Miracle of Magical Realism

I have finished my journey through One Hundred Years of Solitude. Where do I begin? After all the hype of friends, critics and scholars, I must agree that it was amazing. The role every character plays in the big picture. The recurring themes; the choices of a family of a community and the consequences, accidental, beautiful, maddening, fatal and otherwise sum up the experience of mankind. I don’t think a person can set out to write such a far reaching narrative and actually achieve it the way that Marquez has. I am sure the months and months of preparation and outlining was so that he could achieve this vision, but I am not sure if he actually intended the magical result and almost universal acclaim. As a young writer I can fully appreciate one’s goals and dreams of developing something new and original or even simply building upon an extant style or genre, no matter how proven or unproven the playing field. The most reassuring aspect of the whole process is that he literally saw the town and the family as he listened to the stories of his grand parents. He was writing from what he saw from what he heard. He listened to others and this fueled his imagination and need to tell the story of Macondo and the Buendia family.

I flirt with the fuel and wrestle with the need to tell so many stories, but they are born of pure speculation. Often my research helps me create something more “true”, but I hesitate because I have rarely been able to make any story I tell my own. Not my own story as much as my own take. The author’s perspective is always clear, subtle, refined, perhaps even without judgment, but still it is there. These descriptions alone define the author’s perspective. In short, to have none is still to have one. Marquez has influenced generations of writers and I must say that his embrace of magical realism is one that resonates very much with this reader. I have explored this style on and off for years and have often fallen short in my understanding. After having read a master, I feel like I do understand how to do it well. I now have a very clear path in front of me. I have more fuel and the fumes are tickling my senses more than ever!