Author Archives: susan

LITERATURE: 100 Years – Maybe the Worst Solitude of All…

Fernanda, widowed by Aureliano Segundo, her children in a convent, a seminary, a school, alone now with Aureliano, the illegitimate son of her elder daughter, retreats back within herself when she finds no one to to immediately work for, no … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – The Flood

The rain of four years, eleven months and two days has devastated Macondo.  Ursula has survived it, and the sun has revived her–as it does me–as a shot of adrenalin that sends her around the house repairing damage and desolation.  … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE & WRITING: 100 Years – Using the Tools

It is a pleasure for a learning writer to recognize some of the skills practiced to perfection within the pages of a novel.  One of my own writing flaws, that of the run-on sentence, has been played with and twisted … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Marquez’s Magic

Finally, someone else writing about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and with the bonus of touching upon the magical realism aspect just as I am as well.  Read Daniel Green’s (The Reading Experience) "Necessitating Judgment" and his reference to Adam Kirsch’s review … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – The Rain

"It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days."  (p. three-thirty-nine) And so there is a plague of sorts upon the village of Macondo.  And everyone awaits the "clearing."  Aureliano Segundo moves out of his mistress, Petra Cotes’ home … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Magical Realism Continued

As a young boy, Aureliano Segundo asks Ursula to see the locked room where Melquiades had stayed and had written tomes of undecipherable (to most) words: "He demanded so much, promised with such insistence that he would not mistreat the … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Magical Realism

Marquez is a master of weaving fantasy into a novel of realism to hold the reader’s interest, allow him to accept or interpret, yet at the same time, doubt the credibility of our narrator.  Is he speaking metaphorically?  Is he … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Heavy Metaphor

Haven’t read too much further, as the Buendias are about to enter a new era, but have been concentrating on the somewhat magical room of Melquiades that seems to be viewed in two different ways, and by Jose Arcadio Segundo’s … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – The Solitude of Jose Arcadio Segundo

Very very strange stuff happening.  The banana company workers go on strike, led in force by Jose Arcadio Segundo, and the military is called into the town.  After several attempts at compromise, a meeting is called for the workers to … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Religion and the Past

With Meme’s lover, Mauricio Babilonia, shot in the spine beneath her window, Marquez foreshadows the child that comes of the slippery nights before that tragic evening, and of course, we expect her mother’s aghast reaction to her suspicions.  Fernanda bundles … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Character Analysis

Maybe this almost daily posting on 100 Years of Solitude isn’t such a good idea.  I seem to draw conclusions from a reading, or am struck by something, then further on I’m finding that Marquez indeed does tell me clearly … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Thunderbolt

Nothing like sitting in a dark garage to get the mind absorbing, turning over what has been read. Ursula said it, in speaking of Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo, the twin sons of Arcadio (son of Jose Arcadio, Aureliano’s … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Deeper Yet

In a former post, Reading Deeper, there was some discussion on the meaning of Remedios the Beauty, her oddness even amidst a rather strange family, and what she may stand for in the overall complexity of 100 Years of Solitude.  … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: 100 Years – Character

Just when I thought I had it knocked, Marquez in his helpful way has just told me I am wrong.  These characters do have thoughts and emotions whereas I found them delightful, intriguing, but rather cold.  Through the dimming vision … Continue reading Continue reading

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POETRY: Rainy Days in Succession

TONIGHT: Periods of rain and drizzle. Rain will be heavy at times. Becoming windy. Low: 47-55. WEDNESDAY: Periods of rain, heavy at times. Windy and cool. High: 52-58. THURSDAY: Cloudy with rain and drizzle at times. Low: 49. High: 58. … Continue reading Continue reading

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