Gabriel García Márquez

Starred review from April 13, 2009
Martin's control of his prodigious material in this first authorized biography of the great Colombian novelist García Márquez is astonishing. Martin (Journeys Through the Labyrinth
) writes with a novelist's momentum. His descriptions of García Márquez's hometown, Aracataca (fictionalized as Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude
), are atmospheric without being cloying; he conducts literary exegesis deftly, like a detective hunting for clues. From isolated youth to shabby college man in thrall to Kafka and Woolf, the “sexual reprobate” and the Nobel Prize laureate, grounded by his marriage and community of fellow writers and friends, and by turns publicly aloof and loquacious, García Márquez seems to be many different men, but his biographer handles the contradictions with finesse. Almost entirely laudatory, the biography addresses the controversies—which generally orbit the politicized García Márquez —gingerly if at all, and renders his off-putting traits endearing. Martin has come to praise García Márquez—whom he regards as the one writer who has been as artistically influential as the early modernists (in pioneering magical realism, now a staple in fiction from the developing world) and positively Dickensian in his popular appeal. 16 pages of photos, 3 maps.

Starred review from April 1, 2009
A probing biography of the 1982 Nobel Prize laureate in literature, whom Pablo Neruda hailed as a Cervantes for our time.

Martin (Modern Languages/Univ. of Pittsburgh; Journeys Through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century, 1989, etc.) begins by noting that he has been working on this life of Gabriel Garc"a Márquez for two decades. The effort shows. Born in 1927, Garc"a Márquez remains best known for the book he published when he was 40, One Hundred Years of Solitude, a generational epic whose landscape stretches from ocean to deep jungle. Martin's signal contribution is to reveal, even more so than Garc"a Márquez did in his memoir, just how romanà clef–ish that fictional world is. Yet, of course, a particular storytelling genius is needed to bring even the liveliest real-world figures into habitation in a novel. Martin rightly notes that whereas the literature of the first half of the 20th century has several central figures—Woolf, Joyce, Hemingway et al.—that of the latter half finds only Garc"a Márquez universally acknowledged as a master. That acknowledgment took years to come, of course, and early on Garc"a Márquez was written off as a would-be Faulkner—Faulkner being one of his idols and central to the development of modern Latin American literature, a body of work in which, as Martin also observes, Garc"a Márquez's writings appear conservative against his postmodern fellows, and even scorned for being"transparent, easy to read, and accessible even to people who only had a modest literary education." Martin offers lucid literary commentary alongside the facts of his subject's life, which, as is well known, was marked by excellence in journalism and controversy in politics. Though Garc"a Márquez was a noted scourger of Yankee imperialism and friend of Castro, Chavez and the like, he was not shy about having amassed considerable wealth over a long career.

Essential for Garc"a Márquez fans, and an exemplary literary biography.

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Starred review from May 1, 2009
This superbly researched biography is nothing short of a tour de force. Martin (Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages, Univ. of Pittsburgh) has for decades been a pioneering scholar of Latin American literature in the English-speaking world (see his "Journeys Through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century"). Based on detailed research as well as personal acquaintance with the subject, this is the most substantial English-language biography written of Garca Mrquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel prize in Literature and innovator of magical realism. Martin traces Garca Mrquez's life from his roots in a small Colombian town, to his worldwide travels, to his days of fame as an internationally acclaimed author. Garca Mrquez's politics, personal life, and literary motivations are considered in depth. Seventeen years in the making, this work not only details the life of a great writer but also provides considerable insight into life in Latin America. Including primary bibliographies of works published in Spanish and English and a secondary bibliography of critical and biographical works; highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/09.]Alison M. Lewis, Drexel Univ., Philadelphia

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2009
The great Colombian novelistwinner of the 1982 Nobel Prize, the chief exponent of magic realism, and the author of, among other celebrated works, One Hundred Years of Solitudehas continuously offered both challenges and delights to his readers. This well-researched, authorized biography offers a total immersion into the authors life and career, and, unlike many of Garc-a Mrquezs novels, it is a relatively uncomplicated and quick read. Unearthing facts never before presented to the reading public, Martin tracks the evolution of a small-town, susceptible boy from the steamy Caribbean region of Colombia into a novelist whose work, while remaining grounded in Colombian history and culture, reflects a worldview transcending local interest. Discerning explication of Garc-a Mrquezs fiction (especially in terms of its autobiograpical component) finds its grounding in an understanding of the mans uneasy relationships with his family and his inveterate interest in politics. Garc-a Mrquez, an international star, lived many places in the world, but Martin makes clear that, in the end, while the man could be taken out of Colombia, Colombia was never taken out of the man. His intense political consciousnesshe was a leftist and good friend of Fidel Castroalways found its sounding board in the tumultuous politics of his homeland. A brilliant and lasting biographical treatment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)