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| The General in His Labyrinth | |
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| |
| Author | Gabriel García Márquez |
|---|---|
| Original title | El general en su laberinto |
| Translator | Edith Grossman |
| Country | Colombia |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre(s) | Historical |
| Publisher | Editorial La Oveja Negra |
| Publication date | 1989 |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 284 (hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 958-06-0006-6 (hardcover edition) |
The General in His Labyrinth (original Spanish title: El general en su laberinto) is a novel written by Nobel-Prize-winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez. The novel was published in 1989, during the period known as the Post-Boom. The General in His Labyrinth follows some of García Márquez’s best-known novels such as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.
The novel is a fictionalized account of the last days in the life of Simón Bolívar. Bolivar, also known as the Great Liberator, liberated the territory that would subsequently become Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador from Spanish rule. During the period of seven months (1830), Bolívar travels from Bogota to the Caribbean coastline of Colombia in the attempt to leave to Europe for exile. The novel describes Bolivar’s journey as he recalls his wars, defeats, passions, sins, and loves; all intertwined in “a labyrinthine and internalized structure of disillusionment and frustration” that he has helped create.Ruch
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The novel is set in 1830, at the tail end of the initial campaign to secure Latin America\'s independence from Spain. Most of Spanish America had gained independence by this point; only Cuba and Puerto Rico had to wait until the Spanish-American war of 1898.
South America had been effectively conquered by Spain and Portugal within a few decades of Christopher Columbus\'s initial forays to the continent. (The navigator had reached the coast of what is now Venezuela on his third voyage, in 1498.) Under Spanish imperial rule, this territory was run by the minority of European born upper class men. However, by the end of the 18th century, American-born descendants of Spanish settlers, called creoles, began to resent the inferior status, harsh restrictions, and high tariffs imposed by the imperial power.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Napoleonic wars weakened Spain\'s and Portugal\'s powers.Holling Napoleon\'s invasion of Spain in 1808 as well as the abdication of Charles IV, Ferdinand VII\'s renouncement of his right to succeed, and the placement of Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne Hasbrouck 1928, p. 19, destabilized the government and resultantly weekend Spain\'s control over its colonies. Spain was virtually cut off from its colonies and furthermore, the American and French revolutions inspired many creoles. Latin America was resultantly run by independent juntas or colonial self-governments.Lynch 2006, p. 43
The early 1800s saw the first attempts at securing liberation from Spain. Simón Bolívar\'s dream of uniting the Spanish American nations under one central government was almost achieved. However shortly after the liberation movements were completed, problems developed amongst the capitals, provinces entered civil war, Bolívar lost many of his supporters, fell ill, and opposition increased. In 1830, he resigned his presidency from the Republic of Colombia.Lynch 2006Slatta 2003Graham-Yooll 2002
The initial idea to write a book about Simón Bolívar came to García Márquez through his friend and fellow Colombian writer Álvaro Mutis. Mutis, to whom the book is dedicated, started writing a book called El Último Rostro about Bolívar\'s final voyage along the Magdalena River. However, Mutis never finished the book. At the time, García Márquez had a greater interest in writing about the Magdalena River because of his familiarity with the place from childhood. Only two years after reading the unfinished El Último Rostro did García Márquez ask Mutis if he could write a book on Bolívar\'s last voyage.García Márquez 190, p. 271
García Márquez chose to write the book in the form of a “reportaje” or reportage, where every single detail is documented to add to the integrity of the book.Plimpton, 160. He chose to do so because he believed that most of the information available on Bolívar was one-sided and produced a card-board image of the book\'s protagonist, stating that: “no one ever said in Bolívar’s biographies that he sang or that he was constipated...but historians don’t say these things because they think they are not important”. For two years, extensive research was done by Márquez in spite of the voyage being the "least documented period in Bolívar\'s life"Márquez, 271. His "lack of experience and method in historical research"Márquez, 272. made the task extremely difficult for Márquez. "Beginning with the first chapter, I had to do occasional research concerning the way he lived, and that research referred me to other sources, and then to more and more until I was overwhelmed".
Some of the materials he used included Daniel Florencio O\'Leary\'s thirty-four volume memoirs, nineteenth-century newspapers, and other documents, such as letters written by Bolívar himself. He further had the help of several experts: fellow Colombian and historian Eugenio Gutierrez Celys, who co-wrote a book called Bolívar Día a Día with historian Fabio Puyo, geographer Gladstone Oliva and astronomer Jorge Perezdoval who made an inventory of the occurrence of full moons during the first 30 years of the century, and several other professors, historians, and experts were consulted. Most importantly, he worked closely with Antonio Bolívar Goyanes, a distant relative of Simón Bolívar himself, for extensive editing of the book.García Márquez 1990, p. 274
The book is mostly given over to long recollections of Bolívar\'s personal history, and his fall from glory over the course of a few years coupled with his physical debilitation. It begins near the end of his career, when he still carries a small amount of power and respect. The people of the lands he has liberated have now turned against him, scrawling anti-Bolívar graffiti and even throwing human waste at him. He leaves Bogotá with the few officials still faithful to him and heads toward Honda, after which he hopes to go to the seaport to leave for Europe.
On the road, Bolívar continues to be unintentionally humiliated. His aide-de-camp, more important looking than Bolívar, is consistently mistaken for the Liberator. The great banquets people prepare, not knowing he has resigned, are wasted because the President can only digest corn mush.
He also meets Miranda Lyndsay, a woman he met in Jamaica. He stays a night with her, and comes home to find his bodyguard dead. He had fallen into Bolívar\'s bed and had been stabbed in what was planned to be an assassination.
