"The search for lost things is hindered by routine habits and that is why it is so difficult to find them."
I had to read it twice, but I haven't been so astounded by creative genius since reading William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! How does anyone talk about this book without feeling overwhelmed? Where do I begin? There are so many parts to the novel that it would take hours to unpack even 10% of its brilliance. Seriously, the book is packed with incredibly powerful and imaginative stories, allegories, and symbols. The 4-year rainstorm brought on by the Banana Company? Meme and the yellow butterflies? Jose Arcadio Segundo's train ride with 3000 dead people? Ursula's blindness? Colonel Aureliano's 17 little gold fishes? Or the invention of ice?
Through all of these stories, and the pride, ignorance, selfishness, and compassion of the Buendia Family, Marquez captures the history of Latin America (and in many ways, the entire world). But nothing stood out to me more than the recurring theme that blind obedience to mundane habits, traditions, and cultural conventions often causes us to forget what it's like to hold a snowflake in our hands, or even worse, to neglect the temporal and spiritual needs of others--both in our immediate families and in faraway places like Kenya. In other words, our stubborn pride or selfishness is often the single greatest source of our solitude.
I had to read it twice, but I haven't been so astounded by creative genius since reading William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! How does anyone talk about this book without feeling overwhelmed? Where do I begin? There are so many parts to the novel that it would take hours to unpack even 10% of its brilliance. Seriously, the book is packed with incredibly powerful and imaginative stories, allegories, and symbols. The 4-year rainstorm brought on by the Banana Company? Meme and the yellow butterflies? Jose Arcadio Segundo's train ride with 3000 dead people? Ursula's blindness? Colonel Aureliano's 17 little gold fishes? Or the invention of ice?
Through all of these stories, and the pride, ignorance, selfishness, and compassion of the Buendia Family, Marquez captures the history of Latin America (and in many ways, the entire world). But nothing stood out to me more than the recurring theme that blind obedience to mundane habits, traditions, and cultural conventions often causes us to forget what it's like to hold a snowflake in our hands, or even worse, to neglect the temporal and spiritual needs of others--both in our immediate families and in faraway places like Kenya. In other words, our stubborn pride or selfishness is often the single greatest source of our solitude.
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5 comments:
you know Patrick don't feel bad if you don't quite get as many comments as Natalie does on her Blog...it's just us common folk don't get all them high falootin ideas sometimes.
And remember"they can kill you but they probably won't eat you" I got that one the first time I read it!
I don't have any friends, either. So that will probably set me back a little. But if anyone's really having a hard time with my "ideas," there's always Sparksnotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/solitude/
Where did you find that cover for "100 years?" I don't think I have ever seen it before. Maybe I will read the major themes/symbols section on Sparknotes so I can act like I know something about Marquez. When are you going to read some McCarthy so we can get down to the nitty-gritty?
That cover is great, huh? I think it's the most fitting artwork. McCarthy is so far down on my list, I might not get to him until Saturday. Hope your interview with Penn St. went good.
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