One of the most popular Spanish-language writers in the world, and the best-known practitioner of magical realism, Gabriel Garcia Marquez would have been 91 on March 6.
Affectionately known as Gabo, Marquez is also known as "the greatest Colombian who ever lived". He was a novelist, poet, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.
In 1982 Gabo became the first Colombian and only the fourth Latin American author to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
Marquez' life was not always easy, as he had some serious health issues. At the age of 85, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's after fighting a long battle against lymphatic cancer which he was diagnosed with in 1999.
This is his story:
History vs reality
Marquez was born in the town of Aracataca in 1927, and grew up with his maternal grandparents, Tranquilina Iguaran and Colonel Nicolas Ricardo Marquez, until he left to attend school in the capital, Bogota.
His grandfather was a colonel who killed a man in a duel; he had three legitimate and an unknown number of illegitimate children.
Marquez remembered something his grandfather told him: "you can't imagine how much a dead man weighs", and later integrated that lesson into his novels.
The Colonel, whom Garcia Marquez described as his "umbilical cord with history and reality", was also an excellent storyteller.
You can't imagine how much a dead man weighs Colonel Nicolas Ricardo Marquez
Always a journalist
Marquez studied law but never received a degree. He instead chose the path of journalism in El Espectador.
The late 1940s and early '50s in Colombia were a period of civil unrest, which left as many as 300,000 people dead. This era would become the background for several of his novels.
The political unrest sent Garcia Marquez back to the coast, to the town of Cartagena de Indias, where he continued writing.
He wanted to stay close to the real world, a journalist who wrote fiction. Leaf Storm, his first novella, was written in 1955 when he was only 27 years old.
"I'm a journalist. I've always been a journalist,'' he told the Associated Press news agency. "My books couldn't have been written if I weren't a journalist because all the material was taken from reality.''
An iconic writer with iconic books! Happy Birthday, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. #HappyBirthdayMarquez pic.twitter.com/YNGgAunnj5 — Penguin India (@PenguinIndia) March 6, 2018
Influences
Marquez read intensely; he is known to have read the American writers Hemingway, Faulkner, Twain and Melville; as well as the European writers Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust, Kafka and Virginia Woolf.
"I cannot imagine how anyone could even think of writing a novel without having at least a vague of idea of the 10,000 years of literature that have gone before," Marquez said.
But he was as impressed by Western Europe as many other Latin American writers, and he often expressed his belief that Europeans were patronising Latin America.
Europeans, he said in his Nobel address, "insist on measuring us with the yardstick that they use for themselves, forgetting that the ravages of life are not the same for all, and that the quest for our own identity is just as arduous and bloody for us as it was for them".
The quest for our own identity is just as .. bloody for us as it was for them Garcia Marquez, author
Journalism and fiction
Marquez started alternating between journalism and fiction in the late 1950s.
In 1961, he moved to Mexico City where he would live on and off for the rest of his life.
After four years of not writing fiction, the author began writing One Hundred Years of Solitude, which was inspired while he was driving to Acapulco in Mexico.
Once he returned to his home, he started an 18-month journey, during which he wrote non-stop while his wife Mercedes looked after the household.
Published in 1967, One Hundred Years of Solitude sold out within days.
The author penned over 25 books, transporting readers into a world of magical realism, infusing otherwise ordinary situations with magical elements.
Left-wing causes
He used his name, time and money to support left-wing causes.
He was a defender of the Sandinistas, and for over three decades, the US denied him a visa to travel there. They believed he was a member of the Colombian Communist Party, a suspicion bolstered by his friendship with Fidel Castro.
His shorter pieces dealt with subjects including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, while the book, News of a Kidnapping, portrayed how cocaine traffickers, led by Pablo Escobar, worked in his native Colombia.
After receiving his cancer diagnosis, Marquez spent his time writing his memoirs, his only other work during this time was one novella that describes the love affair between an old man and a prostitute.
Marquez died at the age of 87 at his home in Mexico City.
Recognition
The international recognition he earned allowed bim to act as a facilitator in several negotiations between the Colombian government and the guerrillas.
In 1972 he was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature
And in December 1982, he received the Nobel Prize in literature on "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts".
