One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Garcia Marquez, Gabriel

• ISBN13: 9780060883287
• ISBN10: 0060883286
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-21
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

About This Book

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a timeless masterpiece that has captivated readers for decades. This quintessential Latin American novel is a must-read for anyone interested in magical realism and the complexities of human experience.

Who Uses It?

Primarily, this book is used by students and educators in literature and cultural studies courses at the college and university levels. It's also a valuable resource for anyone interested in exploring the rich cultural heritage of Latin America, including professionals looking to deepen their understanding of literary works and their historical context.

History and Editions

First published in 1967, One Hundred Years of Solitude has been a cornerstone of 20th-century literature. The book tells the story of the Buendiá family and the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo, weaving together elements of fantasy, history, and reality. This novel remains a significant achievement in Garcia Marquez's Nobel Prize-winning career.

Author and Other Works

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Born in Colombia in 1927, he is known for his unique blend of magical realism and vivid storytelling. Some of his other notable works include Love in the Time of Cholera, Autumn of the Patriarch, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. His writing often explores themes of love, family, history, and the human condition.

Key Features

• Magical Realism: The novel blends fantastical elements with realistic descriptions of life in Macondo, creating a unique narrative that is both enchanting and profound.
• Rich Cultural Heritage: The book offers a deep dive into Latin American culture and history, making it an essential read for anyone interested in the region's literary traditions.
• Timeless Themes: The novel explores universal themes such as love, family, solitude, and the cyclical nature of time, making it a timeless classic.

Detailed Information

ISBNs and Formats

Hardcover: ISBN-13: 9780060883287

eTextbook: ISBN-13: 9780060883294 (The ebook for "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is available right here on eCampus.com!)

eTextbook: ISBN-13: 9780060883300 (The ebook for "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is available right here on eCampus.com!)

Loose-leaf: ISBN-13: 9780060883317

Rental Options: Available through eCampus.com with various rental durations

Publication Details

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Publication Date: 2003

Number of Pages: 416

Language: English

Other Editions and Formats

• Paperback: Available through various retailers.
• Downloadable PDF File: Available for purchase.

Related ISBNs:

9780060883294

9780060883300

9780060883317

Rental options are available through eCampus.com.

Excerpts

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Chapter One

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point. Every year during the month of March a family of ragged gypsies would set up their tents near the village, and with a great uproar of pipes and kettledrums they would display new inventions. First they brought the magnet. A heavy gypsy with an untamed beard and sparrow hands, who introduced himself as Melquíades, put on a bold public demonstration of what he himself called the eighth wonder of the learned alchemists of Macedonia. He went from house to house dragging two metal ingots and everybody was amazed to see pots, pans, tongs, and braziers tumble down from their places and beams creak from the desperation of nails and screws trying to emerge, and even objects that had been lost for a long time appeared from where they had been searched for most and went dragging along in turbulent confusion behind Melquíades' magical irons. "Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls." José Arcadio Buendía, whose unbridled imagination always went beyond the genius of nature and even beyond miracles and magic, thought that it would be possible to make use of that useless invention to extract gold from the bowels of the earth. Melquíades, who was an honest man, warned him: "It won't work for that." But José Arcadio Buendía at that time did not believe in the honesty of gypsies, so he traded his mule and a pair of goats for the two magnetized ingots. Úrsula Iguarán, his wife, who relied on those animals to increase their poor domestic holdings, was unable to dissuade him. "Very soon we'll have gold enough and more to pave the floors of the house," her husband replied. For several months he worked hard to demonstrate the truth of his idea. He explored every inch of the region, even the riverbed, dragging the two iron ingots along and reciting Melquíades' incantation aloud. The only thing he succeeded in doing was to unearth a suit of fifteenth-century armor which had all of its pieces soldered together with rust and inside of which there was the hollow resonance of an enormous stone-filled gourd. When José Arcadio Buendía and the four men of his expedition managed to take the armor apart, they found inside a calcified skeleton with a copper locket containing a woman's hair around its neck.

In March the gypsies returned. This time they brought a telescope and a magnifying glass the size of a drum, which they exhibited as the latest discovery of the Jews of Amsterdam. They placed a gypsy woman at one end of the village and set up the telescope at the entrance to the tent. For the price of five reales, people could look into the telescope and see the gypsy woman an arm's length away. "Science has eliminated distance," Melquíades proclaimed. "In a short time, man will be able to see what is happening in any place in the world without leaving his own house." A burning noonday sun brought out a startling demonstration with the gigantic magnifying glass: they put a pile of dry hay in the middle of the street and set it on fire by concentrating the sun's rays. José Arcadio Buendía, who had still not been consoled for the failure of his magnets, conceived the idea of using that invention as a weapon of war. Again Melquíades tried to dissuade him, but he finally accepted the two magnetized ingots and three colonial coins in exchange for the magnifying glass. Úrsula wept in consternation. That money was from a chest of gold coins that her father had put together over an entire life of privation and that she had buried underneath her bed in hopes of a proper occasion to make use of it. José Arcadio Buendía made no attempt to console her, completely absorbed in his tactical experiments with the abnegation of a scientist and even at the risk of his own life. In an attempt to show the effects of the glass on enemy troops, he exposed himself to the concentration of the sun's rays and suffered burns which turned into sores that took a long time to heal. Over the protests of his wife, who was alarmed at such a dangerous invention, at one point he was ready to set the house on fire. He would spend hours on end in his room, calculating the strategic possibilities of his novel weapon until he succeeded in putting together a manual of startling instructional clarity and an irresistible power of conviction. He sent it to the government, accompanied by numerous descriptions of his experiments and several pages of explanatory sketches, by a messenger who crossed the mountains, got lost in measureless swamps, forded stormy rivers, and was on the point of perishing under the lash of despair, plague, and wild beasts until he found a route that joined the one used by the mules that carried the mail. In spite of the fact that a trip to the capital was little less than impossible at that time, José Arcadio Buendía promised to undertake it as soon as the government ordered him to so that he could put on some practical demonstrations of his invention for the military authorities and could train them himself in the complicated art of solar war. For several years he waited for an answer. Finally, tired of waiting, he bemoaned to Melquíades the failure of his project ...

One Hundred Years of Solitude. Copyright © by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
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