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Gabriel García MárquezA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
"The stone shattered at the first blow of the pickax, and a stream of living hair the intense color of copper spilled out of the crypt."
Márquez begins the novel with an account of the inspiration behind its writing, in which, as a reporter, he witnesses the above. He creates the character Sierva María based on the young woman in the crypt, but combines her story with a legend his grandmother told him of a magical young woman with uncut copper hair.
"It was a common occurrence for a stray dog to bite people as it chased after cats or fought turkey buzzards for the carrion in the streets…"
This first chapter sets the scene in colonial Santa María la Antigua as one of extreme poverty and waning prosperity, where death and decay are as common as disease. Turkey buzzards are scavengers, feeding on things that have already died.
The house adjoined the Divina Pastora Asylum for Female Lunatics."
Even before Sierva's alleged possession, questions of female sanity plague the Marquis and his family. The inmates singing provides an ongoing soundtrack for the Marquis' household and Dulce Olivia, the Marquis' first love and an inmate at the asylum, continues to have a relationship with the Marquis even after his marriages.
By Gabriel García Márquez
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
Gabriel García Márquez
Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon
Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon
Gabriel García Márquez
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Gabriel García Márquez
Death Constant Beyond Love
Death Constant Beyond Love
Gabriel García Márquez
Eyes of a Blue Dog
Eyes of a Blue Dog
Gabriel García Márquez
In Evil Hour
In Evil Hour
Gabriel García Márquez
Innocent Erendira
Innocent Erendira
Gabriel García Márquez
Leaf Storm
Leaf Storm
Gabriel García Márquez
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Gabriel García Márquez
News of a Kidnapping
News of a Kidnapping
Gabriel García Márquez
No One Writes To The Colonel
No One Writes To The Colonel
Gabriel García Márquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
One Of These Days
One Of These Days
Gabriel García Márquez
Strange Pilgrims
Strange Pilgrims
Gabriel García Márquez
The Autumn of the Patriarch
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Gabriel García Márquez, Transl. Gregory Rabassa
The General in His Labyrinth
The General in His Labyrinth
Gabriel García Márquez
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
Gabriel García Márquez
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
Gabriel García Márquez