GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ – loved by critics and masses alike

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th Century, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. A writer, a thinker, a journalist, a social activist, he was the poster boy of Latin American literary scene, much like the Chilean Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda.  He viewed the world from a left-wing perspective, bitterly opposing Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the right-wing Chilean dictator, and unswervingly supporting Fidel Castro in Cuba.

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born on March 6, 1927, in the town of Aracataca, Colombia near the Caribbean coast. He was the eldest of 12 children; his father was a postal clerk, telegraph operator, and itinerant pharmacist, and when García Márquez was 8, his parents moved away so his father could find a job. García Márquez was left to be raised in a large ramshackle house by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather Nicolas Márquez Mejia was a liberal activist and a colonel during Columbia's Thousand Days War; his grandmother believed in magic and filled her grandson's head with superstitions and folk tales, dancing ghosts and spirits. .

 

As a 13-year-old, he came to Bogotá to study in a secondary school. When the editor of the liberal magazine "El Espectador" wrote an opinion piece stating that Colombia had no talented young writers, García Márquez sent him a selection of short stories, which the editor published as "Eyes of a Blue Dog."  A brief burst of success was interrupted by the assassination of Colombia's president Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. In the following chaos, García Márquez, who had studied law till then, left to become a journalist and investigative reporter in the Caribbean region, a role he would never give up.

 

In 1954, García Márquez broke a news story about a sailor who survived the shipwreck of a Columbian Navy destroyer. Although the wreck had been attributed to a storm, the sailor reported that badly stowed illegal contraband from the US came loose and knocked eight of the crew overboard. The resulting scandal led to García Márquez's exile to Europe, where he continued writing short stories and news and magazine reports. 

 

In 1955, his first novel, "Leafstorm" (La Hojarasca) was published: it had been written seven years earlier but he could not find a publisher until then. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked as a foreign correspondent in Paris, New York and elsewhere. In the late 1960s he left journalism to devote himself to his creative writing full-time. Eventually García Márquez settled in Mexico City. In addition to his unforgettable prose works, García Márquez brought world attention to the Latin American literary scene, set up an International Film School near Havana, and a school of journalism on the Caribbean coast. 

 

Gabriel García Márquez’s international breakthrough came with the novel Cien años de soledad (1967) (One Hundred Years of Solitude). He is one of the foremost interpreters of magical realism in literature, a genre in which the framework narrative is set in a real place and time, but supernatural and dreamlike elements are part of the portrayal. The novels El otoño del patriarca (1975) (The Autumn of the Patriarch) and El amor en los tiempos del colera (1985) (Love in the Time of Cholera) cemented his position as one of the greatest Latin American writers of all time.

 

He is considered a great thinker, who puts complex thoughts into simple premises. Let me give you a few examples from his writings:

1. I love you not for who you are, but for who I am when I am by your side

2. No person deserves your tears, and who deserves them won’t make you cry

3. Just because someone doesn’t love you as you wish, it doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all their being

4. A true friend is one who holds your hand and touches your heart.

5. The worst way to miss someone is to be seated by their side and know you will never have them

6. You may only be a person in this world, but for someone you are the world.

7. Don’t spend time with someone who doesn’t care spending their’s with you.

8. Never stop smiling even when you are sad. Someone might fall in love with your smile.

9. May be God wants you to meet many wrong people before you meet the right one so you will be thankful when it does happen.

10. Don’t cry because it ended. Smile because it happened.

 

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude

García Márquez got the idea for his most famous work while he was driving from Mexico City to Acapulco. To get it written, he holed up for 18 months, while his family went into debt $12,000, but at the end, he had 1,300 pages of manuscript. The first Spanish edition sold out in a week, and over the next 30 years, it sold more than 25 million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. 

 

The plot is set in Macondo, a town based on his own hometown of Aracataca, and its saga follows five generations of descendants of José Arcadio Buendía and his wife Ursula, and the city they founded. José Arcadio Buendía is based on García Márquez's own grandfather. Events in the story include a plague of insomnia, ghosts that grow old, a priest who levitates when he drinks hot chocolate, a woman who ascends into heaven while doing the laundry, and rain which lasts four years, 11 weeks and two days.  

 

In a 1970 review of the English language version, Robert Keily of The New York Times said it was a novel "so filled with humor, rich detail and startling distortion that it brings to mind the best of [William] Faulkner and Günter Grass."  This book is so well known, even Oprah has put it on her must-read book list. Netflix is even turning this into a series.

 

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” would sell tens of millions of copies. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda called it “the greatest revelation in the Spanish language since ‘Don Quixote.’ ” The novelist William Kennedy hailed it as “the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.” 

 

García Márquez was rattled by the praise. He grew to hate “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” he said in interviews, because he feared his subsequent work would not measure up to it in readers’ eyes. He need not have worried. Almost all his 15 other novels and short-story collections were lionized by critics and devoured by readers.

