The General in His Labyrinth

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The General in His Labyrinth 1

The General in His Labyrinth

The General in His Labyrinth

1st edition (Columbia)

Author(s) Gabriel Garca Mrquez

Original title El general en su laberinto

Translator Edith Grossman

Country Colombia

Language Spanish

Genre(s) Historical novel

Dictator novel

Publisher Editorial La Oveja Negra

(Spanish)

Alfred A. Knopf (English)

Publication date 1989

Published in English 1990

Media type Hardcover and paperback

Pages 285 (English)

ISBN ISBN 958-06-0006-6 (Spanish)

ISBN 0-394-58258-6 (English)

The General in His Labyrinth (original Spanish title:El general en su laberinto) is a novel by the Colombian writer

and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garca Mrquez. It is a fictionalized account of the last days of Simn Bolvar, liberator

and leader of Gran Colombia. First published in 1989, the book traces Bolvar's final journey from Bogot to the

Caribbean coastline of Colombia in his attempt to leave South America for exile in Europe. In this dictator novel

about a continental hero, "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life". [] Breaking with

the traditional heroic portrayal of Bolvar El Libertador, Garca Mrquez depicts a pathetic protagonist, a

prematurely aged man who is physically ill and mentally exhausted.[1] The story explores the labyrinth of Bolvar's

life through the narrative of his memories.

Following the success of others of his works such as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of

Cholera, Garca Mrquez decided to write about the "Great Liberator" after reading an unfinished novel about

Bolvar by his friend lvaro Mutis. He borrowed the settingBolvar's voyage down the Magdalena River in

1830from Mutis. After two years of research that encompassed the extensive memoirs of Bolvar's Irishaide-de-camp, Daniel Florencio O'Leary, as well as numerous other historical documents and consultations with

academics, Garca Mrquez published his novel about the last seven months of Bolvar's life.

Its mixture of genres makes The General in His Labyrinth difficult to classify, and commentators disagree over

where it lies on the scale between novel and historical account. Garca Mrquez's insertion of interpretive and

fictionalized elementssome dealing with Bolvar's most intimate momentscaused outrage in parts of Latin

America when the book was released. Many prominent Latin American figures believed that the novel damaged the

reputation of one of the region's most important historic figures and portrayed a negative image to the outside world.

Others saw The General in His Labyrinth as a tonic for Latin American culture and a challenge to the region to deal

with its problems.
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Background

Gran Colombia, led by Simn Bolvar from 1819

to 1830, encompassed much of northern South

America.

The initial idea to write a book about Simn Bolvar came to Garca

Mrquez through his friend and fellow Colombian writer lvaro

Mutis, to whom the book is dedicated.[2] Mutis had started writing a

book called El ltimo Rostro about Bolvar's final voyage along the

Magdalena River, but never finished it. At the time, Garca Mrquezwas interested in writing about the Magdalena River because he knew

the area intimately from his childhood.[3] Two years after reading El

ltimo Rostro, Garca Mrquez asked Mutis for his permission to write

a book on Bolvar's last voyage.[]

Garca Mrquez believed that most of the information available on

Bolvar was one-dimensional: "No one ever said in Bolvar's

biographies that he sang or that he was constipated ... but historians

don't say these things because they think they are not important."[] In the epilogue to the novel, Garca Mrquez

writes that he researched the book for two years; the task was difficult, both because of his lack of experience inconducting historical research,[4] and the lack of documentary evidence for the events of the final period of Bolvar's

life.[]

Garca Mrquez researched a wide variety of historical documents, including Bolvar's letters, 19th-century

newspapers, and Daniel Florencio O'Leary's 34 volumes of memoirs. He engaged the help of various experts, among

them geographer Gladstone Oliva; historian and fellow Colombian Eugenio Gutirrez Celys, who had co-written a

book calledBolvar Da a Da with historian Fabio Puyo; and astronomer Jorge PerezdovalGarca Mrquez used

an inventory drawn up by Perezdoval to describe which nights Bolvar spent under a full moon. Garca Mrquez also

worked closely with Antonio Bolvar Goyanes, a distant relative of Bolvar, during the extensive editing of the

book.[5]

Historical context

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 date; only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish

rule.

