Musings of an Idiot

One Hundred Years of Solitude

This post is a dedication to Gabriel Garcia Marquez -the author of the book 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. The book is a masterpiece and virtually impossible to summarize - you got to read it to experience it. Garcia wrote the epic spending eighteen months in solitude while his wife took care of the daily affairs. The book was first published in 1967 as 'Cien años de solidad' but has since been translated into more than 30 languages and has won quite a few international awards. I read this book a year back but suddenly all memories of the book come flooding back after reading a news article on Yahoo which told as to how Marquez is fighting pirates by not only releasing the book a week before it was due but also by changing the entire last chapter of the book. I wonder if it will be a setback to the pirates or a bonus for them because it would mean that they now have a unique marketing point of selling not only the pirated original version but also the changed released version. confusing???not really... But all that aside - Marquez is certainly one of the best authors I have ever read and I hold him in the same high esteem as Milorad Pavic -whose book 'Landscape Painted With Tea' I absolutely loved along with 'Dictionary of the Khazars'. If you haven't read any of them and are into books I would certainly recommend these books.







It is a frightening prospect thinking of the times we are living in - we are literally in the middle of a morphing world - international political chaos, changing world order, changing climates and weather patterns, exploitation of natural resources and we don't really care for anything much than our usual lives. Have we always been this way? Where is the power of the individuals? Each question gives rise to another dozen questions related to human nature, politics, resources, and ultimately the future. Where are we headed to?

Ciao
Amit

posted by Amit @ 10:45 AM