Garcia Marquez Essay, Research Paper

Gabriel Garcia Marquez?s Influences

Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez, a Colombian-born writer of astonishing skill, is thought by many to be one of the world’s greatest living authors and is responsible for awakening interest in Latin American literature with his style of writing. He is considered one of the pioneers of “Magical Realism,” a style of writing that brings together realism and fantasy. Throughout Marquez?s he has had many influences that have helped him become successful author. These influences include cultural influences from his family, literary influences from famous authors, and societal influences.

From the time in which Garcia-Marquez was born on March 6, 1928 in a small town in Northern Colombia, he lived with his grandparents and other family members.( ) By living with his family Marquez acquired many cultural aspects which influenced and are evident in his literary style.

“I feel that all of my writing has been about the experiences of the time I spent with my grandparents.”(Marquez) Garcia-Marquez?s grandmother was very superstitious and often told him stories of ghosts and omens. His grandfather, on the other hand, told him stories about when he was in the military. From many of these stories, many veterans came into fictional character roles in Marquez?s novels. Another cultural influence is the environment in which Garcia-Marquez grew up. As a child, classmates used to love to listen to Marquez tell a story. They classified him as a natural-born writer, although he simply had a love of literature and had never written anything. These influences have had a great effect on him. To this day Garcia-Marquez still uses old memories as basis for his writing.

Garcia-Marquez has many literary influences. The of these first being Ernest Hemingway, who influenced his journalistic skills which helped him while working for El Espectador. He transferred from journalism to nonfiction in 1955 when he serialized the story of a Colombian sailor who survived for days out at sea in his publication Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor. ( ) During the same year, he also published his first fiction novel Leaf Storm. The plot of this story was derived from Sophpcles? great works Antigone. From Sophocles, Marquez got his ideas of plots revolving around society and the abuse of power. These plots are evident in Garcia-Marquez?s novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Another of Garcia-Marquez?s great literary influences was William Faulkner.