Within a few decades of Christopher Columbus's landing on the coast of what is now Venezuela in 1498, South

America had been effectively conquered by Spain and Portugal. By the beginning of the 19th century, several factors

affected Spain's control over its colonies: Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808, the abdication of Charles IV,

Ferdinand VII's renouncement of his right to succeed, and the placement of Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish

throne.[6]

The colonies were virtually cut off from Spain, and the American and French Revolutions inspired manycreolesAmerican-born descendants of Spanish settlersto take advantage of Spanish weakness. As a result, Latin

America was run by independentjuntas and colonial self-governments.[7]

The early 19th century saw the first attempts at securing liberation from Spain, which were led in northern South

America by Bolvar. He and the independence movements won numerous battles in Venezuela, New Granada and

present-day Ecuador and Peru. His dream of uniting the Spanish American nations under one central government

was almost achieved. However, shortly after the South American colonies became independent of Spain, problems

developed in the capitals, and civil wars were sparked in some provinces; Bolvar lost many of his supporters and

fell ill. Opposition to his presidency continued to increase, and in 1830, after 11 years of rule, he resigned as

president of Gran Colombia.[8]
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Plot summary

The journey taken by Simn

Bolvar as described by Garca

Mrquez, starting at Santa Fe de

Bogot and ending with his deathjust outside Santa Marta.

The novel is written in the third-person with flashbacks to specific events in the

life of Simn Bolvar, "the General". It begins on May 8, 1830 in Santa Fe de

Bogot. The General is preparing for his journey towards the port of Cartagena

de Indias, intending to leave Colombia for Europe. Following his resignation as

President of Gran Colombia, the people of the lands he liberated have now turnedagainst him, scrawling anti-Bolvar graffiti and throwing waste at him. The

General is anxious to move on, but has to remind the Vice-President-elect,

General Domingo Caycedo, that he has yet to receive a valid passport to leave

the country. The General leaves Bogot with the few officials still faithful to

him, including his confidante and aide-de-camp, Jos Palacios. At the end of the

first chapter, the General is referred to by his full title, General Simn Jos

Antonio de la Santsima Trinidad Bolvar y Palacios, for the only time in the

novel.

On the first night of the voyage, the General stays at Facatativ with hisentourage, which consists of Jos Palacios, five aides-de-camp, his clerks, and

his dogs. Here, as throughout the journey that follows, the General's loss of

prestige is evident; the downturn in his fortunes surprises even the General himself. His unidentified illness has led

to his physical deterioration, which makes him unrecognizable, and his aide-de-camp is constantly mistaken for the

Liberator.

After many delays, the General and his party arrive in Honda, where the Governor, Posada Gutirrez, has arranged

for three days of fiestas. On his last night in Honda, the General returns late to camp and finds one of his old friends,

Miranda Lyndsay, waiting for him. The General recalls that fifteen years ago, she had learned of a plot against his

life and had saved him. The following morning, the General begins the voyage down the Magdalena River. Both his

physical debilitation and pride are evident as he negotiates the slope to the dock: he is in need of a sedan chair but

refuses to use it. The group stays a night in Puerto Real, where the General claims he sees a woman singing during

the night. His aides-de-camp and the watchman conduct a search, but they fail to uncover any sign of a woman

having been in the vicinity.

The General and his entourage arrive at the port of Mompox. Here they are stopped by police, who fail to recognize

the General. They ask for his passport, but he is unable to produce one. Eventually, the police discover his identity

and escort him into the port. The people still believe him to be the President of Gran Colombia and prepare banquets

in his honor; but these festivities are wasted on him due to his lack of strength and appetite. After several days, the

General and his entourage set off for Turbaco.

