Obsession, Incest and Eating Dirt: Internalization and the Reader's Response in One Hundred Years of Solitude

Laura Weiss, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A254

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-26-2013 2:45 PM

End Date

4-26-2013 3:45 PM

Abstract

Gabriel García Márquez referred to the room where he wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude as “the hermeneutically sealed compartment called ‘The Cave of the Mafia.’” This “cave,” where Márquez wove the five-generation story of the Buendía family, can be compared to Melquíades's room, an important space in the novel for the characters that seek to decipher his manuscripts. In this room, these characters lose their sense of both space and time, causing them to spiral into solitude and isolation. Along with Márquez, readers of Solitude experience a parallel process, which I investigate alongside the fates of the other characters.

Notes

Session II, Panel 8: Requiems, Refusals, and Retreats: Studies in Spanish-language Literature (a bilingual presentation)
Moderator: Sebastiaan Faber, Professor of Hispanic Studies

Major

Comparative Literature; Hispanic Studies

Advisor(s)

Jed Deppman, Comparative Literature

Project Mentor(s)

Jed Deppman, Comparative Literature

April 2013

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Apr 26th, 2:45 PM Apr 26th, 3:45 PM

Obsession, Incest and Eating Dirt: Internalization and the Reader's Response in One Hundred Years of Solitude

Science Center, A254

Gabriel García Márquez referred to the room where he wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude as “the hermeneutically sealed compartment called ‘The Cave of the Mafia.’” This “cave,” where Márquez wove the five-generation story of the Buendía family, can be compared to Melquíades's room, an important space in the novel for the characters that seek to decipher his manuscripts. In this room, these characters lose their sense of both space and time, causing them to spiral into solitude and isolation. Along with Márquez, readers of Solitude experience a parallel process, which I investigate alongside the fates of the other characters.