family were to spend the suether, ao and Gonzalo's true nation hoht a ramshackle country house on the outskirts of Cuernavaca, that beautiful resort town given notoriety by Malcolain, with 1,100 square arden, near the house of their old friends Vicente and Albita Rojo, in the direction of Las Quintas, with views of the sierra This time, unlike his near-purchase of a country house outside Barcelona, Garcia Marquez went ahead with the deal When he registered the property at the notary public, all the e offices caain, with 1,100 square arden, near the house of their old friends Vicente and Albita Rojo, in the direction of Las Quintas, with views of the sierra This time, unlike his near-purchase of a country house outside Barcelona, Garcia Marquez went ahead with the deal When he registered the property at the notary public, all the e offices came out to have their copies of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude signed Garcia Marquez exulted, ”I'ned Garcia Marquez exulted, ”I'ht

On 9 September he left Mexico, after a stay of more than two months Mercedes flew to Barcelona, where the boys were returning reluctantly to school Garcia Marquez was on his way to Colombia on business But he told the Mexican press that he was so pleased by his reception in Mexico that he would be going on to Barcelona to pack his things and get back to Mexico as quickly as possible56 He also declared that Latin Areat leaders The only true leaders in the continent were Castro and Allende, the rest were ”mere presidents of the republic” Two days later, on the first of the doom-laden September the elevenths, one of those two leaders was dead and Latin Aain He also declared that Latin Areat leaders The only true leaders in the continent were Castro and Allende, the rest were ”mere presidents of the republic” Two days later, on the first of the doom-laden September the elevenths, one of those two leaders was dead and Latin Aain

19

Chile and Cuba: Garcia Marquez Opts for the Revolution 19731979 ON 11 S 11 SEPTEMBER 1973, like ressives across the world, Garcia Marquez, sitting in front of a television in Colombia, watched in horror as Chilean air force boo Within a few hours it was confirmed that the democratically elected President Salvador Allende was dead, whethercommitted suicide no one knew A an to round up ould beco activists over the coe fro of cancer in his house at Isla Negra on Chile's Pacific coast Allende's death and the destruction of his political dreaime made up the content of Neruda's last days on earth before he succumbed to the illness which had beset him for several years 1973, like ressives across the world, Garcia Marquez, sitting in front of a television in Colombia, watched in horror as Chilean air force boo Within a few hours it was confirmed that the democratically elected President Salvador Allende was dead, whethercommitted suicide no one knew A an to round up ould beco activists over the coe fro of cancer in his house at Isla Negra on Chile's Pacific coast Allende's death and the destruction of his political dreaime made up the content of Neruda's last days on earth before he succumbed to the illness which had beset hiovernment had been watched by political commentators and activists around the world as an experiment to see whether a socialist society could be achieved through democratic means Allende had nationalized copper, steel, coal, most private banks and other key sectors of the econoanda and subversion froovernment had increased its share of the vote to 44 per cent in the ht into redoubling its efforts to underainst Allende even before his election: the United States, beleaguered in its Vietnamire and already obsessed with Cuba, was desperate that there should be no further anti-capitalist regie destruction of the Chilean experiment, before the eyes of the entire world, would have so of the effect on leftists that the defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War had exerted al Garcia Marquez wrote a telegraota, Septeh, Cesar Mendez Danyau and Admiral Jose Toribio Merino, Members of the Military Junta: You are the material authors of the death of President Allende and the Chilean people will never allow the of criminals in the pay of North American imperialise Allende's fate was still unknown but Garcia Marquez later said that he knew Allende well enough to be sure he would never leave the palace alive; and the h soesture reat writer, it turned out to be the first political action carried out by a new Garcia Marquez, one as already looking for a new role but whose politics had now been brutally focused and radically hardened by the violent end to Allende's historic experiment He later told an interviewer, ”The Chilean coup was a catastrophe for e Allende's fate was still unknown but Garcia Marquez later said that he knew Allende well enough to be sure he would never leave the palace alive; and the h soesture reat writer, it turned out to be the first political action carried out by a new Garcia Marquez, one as already looking for a new role but whose politics had now been brutally focused and radically hardened by the violent end to Allende's historic experiment He later told an interviewer, ”The Chilean coup was a catastrophe for me”