The group spend a sleepless night in Barranca Nueva before they arrive in Turbaco. Their original plan was tocontinue to Cartagena the following day, but the General is informed that there is no available ship bound for Europe

from the port and that his passport still has not arrived. While staying in the town, he receives a visit from General

Mariano Montilla and a few other friends. The deterioration of his health becomes increasingly evidentone of his

visitors describes his face as that of a dead man. [9] In Turbaco, the General is joined by General Daniel Florencio

O'Leary and receives news of ongoing political machinations: Joaqun Mosquera, appointed successor as President

of Gran Colombia, has assumed power but his legitimacy is still contested by General Rafael Urdaneta. The General

recalls that his "dream began to fall apart on the very day it was realized". [10]

The General finally receives his passport, and two days later he sets off with his entourage for Cartagena and the

coast, where more receptions are held in his honor. Throughout this time, he is surrounded by women but is too weak

to engage in sexual relations. The General is deeply affected when he hears that his good friend and preferredsuccessor for the presidency, Field Marshal Sucre, has been ambushed and assassinated.
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The General is now told by one of his aides-de-camp that General Rafael Urdaneta has taken over the government in

Bogot, and there are reports of demonstrations and riots in support of a return to power by Bolvar. The General's

group travel to the town of Soledad, where he stays for more than a month, his health declining further. In Soledad,

the General agrees to see a physician for the first time.

The General never leaves South America. He finishes his journey in Santa Marta, too weak to continue and with only

his doctor and his closest aides by his side. He dies in poverty, a shadow of the man who liberated much of thecontinent.

Characters

The General

Simn Bolvar painted in 1825 byJos Gil de Castro

The leading character in the novel is "the General", also called "the Liberator".

Garca Mrquez only once names his protagonist as Simn Bolvar, the famous

historical figure, whose full title was General Simn Jos Antonio de la

Santsima Trinidad Bolvar y Palacios, on whom the General's character is based.

The novel's portrait of a national and Latin American hero, which challenges the

historical record, provoked outrage in some quarters on its publication.[11]

At the beginning of the novel, the General is 46 years old[12] and slowly dying on

his last journey to the port of Cartagena de Indias, where he plans to set sail for

Europe. As Palencia-Roth notes, "Bolvar is cast here not only as a victim but as

an agent of Latin America's tragic political flaws".[] The fortunes of the historical

Simn Bolvar began to decline in 1824 after the victory of his general Antonio

Jos de Sucre at Ayacucho. The novel draws on the fact that the historical

Bolvar never remarried after the death of his wife, Mara Teresa Rodrguez del

Toro y Alayza. Garca Mrquez uses other documented facts as starting pointsfor his fictional portrait of Bolvarfor example, his dedication to the army above

all else, his premature aging,[] and his bad temper. Of the latter, Bolvar's

aide-de-camp O'Leary once remarked that "his imperious and impatient temperament would never tolerate the

smallest delay in the execution of an order".[]

In an interview with Mara Elvira Samper, Garca Mrquez has admitted that his portrayal of Bolvar is partly a

self-portrait. He identifies with Bolvar in many ways, since their method of controlling their anger is the same and

their philosophical views are similar: neither "pays much attention to death, because that distracts one from the most

important thing: what one does in life".[13]

Jos Palacios

The novel begins with the name of Jos Palacios,[14] who, here as with the historical figure of the same name, is

Bolvar's "long-serving mayordomo".[15] As literary critic Seymour Menton observes, Palacios's "total identification

with Bolvar constitutes the novel's frame".[16] Palacios constantly waits on the General, and at certain times he alone

is allowed in the General's room. He has learned to live with his master's unpredictability and does not presume to

read his thoughts.[17] Born a slave, the character is six years younger than the General, and has spent his entire life in

his service. Throughout the novel, Palacios provides the General with clarifications or reminders of dates and events

during the General's time of disillusion. According to one critic, Palacios's ability to recall past events in Bolvar's

life is essential for Garca Mrquez's recreation of the character, as it allows the Bolvar of official history to be

placed within the context of everyday life.[]
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Manuela Senz

Manuela Senz is the General's long-time lover, his last since the death of his wife, 27 years earlier. Her character is

based on Simn Bolvar's historical mistress Doa Manuela Senz de Thorne, whom Bolvar dubbed "the liberator of

the liberator" after she helped save him from an assassination attempt on the night of September 25, 1828.[18] Garca

Mrquez's fictional portrait stimulated a reassessment of this historical figure, who is increasingly seen, according to

Venezuelan historian Denzil Romero, "not just as a mistress but as the intelligent, independent, forceful woman shewas".[19] In the novel, she is described as "the bold Quitea who loved him but was not going to follow him to his

death".[20] The General leaves Manuela Senz behind, but throughout the novel he writes to her on his journey. She

also attempts to write letters to him with news of the political situation, but the mail carriers have been instructed not

to accept her letters. Like the historical figure on whom she is based, [21] the fictional Manuela Senz is married to

Dr. James Thorne, an English physician twice her age.[22] The historical Manuela Senz left Thorne after Bolvar

wrote declaring his undying love for her.[23] In the novel she is characterized as astute and indomitable, with

"irresistible grace, a sense of power, and unbounded tenacity".[24]

General Francisco de Paula Santander

As he reflects on the past, the General often thinks and dreams about his former friend Francisco de PaulaSantander.[] The historical Francisco de Paula Santander was a friend of Simn Bolvar, but was later accused of

complicity in a plot to assassinate him and sent into exile.[25] In the novel, the General remembers that he had once

appointed Santander to govern Colombia because he believed him to be an effective and brave soldier. [] He formerly

regarded Santander as "his other self, and perhaps his better self",[] but by the time of the events in The General in

His Labyrinth Santander has become the General's enemy and has been banished to Paris after his involvement in the

assassination attempt.[26] The General is depicted as tormented by the idea that Santander will return from his exile

in France; he dreams, for example, that Santander is eating the pages of a book, that he is covered in cockroaches,

and that he is plucking out his own eyeballs.

Field Marshal Antonio Jos de Sucre

Field Marshal Antonio Jos de Sucre is portrayed as an intimate friend of the General. The historical Antonio Jos de

Sucre, the Field Marshal of Ayacucho, had been the most trusted general of Simn Bolvar.[27] Garca Mrquez

describes him as "intelligent, methodical, shy, and superstitious".[28] The Field Marshal is married to and has a

daughter with Doa Mariana Carceln. In the first chapter of the novel, the General asks Sucre to succeed him as

President of the Republic, but he rejects the idea. One of the reasons Sucre gives is that he wishes only to live his life

for his family. Also at the beginning of the novel, Sucre's death is foreshadowed. Sucre tells the General that he plans

on celebrating the Feast of Saint Anthony in Quito with his family. When the General hears that Sucre has been

assassinated in Berruecos on his way back to Quito, he vomits blood. [29]

Minor characters

The novel revolves around the fictionalized figure of Bolvar and includes many minor characters who are part of the

General's travelling party, whom he meets on his journey or who come to him in his memories and dreams of his

past. Sometimes they are identified by particular quirks or tied to small but significant events. They include, for

instance, General Jos Mara Carreo, a member of the entourage, whose right arm was amputated after a combat

wound,[] and who once revealed a military secret by talking in his sleep. [30] At other times, they are prostheses for

the General's now failing powers: Fernando, for example, the General's nephew, is "the most willing and patient of

the General's many clerks",[31] and the General wakes him "at any hour to have him read aloud from a dull book or

take notes on urgent extemporizations".[] One of the least developed of the minor characters is the General's wife,

Mara Teresa Rodrguez del Toro y Alayza, who had died, readers are told, in mysterious circumstances shortly aftertheir marriage. The General has "buried her at the bottom of a water-tight oblivion as a brutal means of living
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without her";[] she only fleetingly enters his memories in the book's last chapter.[] According to Menton, she is

"upstaged" by Manuela Senz, whose later history Garca Mrquez recounts as if she instead were the General's

widow.[] Mara Teresa's death, however, marked the General's "birth into history", [] and he has never tried to replace

her.

Major themes

Politics

In The General in His Labyrinth, Garca Mrquez voices his political views through the character of the General. For

example, Alvarez Borland points out that in the scene where the General responds to the French diplomat, his words

closely reflect Garca Mrquez's 1982 Nobel Address.[] The diplomat is critical of the barbarism in Latin America

and the brutal means used in attempting to achieve independence. Bolvar replies by pointing out that Europe had

centuries to progress to its current state, and that South America should be left to experience its "Middle Ages in

peace".[32] Similarly Garca Mrquez remarks in his Nobel Speech that "venerable Europe would perhaps be more

perceptive if it tried to see Latin America in its own past. If only it recalled that London took three hundred years to

build its first city wall ...".[]

The novel was published in 1989, when the Soviet Union was disintegrating and the political map was being

radically redrawn. Reviewing The General in His Labyrinth in 1990, the novelist Margaret Atwood pointed to

another instance of Garca Mrquez raising political issues through the character of the General. He has him tell his

aide that the United States is "omnipotent and terrible, and that its tale of liberty will end in a plague of miseries for

us all".[33] Atwood noted the contemporary relevance of this sentiment, since "the patterns of Latin American

politics, and of United States intervention in them, have not changed much in 160 years."[] She suggested that Garca

Mrquez's fictionalization of Bolvar is a lesson "for our own turbulent age ... Revolutions have a long history of

eating their progenitors."[] The central character is a man at the end of his life, who has seen his revolution and

dream of a united Latin America fail.

Figural labyrinth

According to literary critic David Danow, the labyrinth of the novel's title refers to "a series of labyrinths that are

contingent upon matters of history, geography, and biography ... that consistently and conclusively result in a dead

end"[]in this case, the General's own death. His final voyage along the Magdalena River involves a doubling back

and forth from one location to another that leads him and his followers nowhere. The labyrinth does not lead to

happiness; instead, it results in madness from constant pondering on the past and an impossible future. At the end of

his life, the General is reduced to a spectre of his former self. The labyrinth also recalls the labyrinth built to

imprison the minotaur in Greek mythology, and the endless travelling and searching of ancient Greek heroes. In

Danow's view, "The Labyrinth mirrors the wanderings and travails of the hero in search for meaning and resolutionto the vicissitudes of life".[]

Garca Mrquez depicts the General's body itself as a labyrinth. His doctor observes that "everything that enters the

body, adds weight, and everything that leaves it is debased."[34] The General's body is described as a "labyrinth

coming to a literal dead end".[35] The labyrinth is also expressed in geographical and architectural imagery. The

country's destiny is imagined as a break-up, a folding of north into south. The seas offer the hope of a new life and a

new world, but the closer the General is to Colombia, the less chance he has of moving on.[] Garca Mrquez

describes buildings as "daunting, reverberating (if not exactly reiterating) with the echoes of a bloody past".[] The

portrayal of the General's world as a labyrinth is underlined by his constant return to cities and towns he has visited

before: each location belongs to the past as well as to the present. The General in his Labyrinth blurs the lines

between perdition in a man-made world and wandering in the natural world.[]
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Fate and love

Bolvar's fate is known from the beginning, and Garca Mrquez constantly uses images which foreshadow this

ending. For instance, a clock stuck at seven minutes past one, the exact time of the General's death, appears

repeatedly in the novel. This sense of fate is introduced in the epigraph,[] which comes from a letter written by the

historical Bolvar to General Santander on August 4, 1823: "It seems that the devil controls the business of my

life."[36]

As Palencia-Roth points out, the word used for devil here is demonio rather than the more familiar diablo.Demonio derives from the Greek word daimon, which can equally mean divine power, fate, or destiny. Accordingly,

the General succumbs to his fate and accepts his death as destiny. []

The theme of love is central to the novel. Bolvar had a reputation as a womanizer, and books have been written on

his philandering; but as depicted in this novel, during the last seven months of his life, the General could no longer

engage in the activities that had fueled that reputation.[] Garca Mrquez mentions a woman every few pages, many

of whom are his own invention, exploring love through the General's memories. Palencia-Roth notes that the

presence of these women "allows a labyrinthine exploration of his life before his final journey" [] and suggests that