 

Political Activism

Gabriel García Márquez was a lifelong socialist, and a friend of Fidel Castro's: he wrote for La Prensa in Havana, and always maintained personal ties with the communist party in Colombia, even though he never joined as a member. A Venezuelan newspaper sent him behind the Iron Curtain to the Balkan States, and he discovered that far from an ideal Communist life, the Eastern European people lived in terror.  

 

He was repeatedly denied tourist visas to the United States because of his leftist leanings but was criticized by activists at home for not totally committing to communism. His first visit to the U.S. was the result of an invitation by President Bill Clinton to Martha's Vineyard. 

 

In 1975, the dictator Augustin Pinochet came to power in Chile, and García Márquez swore he would never write another novel until Pinochet was gone. Pinochet was to remain in power for a grueling 17 years, and by 1981, García Márquez realized that he was allowing Pinochet to censor him. "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" was published in 1981, the retelling of a horrific murder of one of his childhood friends. The protagonist, a "merry and peaceful, and openhearted" son of a wealthy merchant, is hacked to death; the whole town knows in advance and can't (or won't) prevent it, even though the town doesn't really think he's guilty of the crime he's been accused of: a plague of inability to act. 

 

In 1986, "Love in the Time of Cholera" was published, a romantic narrative of two star-crossed lovers who meet but don't connect again for over 50 years. Cholera in the title refers to both the disease and anger taken to the extreme of warfare. Thomas Pynchon, reviewing the book in the New York Times, extolled "the swing and translucency of writing, its slang and its classicism, the lyrical stretches and those end-of-sentence zingers."  

 

Magical realism, according to Gabo, sprang from Latin America’s history of vicious dictators and romantic revolutionaries, of long years of hunger, illness and violence. In accepting his Nobel, Mr. García Márquez said: “Poets and beggars, musicians and prophets, warriors and scoundrels, all creatures of that unbridled reality, we have had to ask but little of imagination. For our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable.”

 

Every good thing has to end

In 1999, Gabriel García Márquez was diagnosed with lymphoma, but continued to write until 2004, when reviews of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" were mixed—it was banned in Iran. After that, he slowly sank into dementia, dying in Mexico City on April 17, 2014. 

TREVI FOUNTAIN – MODERN MARVEL WITH A FABLED PAST

The Trevi Fountain serves as a modern marvel that links back to Rome's fabled past. If you have been to Rome, you must have seen the Trevi Fountain and chances are, you must have thrown a coin in it and made a wish. Located in the Piazza di Trevi in the Quirinale district of Rome, Italy, Trevi fountain is the great symbol of Rome’s baroque period, and a testimony to the city’s endurance as a cultural centre. Yet this fountain also has ancient origins. Emperor Augustus was moved by an old legend that thirsty soldiers had been shown the spot by a young maiden, and he built there the Aqua Virgo (virgin water). This water served Rome for 400 years. 

 

The city of Rome has over 300 monumental and beautiful fountains. Still, most tourists choose to flock to just one - the iconic Trevi Fountain. The landmark is considered a must-visit for every tourist, but what is it that makes the Trevi Fountain stand out from the rest? Apart from its elegance and grandeur, the Trevi Fountain has a history that spans millennia, as well as a few interesting traditions linked to it. Even the way the fountain is supplied with water is a fascinating story.

 

History:

If Roman historians are to be believed then there was a fountain at this very location more than two thousand years ago. In Latin, an intersection of three roads is known as a trivium. The name “Trevi” originated from the fountain’s location at the junction of three prominent Roman streets. Today, these 3 roads are called Delle Muratte Street, Poli Street, and Crocicchi Street, but they had other names in the past. During the Middle Ages, the fountain was briefly abandoned, and only a tiny stream is said to have flown from it. However, during the Renaissance and onwards, the popes of Rome conjured up a plan to restore and expand the fountain. This was despite the fact that there was already a building standing at the Trevi intersection. This building was Palazzo Poli, a 17th-century residence of the Duke of Poli. Parts of the building were demolished to make space for a big fountain. That’s why the Trevi Fountain leans against the remaining building, which is now an office.

 

Design and Construction:

It all began in 1629, when Pope Urban VIII decided to commission his favorite architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini to expand the existing fountain in Piazza di Trevi. Bernini sketched out a two-tiered structure, but then the pope passed away, and the project was shelved for a hundred years. Luckily, Bernini’s work wasn’t all in vain; his vision heavily influenced the final structure of the fountain. In 1730, Pope Clement XII chose to revitalize the Trevi Fountain project. In order to choose an architect, the city held a contest, and after much deliberation, architect Nicola Salvi was commissioned to design the Trevi Fountain. Salvi worked from 1732 with several sculptors to create the fountain we see today, but unfortunately, he didn’t live to see it finished. The fountain was completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762.