In the end, Bolívar cannot leave South America. His ties to it are too strong. Instead, he dies sickly and in poverty, a shadow of the man that liberated much of the continent.
Under Simón Bolívar, whose final days are the subject of The General in His Labyrinth
Simón Bolívar is the subject of this novel and is referred to as the General or the Liberator. His full name is General Simón José Antonio de la Santísma Trinidad Bolívar. At the beginning of the book, he is found "floating naked with his eyes open in the purifying waters of his bath."García Márquez 1990, p. 3 He is forty-six years oldGarcía Márquez 1990, p. 4 and slowly dying on his last journey to the port of Cartagena de Indias where he is to sail to Europe.
José Palacios is Bolívar\'s closest aide-de-camp in the book. He is allowed in the General\'s room at times when no one else is and constantly waits on the General.
Manuela Sáenz is the General\'s lover but not his wife. She is described as "the bold Quiteña who loved him but was not going to follow him to his death."García Márquez 1990, p. 6 Bolívar leaves her behind but throughout his journey, he writes to her. She also attempts to write letters to him with information on the political situation but "the mail carriers had categorical instructions not to accept her letter."García Márquez 1990, p. 73 Manuela was married to Dr. James Thorne, who was an English physician twice her age. She eventually leaves her husband for Bolívar because of a letter written to her by the General saying, "Tell the truth and don\'t go anywhere. My love for you is steadfast."García Márquez 1990, p. 153; which was in response to her announcement that she was leaving with her husband to London.
Colonel Belford Hinton Wilson is the son of Sir Robert Wilson and Bolívar\'s Irish aide-de-camp. He was one of the five men in Bolívar\'s entourage.
General Francisco de Paula Santander
Field Marshal Antonio José de Sucre is the Field Marsahl of Ayacucho and a very intimate friend of the General. He is described as "intelligent, methodical, shy, and superstitious".García Márquez 1990, p. 18 He was married to and had a daughter with Doña Mariana Carcelén. The General had asked Sucre to succeed him as President of the Republic but he rejected.
General José María Carreño is one of the five men in Bolívar\'s entourage. His right arm was amputated because of a wound from combat.
Fernando is one of the five men in Bolívar\'s entourage. General\'s nephew, son of his older brother. He is also a clerk whom frequently writes the letters that the General dictates to him.
Captain Andrés Ibarra is one of the five men in Bolívar\'s entourage.
Colonel José de la Cruz Paredes is one of the five men in Bolívar\'s entourage.
General José Laurencio Silva is the General\'s nephew by marriage.
General Andrés de Santa Cruz is the leader of Bolivia.
General José Antonio Páez is the leader of Venezuela.
General Juan José Flores is the leader of the Republic of Ecuador.
Don Domingo Caycedo was designated by the General as the Interim President until another leader was elected.
Don Joaquín Mosquera was elected as President of the Republic after Bolívar\'s resignation.
General Rafael Urdaneta
Queen María Luisa is one of the General\'s one-night love affair. She is a mulatta slavewoman whom the General freed.
Miranda Lyndsay
Margret Atwood in her review of the General In his labyrinth interestingly draws attention to the context of its publication. The novel was published in 1989, at time when the life of the communist Russian empire was coming to an end. The ideological achievments and progress of past revolutionaries were unraveling as the empire collapsed and broke apart. The novel itself is about a man at the end of his life, who has seen his revolution and dream of a united Latin America fail. Atwood notes "the tale of Bolivar is exemplary, not just for his own turbulent age but for ours as well. Revolutions have a long history of eating their progenitors."[citation needed]
Critics have also noted that Bolivar’s anti-Americanism reflects a sentiment which is still widely held in Latin America. Bolivar tells his aid at one point in the novel that "[America is] omnipotent and terrible, and its tale of liberty will end in a plague of miseries for us all."[citation needed] As a critic observes, American diplomacy in Latin America has changed little since the time of Bolivar. Further, given that Russian communism was coming to an end while Márquez was writing, this modern unchallenged America had probably never seemed so "omnipotent." Perhaps then, Márquez is observing like Noam Chomsky and other respectable political scientists, that an all powerful America will only lead to disaster and "miseries" for the world.
Critics seem to consider García Márquez\'s work as something very close to a Historical Novel. Selden Rodman from the national review observes that this work is "wholly devoted to research quoting Bolivar’s last thoughts on everything from life and love to his chronic constipation and dislike of tobacco smoke."[citation needed] Due to the extensive research involved in the book, Rodman appears to be slightly hesitant in calling it a “novel”. In Margret Atwood’s review she claims that it would be unjust to call it a historical novel, as he doesn’t just mix fake characters with real ones. In his novel "the element of real is front and center….most people in it actually lived and most of the incidents actually took place."[citation needed] Both Rodman, and Atwood perhaps see that the distinction between historical novel and historical biography is blurred by Garcia.
David Bushnell, however, from The Hispanic American Historical Review points out that we have less of pure historical account than others appear to suggest. García Márquez’s Bolivar is a man "who wanders naked through the house, suffers constipation, uses foul language, and much more besides."[citation needed] Many have been offended by this vulgar depiction of the Latin American Hero, but Bushnell argues that there is documentation neither supporting nor contradicting García Márquez\'s controversial descriptions. Bushnell however suggests that the fact that García Márquez might get the history wrong from time to time isn\'t necessarily a point which distinguishes his work from that of proffessional historians. What does seem to mark a difference for this historian is that Garcia\'s work "is far more readable."[citation needed]
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