In Marquez Nobel Prize speech he said:
Europeans, he said, "insist on measuring us with the yardstick that they use for themselves, forgetting that the ravages of life are not the same for all, and that the quest for our own identity is just as arduous and bloody for us as it was for them."
"Latin America neither wants, nor has any reason, to be a pawn without a will of its own; nor is it merely wishful thinking that its quest for independence and originality should become a Western aspiration."
Liputan6.com, Jakarta - "Bertahun-tahun kemudian, di saat ia menghadapi regu penembak, Kolonel Aureliano Buendia teringat pada sebuah siang yang telah lama berlalu ketika ayahnya membawanya untuk melihat es batu."
Itulah terjemahan dari kalimat pembuka novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (100 Tahun Kesunyian) yang ditulis Gabriel Garcia Márquez, seorang penulis dan jurnalis asal Kolombia yang muncul di Google Doodle.
Novel itu pertama kali diterbitkan pada 1967, beberapa bulan sebelum penulisnya menginjak usia 40 tahun.
100 Tahun Kesunyian berkisah tentang tujuh generasi keluarga Buendia di sebuah kota di hutan hujan Kolumbia yang terasing dari dunia luar.
Kota bernama Macondo itu hanya dikunjungi oleh para gipsi yang membawa benda-benda "modern" seperti es batu dan sebagainya, sebelum akhirnya Macondo terekspos ke dunia luar.
Yang ditampilkan di Google Doodle pun adalah gambaran Kota Macondo.
Márquez menuai beragam pujian dari kalangan sastra di seluruh dunia berkat 100 Tahun Kesunyian. Novelnya memang dikenal mempromosikan genre realisme magis yang menghadirkan sosok hantu dan permainan waktu, tapi novel Márquez juga sarat dengan metafora dan tema politik.
Pablo Neruda, penyair asal Chili yang meraih Nobel Kesusastraan, turut memuji tulisan Márquez. Ia juga membandingkannya dengan novel Don Quixote karya Cervantes.
Marquez juga akhirnya mendapatkan Nobel Kesusastraan pada 1982. Berikut ucapan dari pihak Nobel terkait kemenangan Márquez yang dilansir pada Selasa (6/3/2018):
"Hadiah Nobel Kesusastraan 1982 dianugerahkan pada Gabriel Garcia Márquez untuk novel-novel dan cerpennya, di mana yang fantastis dan realistis dikombinasi dalam sebuah dunia imajinasi yang disusun dengan lebih berbobot, mencerminkan kehidupan dan berbagai konflik di sebuah benua."
Sebelumnya, Google Doodle juga menampilkan novelis lain, yaitu Virginia Woolf yang juga dikagumi Márquez.
Karya Márquez yang fenomenal lainnya adalah Love in the Time of Cholera (Cinta di Masa Kolera) yang terbit pada 1985.
KOMPAS.com - Laman mesin pencari Google hari ini, Selasa (6/3/2018), dihiasi doodle berwarna-warni. Digambarkan sosok pria berkumis yang seakan penuh imajinasi. Ternyata Google sedang merayakan ulang tahun Gabriel Garcia Marquez, yakni seorang novelis, jurnalis, penerbit, dan aktivis politik asal Kolombia. Ia merupakan salah satu tokoh utama untuk gaya sastra yang diistilahkan “realisme magis”, yakni semacam cerita rakyat. Karya legendaris yang membuat Gabriel Garcia Marquez tenar adalah “Kisah tentang Seorang Pelaut yang Karam”. Ditulis bersambung di surat kabar pada 1955, novel itu menceritakan kisah nyata tentang kapal karam akibat banyak barang-barang selundupan. Basisnya sebagai jurnalis membuat Gabriel Garcia Marquez kerap menulis novel non-fiksi. Kendati begitu, ia juga rajin menelurkan novel yang dikategorikan fiksi, atau lebih tepat bersifat realisme magis. Novel realisme magis dari Gabriel Garcia Marquez yang terkenal adalah “Seratus Tahun Kesunyian”, mengisahkan kehidupan di sebuah desa di Amerika Selatan yang terasing dan banyak menghimpun kejadian-kejadian aneh tetapi dianggap lumrah. Cerita itu merupakan refleksi filsafat tentang hakikat waktu dan keterasingan. Secara garis besar, karya-karya Gabriel Garcia Marquez sering mengangkat tema usia lanjut, kematian, dan penguburan. Pada 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez menerima Penghargaan Nobel dalam Sastra. Lebih dari satu dekade setelahnya, pada 19999, ia didiagnosa menderita kanker kelenjar getah bening. Musibah itu mendorongnya menulis memoar berjudul “Hidup untuk Menceritakan Kisahnya” yang terbit pada 2000 silam. Gabriel Garcia Marquez sendiri meninggal pada 17 April 2014 di usia ke-87. Baca juga : Mengenal Bagong Kussudiardja yang Jadi Google Doodle Hari Ini
Peraih Nobel Sastra pada 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez memang mumpuni dalam menulis fiksi dan nonfiksi. Kemampuan Garcia Marquez dalam menyajikan tulisan-tulisannya selalu menarik perhatian. Dalam beberapa karyanya, García Marquez juga memasukkan realitas yang ditemuinya sebagai jurnalis.
