Needless to say, this is going to take up a lot of my blogging for a while, and no, I’m not going to keep to myself and read the whole damn book first. Tain’t my style. As a matter of fact, I can’t hold back from commenting on that very first sentence alone:
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
So what have we been told: In the present time space, Colonel Buendia (uhm, military man, I see) has a past that includes a father who spent some exploratory, possibly quality, time with him, possibly in an area that knows a cold climate, and that in his future lies death (possibly) by military execution. A lifespan told in a single twenty-six-word sentence.
I have already the image of a dark-haired, bearded man in uniform with his hands tied behind him–no blindfold–for his eyes are burning with an intensity of resolve glazed with memory. Yet where is the imagery written? There are only two adjectives used: "many" and "distant", both of which give a sense of time and place; three if you count "firing". This is where Marquez allows the reader to write the story (imagine it, a big hot shot writer like Marquez allowing US to write it). I am using my experience to create the character.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology