'El amor el los tiempos del cólera is a Realist rather than a Romantic novel. ʼ Analyse Gabriel...

8/6/2019 'El amor el los tiempos del clera is a Realist rather than a Romantic novel. Analyse Gabriel Garca Mrquez's nov

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CULTURAL DILEMMAS II

Essay Title:'El amor el los tiempos del clerais a Realist rather than a Romantic novel. Analyse

Gabriel Garca Mrquezs novel in the light of this statement.

Student Number: 707690

Word count: 2737

! Student Number: 707690

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'El amor el los tiempos del clerais a Realist rather than a Romantic novel. AnalyseGabriel Garca Mrquezs novel in the light of this statement.

Gabriel Garca Mrquezs El amor en los tiempos del clera(1985) is regarded by many to

be the Colombians most accomplished work. It is a novel which defies rigid categorisation

by its unique mix of thematic and stylistic features. Some critics, such as Bell-Villada,

assert that the work is an intentional return to nineteenth-century realism and that

outright fantasy is not to be found in this novel (Pelayo, 2001: 8). Others challenge this,

however, pointing out that the text also contains many Romantic notions which make it a

pastiche of the two genres (Pelayo, 2001). Indeed, with a close analysis of the text, this

latter view is shown to be much more accurate. The clearest way in which the reader can

see the novels mix of styles is in its presentation and exploration of love, which is its

central motif. El amorcan in fact be seen as a compendium of love as it touches on every

type of heterosexual affection, from the Romantic notion, which is adolescent and

forbidden by the father figure, to the wider realities of life, including aspects of marriage,

fornication and old age. Working with this fundamentally romantic theme, Garca Mrquez

deals with the subject from new, and at times uncomfortable, angles which reflect a Realist

attempt at faithfully capturing the world around us. This being said, however, the

categorisation of the novel is complicated by other, more Romantic elements which go

against this general sense of realism. Although perhaps not as frequent or pronounced as

the magical realism of Cien aos de soledad, it should not be ignored that there are

various instances and implications in the novel which reflect an idealised, non-realistic

view of the world. This essay will therefore argue that although El amor follows many of

the conventions of the 19th century Realist novel, the adoption of many Romantic

elements prevents its categorisation as a purely Realist work. El amorcan be said to deal

with a Romantic theme from a Realist outlook, subversively combining the two genres in a

mix of homage and parody.

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! In one sense, there are many aspects of El amorwhich might support the statement

in question. It is clear that the work attempts to reflect the style of the Realist novel as this

was part of the expressed intent of the author, who claimed, Yo trat de escribir una

novela del siglo XIX, como si fuera escrita en el siglo XIX (Almera, 1997: 227). The

Realist school, exemplified best by Galds in Spain, Dickens in England, and Balzac in

France, attempted to provide a faithful and dispassionate reflection of reality in their works.

As Turner comments, the aim was to reproducelife as objectively as possible, depicting

things as they really are (2003: 81). This produced a literary outlook which, in reaction to

the idyllic vision presented by the Romantics, sought to include every aspect of life,

including many of the less pleasant elements which previous generations of authors had

shunned.

! Such a concern is apparent in the way El amordeals with the subject of romance as

it attempts to portray every variety of love which one might experience in life. In broad

strokes, the love story begins in chapter two, which depicts the teenage love affair

between Fermina and Florentino. This is the section that adopts the Romantic notion of

love, which is adolescent, idealised, forbidden and doomed to failure. The romantic tone of

the section is perhaps best exemplified in Florentinos learning la direccin de los vientos

in order for them to carry the sound of La Diosa Coronadato his beloveds ears (El amor:

97). There is an abrupt and rather jarring break with this dreamy romance when Fermina

suddenly comes to her senses and rejects Florentino. This rejection also represents a

break with the Romantic conception of love, introducing the perhaps more realistic forms

which are to follow. Chapter three, in presenting the first of these real life scenarios of

love, deals with the topic of courtship and marriage. In contrast with the Romantic novel,

which in many cases depicted marriage as a loveless prison, El amorshows that husband

and wife do share a true and unique form of love. By depicting the nuances of the

marriage relationship and the expressions of love which is fosters, Garca Mrquez


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challenges the stereotypical Romantic notion that marriage signifies an end to romance.

On the contrary, there is just as much sincerity and romantic spirit in Dr. Jubenal as there

is in Florentino, yet it is of a less idealised nature. While this chapter deals with the

traditionally acceptable and socially sanctioned form of love, chapter four traces

Florentinos experience of solitary, selfish love and his foray into the world of clandestine

sexuality. Here the novel explores the physical and sexual aspect of love, which is shown

in some ways to be an endless search for fulfilment. Florentinos experience of sexual love

outside of marriage is mirrored in chapter five by Dr. Jubenals adulterous exploits, which

from another angle, show the effect of loves which transgress the confines of marriage.

The final romantic aspect which is presented in the novel is that of octogenarian love. This,

of all the areas covered by Garca Mrquez is perhaps the least conventional and the most

awkward for the reader. With unblushing candidness, the author portrays the

unromanticized reality of the human body in the winter of life, such as the unpleasant

description of Ferminas body, Tena los hombros arrugados, los senos cados y el

costillar forrado de un pellejo plido y fro como el de una rana (El amor:431). But at the

same time as this, he conveys the gentle sincerity of a love which carries with it the

wisdom of a lifetime of experiences. The novel therefore in offering this variety of angles

on the topic of love, strays from the typical Romantic plot and focuses the majority of the

text on less often explored areas. The wide view which the novel adopts in an attempt to

capture the totality of real life, can therefore be seen as the outworking of a Realist

agenda. !

! Apart from betraying a Realist outlook that attempts to reproduce the full variety of

life, the novel also perpetuates many of the specific thematic tendencies of the genre.

Firstly, the Realist novel conventionally represented the life of the newly formed middle

class, which according to Benito Prez Galds was, la ms olvidada por nuestros


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novelistas, es el gran modelo, la fuente inagotable (Correa, 1964: 99). This was in

contrast to the Romantic novel which tended to be fixated on the nobility and the upper

class. As Galds outlined in a lecture on his technique, the Realist novel took la sociedad

presente como materia novelable, and this for 19th century Spain largely meant the

depiction of a society in flux: moving from agrarianism to industrialism and from feudalism

to capitalism (1897: 2). This concentration on the rise of industrialism and the middle class

is evident in El amorwhen one considers the types of characters which it contains. The

principle characters of the story are all members of the fledgling middle class and any

working class characters that do appear are kept peripheral to the story. The reader is

presented, for instance, with the modern businessman in the character of Lorenzo Daza,

who represents the desperation of the middle classes in their aspiration for upward social

mobility. It is clear that Ferminas success is Lorenzos ticket into the upper echelons of

society as he is driven by la posibilidad de volver a nacer con un matrimonio de

fortuna (El amor:110). This unfavourable view of the aspirations of the middle classes is

in keeping with Galds philosophy that the Realist novel should depict both the positive

and negative aspects of contemporary society (Correa, 1964). The growth of industry, and

specifically the rise of steamboat transport, is also depicted in Florentinos job a the

Compaia Fluvial del Caribe. His ascent to the top of the company depicts another

avenue of social mobility which emerged in the 19th century. The fact of Florentinos

illegitimate birth is also highlighted in typical Realist fashion in order to point out the

struggles and stigmas of a society that still bore the weight of tradition. This focus on the

middle classes and the rise of industrialism therefore reveals another fundamentally

Realist feature to be found in the text.

!

! In terms of narrative technique, El amor can also be seen to reflect the Realist

genre by its descriptive detail and exactitude. In the context of the 19th century, the Realist


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school was heavily influenced by the advance of scientific methods, and its extremely

detailed descriptive style can be seen to be an attempt at literary empiricism. Galds

formula held that la novela ha de basarse en la observacin y mantenerse fiel a la

realidad (Correa, 1964: 100). This translated in practice into the proliferation of minute

details, long descriptions and the provision of dates and times. Such a style is perfectly

exhibited in novels such as GaldsFortunata y Jacinta (1886) and Clarins La Regenta

(1884) with their lengthy descriptions of characters, clothing, customs and speech, which

are placed in a definite time period by the inclusion of exact times (Turner, 2003). We see

a similar style at work in El amorwhere, as Wilson comments, Garca Mrquez makes an

endless array of lists, lists of objects left by men in a brothel; lists of what doctors did in

the the old hospital to ward off germs; lists of exotic fruits in a market (1989: 280). We

also see it reflected in the exactness of time in the novel, such as the statement of

Florentinos waiting cincuenta y tres aos, siete meses y once das con sus noches (El

amor:443). Although the narrative of El amorcannot be said to contain the same amount

of copious detail as La Regenta, for example, it nonetheless reveals an attempt to present

an authentic and somewhat complete reality. These technical elements, along with the

themes discussed above, appear to place the novel within the Realist style versus the

Romantic.

!

" However, having proven that the novel reflects many of the conventions of the

Realist novel, in order to give a balanced view of the text it is necessary to point out that it

also contains many distinctively Romantic elements. It can be claimed that the novel, at its

core, exhibits a fundamental perpetuation of a romantic view of love. Although the novel

purports to adhere to a realistic vision of the world, there are various instances which

disrupt the texts supposed verisimilitude. Firstly, in considering the novels discussion of

the topic of love, it has been shown that the typically Romantic view is presented along


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with various other expressions and forms. It may be argued however, that although the

other aspects are depicted, the Romantic view is the one which is vindicated as being the

most enduring. This is supported by the fact that the novel seems to come full circle in its

depiction of love. It beings with the adolescent delirium of romantic perfection, then is

broken up by fifty years of marriage, solitude, adultery and death, only to come back to an

idealised, happy-ever-after conclusion. The couples literal sailing off into the sunset can

be taken to show that their teenage love affair was the most genuine expression of love to

be found in the novel. This reading is supported by the fact that neither of the two main

characters appear to have found true love in any other place throughout the course of their

separation. It is revealed that Fermina Daza was never truly in love with Dr. Jubenal, and

Florentino, despite all of his escapades, never forgets his first love, in a way justifying his

claim, me he conservado virgen para ti (El amor:432). The ultimate implication of the

novels presentation of love can therefore be seen as the affirmation that the Romantic

conception is indeed the most enduring. Marriage can last for decades, and sexual

encounters can offer momentary pleasure, but the undying, enduring and eternal love is

that decidedly Romantic affair between Florentino and Fermina in their youth.

!

! Through the course of the novel there also other elements which reveal a Romantic

influence. Firstly, the reader sees the perfect reflection of the typical Romantic poet in the

characterisation of Florentino. Garca Mrquez may be seen to pay homage to the genre

in the portrayal of the protagonist as the stereotypically languid, sombre, pale Romantic

artist. But at the same time as this, he also imbues the character with the deathly

seriousness and loving desperation typical of the Romantic hero. In the same way as

Avellanedas Sab (1841), the novel makes it clear that Florentino is willing to die for his

love, and indeed that not being united with Fermina puts him in danger of death. The

symptoms of Florentinos lovesickness bear a striking resemblance to those of cholera,


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proving, as Kline comments, that el amor para Mrquez es una peste (2003: 176). The

desperation of Florentino, reflecting the Romantic norm, is best exemplified in the

statement, No hay mayor gloria que morir por amor (El amor:111). It can also be claimed

that the characterisation of Fermina fulfils the typical Romantic glorification and idealisation

of the heroine. Her chastity, elegance and beauty are typical of the heroines of the

Romantic novel.

!

! Perhaps the most important element, however, in the disruption of a Realist style in

the novel is the apparently non-mimetic conclusion which is presented in the final chapter.

Whereas the novel up until this point has progressed in a supposedly realistic manner, with

the constant breaking of Romantic expectations, the ending of the story does not do this.

In contrast to Ferminas rejection of Florentino in chapter two which introduces other

Realist aspects of live, the ending of the story allows the Romantic dream to play out.

There is an open ended, idealistic tone in Florentinos final affirmation that their love will

continue toda la vida (El amor: 443). Borland argues that it this non-mimetic ending

which ultimately subverts the novels traditional design (1991: 175). This can be seen as

an example of fantastical elements in the story, alongside such instances as the ghost

spotted on the river and Florentinos purchase of the mirror which once reflected the image

of his beloved. Such elements function to splinter the Realism of the novel and introduce a

certain romanticism into the text.

! In conclusion, it has been shown that the statement in question is not wholly

accurate. Although the novel does indeed exhibit many of the conventions of the Realist

genre, it cannot be said to fit entirely into this style as there are a variety of Romantic

elements apparent throughout. On the one hand, the novel shows a Realist agenda in its

attempt to present a compendium of love. El amor touches on almost every kind of


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heterosexual affection, from youthful infatuation, to marriage and finally old age romance.

In this survey the novel displays both highly romantic notions, such as Florentinos love

songs and letters, and lifes somewhat grotesque practicalities on the other, such as the

wilted skin and pungent odours of the ageing human body. This inclusivity can be seen to

be an expression of the Realist desire to capture the realities of the world. Apart from this,

the novel also fulfils Realist conventions in its particular narrative style and thematic focus

on the virtues and vices of the middle class. But even though El amordoes show all these

signs of a Realist agenda, it ultimately betrays this genre by perpetuating certain Romantic

topoi. Of all the expressions of love, the one which is ultimately enduring is the Romantic

one. It is the youthful, forbidden, idealised love between Florentino and Fermina that

eventually resurfaces and is vindicated. Other elements, such as the characterisation of

the protagonists, also fit in with the Romantic genre. Ultimately, as it has been shown, the

novel displays a unique mix of the two styles. It deals with the great Romantic topic, love,

deconstructing it and showing it from all the pleasant and unpleasant angles, in order to

finally reaffirm its virtue. El amor en los tiempos del clerais neither purely a Romantic nor

a Realist work, but is a modern pastiche of the two.


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Bibliography

Almeria, Luis, La parodia en El amor en los tiempos del clera, Revista de Crtica LiterariaLatinoamericana, No. 46 (1997), pp. 225-234

Borland, Isabel, Interior texts in El amor en los tiempos del clera, Hispanic Review, Vol. 59, No. 2 (1991),pp. 175-186

Bloom, Harold, Love in the Time of Cholera, in Blooms How to Write about Gabriel Garca Mrquez,(Infobase: New York, 2010), pp. 205-223

Correa, Gustavo, Perez Galdos y su concepcin del novelar, Thesaurus, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1964), (Accessed 30/04/2011)

Fiddian, Robin, A Prospective Post-Script: Apropos of Love in the Times of Cholera, in Gabriel GarcaMrquez: Blooms Modern Critical Views(ed. Bloom, Harold), (Yale, 2007)

Gacra Mrquez, Gabriel, El amor en los tiempos del clera, (Mondadori: Madrid, 1985)

Kline, Carmenza, Los orgenes del relato: Los lazos entre ficcin y realidad en la obra de Gabriel GarcaMrquez, (Salamanca, 2003)

Prez Galds, Benito, La sociedad presente como materia novelable (Lecture given at the Real AcademiaEspaola), (Madrid, 1897)

Pelayo, Ruben, Love in the Time of Cholera, in Gabriel Garca Mrquezs Love in the Time of Cholera(ed.Haro ld B loom) , (Ph i l ade lph ia : 2005) , pp . 3 -28 h t t p : / / b o o k s . g o o g l e . c o . u k / b o o k s?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Turner, Harriet, The Realist Novel, in TheCambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel, (Cambridge, 2003),pp. 81-101

Wilson, Jason, Happy Endings, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1989), pp. 279-282

Watt, Ian, Realism and the Novel Form, in The Realist Novel (ed. Walder, Dennis), (London, 2005), pp.219-230,


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http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FE1G7mrmDrkC&lpg=PA219&ots=8l2ua8Cqgh&dq=realist%20novel&lr&pg=PA222#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TiWp5cQpyuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://www.google.com/http://www.google.com/

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