The Legacy of Latin America: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One of the most popular writer in Latin America is Gabriel García Márquez. He was born the 6th of March in Aracataca, Colombia. He was a writer, novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, political activist, editor and journalist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. García(1982) “This is the time I'm supposed to be happier than ever, I've just received the Nobel Prize. I'm going to Sweden. I'm famous. I don't have to work. And look at the state I'm in.'' (1)

He is particularly known for a unique form of expression that led him to success. García Márquez is one of the main exponent and architect of the genre; magic realism. The Colombian is considered the leading figure of national and Latin American culture, because his works are regarded as a committed creation with our continent and people, he was in charge to claim certain people, places, facts and feelings this is what gave his work a creative force that was able to touch generations.

His works were marked by the influence of his maternal grandparents who encourage him to write; maybe they are one of the most relevant persons in Gabriel’s life. It was his maternal grandfather’s image, who connects him with the literary world, since his childhood. His grandparents had a big influence on literature, since they were the ones who instill in him a meticulous way of narrating, though it was Tranquilina Iguarán his grandmother, who was a superstitious woman the one who awoke in him a particular way of writing beyond the imagination and supplemented this, with daily stories she told him when he was a child which were full of superstitions and popular beliefs. The stories told by his grandmother were amazing and also were the clue that will guide this writer to succeed, he recognize his grandmother as the activist of is narrating and he mentioned.

García (1987) "It's possible to get away with anything as long as you make it believable. That is something my grandmother taught me." (2)

His grandfather wasn’t that influential as his grandmother was, he died when Gabriel was eight years old so he was sent to his parents. Marquez enriched himself with the tools provided by their grandparents, he delighted with the stories of his grandmother, although this stories run away of the parameters of reality.

Even though Gabriel was a writer and he highlighted as such, he studied Journalism and Law in the National University of Cartagena, but the latter he failed, because journalism links better with communication, so he started a long journey with the career he liked more and he worked for several newspapers.

Gabriel García Márquez lived a period which was full of social repressive in which he could realize what was the real situation he was facing to. This popular writer sets all his stories in the reality that Latin American lived by the XX century, mainly in Colombia. On the one hand, García Maárquez sets most of his works under the historical context of Colombia such as the violence and intolerance that the country was living. Joined to the difficult situation that Colombia was passing, in the XX century Latin America also experienced a universal phenomenon, a system of social injustice and ignorance, discrimination, a social unsatisfied because there was an abyss of social classes, mass exploitation, repression and dictatorship leaving out the big quantity of dead people and irreparable damages. Considering these facts García Márquez lived immersed innumerable social injustice, discontent and violence so each event had great significance in the life and work of the Colombian writer. Additionally, because of his leftist ideologies he shows a strong political commitment and consequently he had to leave his country.

Gabriel García Márquez also known as “Gabo” was one of the greatest authors of the 20th Century. The Colombian writer was deeply

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