 

The Sculpture:

The Trevi Fountain grows out of Palazzo Poli’s baroque facade - like a natural waterfall emerging from a rocky cliff. The entire structure is carved out of Travertine limestone, which was transported to Rome from the nearby city of Tivoli. The fountain represents the Roman God Oceanus, who tames wild waters and brings balance to the world. However, Oceanus doesn’t appear alone. In a niche to his left, we see a smiling goddess of Abundance with a basket of fruits. To his right is Salus, the goddess of safety, health, and welfare with a snake coiled around an amphora. The top of the fountain is dedicated to his own history. Written above the statues are the names of the popes who commissioned the fountain surrounded by reliefs of angels and the Papal Coat of Arms. There are also two images illustrating the history of Roman aqueducts.

 

The four statues at the top represent the abundance water brings. From left to right you’ll see Abundance of Fruit which holds a horn of plenty. The Fertility of Crops which holds wheat ears. Products of Autumn which holds a cup and grapes. Finally Joy of Prarie and Gardens which is adorned with flowers.  The last is the most iconic in my opinion.  It represents the complete luxury of growing flowers for personal happiness.

The four statues of abundance water brings

 

It is said that during the fountain's construction, a local barber was constantly annoyed by the noise and debris. Day in and day out, he'd pester Salvi with his dismay. Spitefully, Salvi erected the "Ace of Cups" sculpture at the left of the fountain so that the barber would never have a view of the masterpiece once it was completed.

Ace of Cups

 

The interesting water supply

The water supply of the Trevi fountain hasn’t changed since its construction over two millennia ago. The water source is located some fourteen miles away, where the famous Roman aqueduct called Acqua Vergine begins. This aqueduct was commissioned in 19 BC by the famous Roman statesman and emperor Augustus’ son-in-law Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. At the time, it was one of eleven aqueducts that provided Rome’s citizens with access to drinking water. Today, Acqua Vergine remains the only functioning ancient aqueduct in Rome.

 

Roman engineers are renowned for creating arched aqueducts. These amazing structures were devised in such a way that water flowed in a steady and manageable stream using gravity. The longest Roman aqueduct was the Aqueduct of Valens which supplied Constantinople; it was 426 km (264 miles) long! The massive water system of Rome was serviced by hundreds of workers who cleaned lime buildup and debris from aqueducts and lead pipes. It’s amazing to think that many of those ancient aqueducts still stand and work today - over 2,000 years after their construction!

Throwing coins in Trevi

You will be surprised to know that visitors collectively throw one million Euros worth of coins into the Trevi Fountain every year, according to a 2022 article from Euronews Travel. There are so many coins that a team of city workers is tasked with fishing them out of the fountain each year. And all that money gets donated to a local charity that feeds the homeless population. The fortune at the bottom of the fountain is also likely the reason why swimming in the Trevi Fountain is prohibited. If you try to take a dip the Italian Policia will wait for you and ask for your documents and will fine you the juicy amount of €450

 

But why do people throw coins into the fountain in the first place? This is undoubtedly the most popular tourist experience in Rome. The ritual involves visitors to hold a coin, turn away from the fountain, and toss the coin over their shoulder and into the fountain. The tradition most likely began after the release of the 1954 movie Three Coins in the Fountain. According to the lore of the film, if you throw one coin into the Trevi Fountain, you will return to Rome. Those who throw two coins will fall in love with someone they meet at the fountain. Those willing to part with three coins will marry the person they met. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that myth, but there’s certainly no harm in trying. After all, the coins are all donated to a worthy cause!

 

Repair and maintenance

In 2012, after a harsh winter, pieces of cornice began to fall from the historic fountain, creating an immediate need for restoration. Two years later, in June 2014, the fountain was shut off drained, and cloaked in scaffolding for what would be 17 months. To carry on the tradition of coin-throwing, a basin was added to its base during renovations. In November 2015, €2.2 million worth of renovations were revealed and the Trevi Fountain's emerald waters finally returned.

 

In 2007 and the again ten years later in 2017, an Italian activist Graziano Cecchini dyed the water in the Trevi Fountain red in protest of corruption in Rome. Cecchini had no intention of damaging the landmark permanently and the stunt didn't, of course. Both times, the fountain was quickly drained before the precious stone was able to absorb the stain.

 

 

The problem is that the fountain faces the relatively small Piazza di Trevi and the large number of tourists visiting it each day causes not only a “traffic jam” and packed spaces, but also damage to the fountain itself with tourists sitting on it for the perfect photo op. That’s why the municipality of Rome has a new proposal to better regulate the access to the Piazza and even build a protective barrier around the fountain so that tourists won’t be able to sit on the marble or jump into the water. I don’t think that will look good in the foreground of the beautiful fountain.