The Padilla Affair had turned out, predictably, to be the great dividing of the waters in Latin American Cold War history, and not just for intellectuals, artists and writers Garcia Marquez, despite the criticis from ”opportunism” to ”naivety”-had remained the most politically consistent of the major Latin American authors The Soviet Union was not the socialism he wanted but from the Latin Aainst US hegemony and i” but a rational appraisal of reality Cuba, though also probleressive than the USSR and had to be supported by all serious anti-imperialist Latin Americans, who should nonetheless do what they could to moderate any repressive, undeime3 He chose what seemed to him to be the path of peace and justice for the peoples of the world: international socialism, broadly defined He chose what seemed to him to be the path of peace and justice for the peoples of the world: international socialism, broadly defined4 He had undoubtedly wanted the Chilean experiment to succeed but had never believed that it would be allowed to do so In answer to a question from a New York journalist in 1971, he had said: My ambition is for all Latin America to become socialist, but nowadays people are seduced by the idea of peaceful and constitutional socialism This seems all very well for electoral purposes, but I believe it to be co toward violent and draence and great tact, with reasonably firm and swift steps-a moment will come when they will encounter a wall of serious opposition The United States is not interfering at present, but it won't always stand by with folded arms It won't really accept that Chile is a socialist country It won't allow that, and don't let's be under any illusions on that point It's not that I see [violence] as a solution, but I think that a moment will come when that wall of opposition can only be surmounted by violence Unfortunately, I believe that to be inevitable I think what is happening in Chile is very good as reform, but not as revolution5 Few observers had seen the future as clearly as this Garcia Marquez realized that he was now living at a critical juncture in world history Over the next few years, despite his deep-rooted political pessimism, he would make a series of statements about political commitment which were perhaps best summed up in a 1978 interview: ”The sense of solidarity, which is the same as what Catholics call the Co for me It means that in every one of our acts each one of us is responsible for the whole of humanity When a person discovers this it's because his political consciousness has reached its highest level Modesty apart, that is my case For me there is no act in my life which is not a political act”6 He looked for a way to take action He was more convinced than ever that the Cuban road was the only feasible route to Latin Anity But he was distanced, yet again, from Cuba In the circumstances he decided that the route back lay, in the first instance, through Colombia He had been involved in discussions for so Colombian intellectuals, particularly Enrique Santos Calderon of the El Tieot to know, Daniel Samper whom he had known for a decade, and later Antonio Caballero, the son of the liberal upper-class novelist Eduardo Caballero Calderon, with a view to creating a new for a left-wing ot to know, Daniel Samper whom he had known for a decade, and later Antonio Caballero, the son of the liberal upper-class novelist Eduardo Caballero Calderon, with a view to creating a new for a left-wing azine8 Garcia Marquez had come to the conclusion that the only way for his deeply conservative country to reforly call the ”seduction” and ”perversion” of the younger generation fro families Garcia Marquez had come to the conclusion that the only way for his deeply conservative country to reforly call the ”seduction” and ”perversion” of the younger generation fro families9 Other key participants were the nation's best-known chronicler of the Other key participants were the nation's best-known chronicler of the Violencia Violencia, the internationally respected sociologist Orlando Fals Borda, and a left-wing entrepreneur called Jose Vicente Katarain, ould later becoazine would be called Alternativa Alternativa, its point of departure was ”the increasing monopoly of information suffered by Colombian society at the hands of the same interests which control the national economy and national politics,” and its purpose was to show ”the other Colo press nor on the screens of a television service more closely subordinated each day to official control”10 The first nuazine would last six turbulent years and Garcia Marquez, ould spend relatively little time in Coloular contributor and would make himself permanently avail-able for consultations and advice He and the other leading participants invested large amounts of their own money in this inherently risky business In theback to Latin A no more novels: from now on, and until the military junta led by General Pinochet in Chile fell from power, he was ”on strike” as far as literature was concerned and would be devoting himself full time to politics The first nuazine would last six turbulent years and Garcia Marquez, ould spend relatively little time in Coloular contributor and would make himself permanently avail-able for consultations and advice He and the other leading participants invested large amounts of their own money in this inherently risky business In theback to Latin A no more novels: from now on, and until the military junta led by General Pinochet in Chile fell from power, he was ”on strike” as far as literature was concerned and would be devoting himself full time to politics

In December, as if to underline his new resolutions, Garcia Marquez accepted an invitation to becoious Second Russell Tribunal investigating and judging international war criht, this invitation was the first clear sign that he was going to achieve international acceptance in places and at levels unknown to most other Latin American writers and that despite his controversial co to have a relatively free hand to participate in political activity wherever and whenever he chose