Tak heran jika dunia ikut berduka saat Garcia Marquez meninggal 17 April 2014 lalu. Karya-karya sastranya memuat potret sosial, politik, dan berbagai persoalan lainnya. Kemampuannya sebagai jurnalis juga berpengaruh pada tulisan-tulisannya yang tajam. Dikutip dari The Guardian, ada lima novelnya yang wajib dibaca.
One Hundred Years of Solitude 1967
One Hundred Years of Solitude mencatat tujuh generasi keluarga Buendía di desa Macondo. Novel ini berkisah tentang gipsi kenabian dan pasangan kekasih yang melanggar adat desa itu. Novel ini merupakan buku yang paling cepat laris dalam waktu sekejap. Buku ini pula yang meluncurkan Garcia Marquez pada ketenaran di seluruh dunia. Novel ini pula yang memicu perkembangan pesat literatur Amerika Latin.
The Autumn of the Patriarch 1975
Gabriel Garcia Marquez menghabiskan sepuluh tahun untuk meneliti kediktatoran Pinilla hingga Trujillo dan dari Franco hingga Peron. Kemudian dia mencoba untuk melupakan semua yang telah dia dengar dan baca untuk menciptakan kisah yang dia buat dengan gayanya sendiri, "Sang Jenderal Semesta Alam".
Novel ini dibuka dengan ditemukannya jenazah tiran yang tewas di lantai istana kepresidenan. Tiran ini lebih tua dari semua pria tua dan semua hewan tua di darat atau lautan. Garcia Marquez mengeksplorasi rusaknya moral dan lumpuhnya politik. Dia menyebutnya dengan "puisi tentang kesendirian kekuasaan" (poem on the solitude of power).
Love in the Time of Cholera 1985
Terinspirasi dari masa pacaran orang tuanya sendiri, Love in the Time of Cholera menceritakan bagaimana cinta antara Florentino Arizo dan Fermina Daza. Hubungan keduanya digagalkan oleh pernikahan Fermina dengan seorang dokter yang mencoba membasmi kolera.
The General in his Labyrinth 1989
Novel ini mengisahkan masa-masa dalam bulan terakhir kehidupan Simon Bolívar. Simon Bolivar orang yang membebaskan Kolombia dari Spanyol pada awal abad ke-19. Novel ini menyebabkan badai di Amerika Selatan ketika pertama kali diterbitkan.
Garcia Marquez memetakan perjalanan pemimpin revolusioner dari Bogota ke pantai Kolombia. Dia melukiskan potret seorang pria yang kelelahan secara fisik dan mental. Potret ini mencerminkan kenangan akan konflik dan perjuangannya.
News of a Kidnapping 1996
García Marquez terus bekerja sebagai jurnalis. Alasannya pekerjaan ini membuatnya tetap berhubungan dengan dunia nyata. Dalam novelnya ini pula, Garcia Marquez melihat kembali serentetan penculikan yang dilakukan kartel Medellín Cartel Kolombia Pablo Escobar pada 1990-an.***