Garca Mrquez uses love as a barometer of the General's heart and health. Although Bolvar is usually thought to

have died from tuberculosis, Palencia-Roth believes that for the author, the General dies from the lack of love.[]

"Despised by many of his countrymen, abandoned by all but a few aides and associates, leftduring the final sevenmonths of his lifewithout even the companionship of his longtime mistress Manuela Saenz, Bolvar had no choice

but to die of a broken heart."[]

Numbers and religious symbols

Numbers are an important symbolic aspect of the novel. The book is divided into eight chapters, almost all of equal

length, which represent the eight-year love affair between the General and Manuela Senz. The General's last hours

are marked by an octagonal clock.[] Allusions to the number three are even more common in the novel. As Garca

Mrquez scholar Isabel Rodrguez Vergara notes, the number threethe Trinity which occupies a vital place in the

symbology of the Catholic Massis repeated 21 times throughout the book. She quotes Mircea Eliade: "In the novel

it represents a symbolic sacrifice aimed at redeeming humankindthat of Bolvar, a misunderstood redeemer

sacrificed by his own people."[37]

Rodrguez Vergara observes that the General is like a supernatural being, simultaneously dying and being

surrounded by symbolic circumstances such as rain, fiestas, and the plague. The novel begins with Bolvar immersed

in purifying waters, in a state of ecstasy and meditation that suggests a priestly ritual. One of the women with whom

the General sleeps, Queen Marie Louise, is described as a virgin with the profile of an idolan allusion to the Virgin

Mary. The General rides a mule into the last towns on his journey towards death, echoing Christ's entry into

Jerusalem.[] He dies of mysterious and unknown causes, and the people burn his belongings in fear of catching his

illness. In Rodrguez Vergara's view, "Bolvar was sacrificed as a scapegoat to purge the guilt of the community." []

Ren Girard has interpreted the recurrence of rain in the novel as one of the purifying rituals the community mustundergo in order to wash away the contagion of violence.[37] The fiestas may represent another ritual of purification

and also symbolize war.[] Fiestas are held to honour the General when he arrives at a town, but at other times,

political demonstrations against the General are mistaken for a fiesta. According to Rodrguez Vergara, this shows

how "information is manipulated" and "depicts an atmosphere where fiesta and war are synonymous".[]

Melancholy and mourning

Latin American cultural theorist Carlos J. Alonso, drawing on Freudian theory, argues that the novel is essentially a

therapeutic device, designed to help move Latin America past its problematic experience of modernity. He compares

this to the way the healing state of mourning replaces grief in the process of recovering from a death. Both activities

are mechanisms for dealing with loss. Alonso believes that The General in his Labyrinth, by almost entirely

centering the novel on the General's death, forces the reader to confront the horror of this process.[] In Alonso's view,
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sigmund_Freudhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sigmund_Freudhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virgin_Maryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virgin_Maryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trinityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manuela_Saenzhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tuberculosishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Demonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francisco_de_Paula_Santanderhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epigraph_%28literature%29


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the reader is meant to pass from "a melancholy relationship vis-a-vis the figure of Bolvar to a relationship that has

the therapeutic qualities of mourning instead".[]

Latin America's history and culture, Alonso suggests, began with the loss of Bolvar's dream of a united continent

and as a result has developed under a melancholy shadow ever since. [] Thus, by forcing the reader to return to the

origin of modernity in Latin America and confront its death in the most horrific way, Garca Mrquez compels the

reader to move from melancholy to mourning, "so that the phantom of the lost object of modernity may cease to rulethe libidinal economy of Spanish American cultural discourse and historical life".[]

Challenging history

Garca Mrquez comments on the nature of historical fact by drawing attention to the way history is written.[] The

novel recreates a time in Bolvar's life that has no historical precedent, as there is no record of the last 14 days of his

life. In Garca Mrquez's account readers observe Bolvar intimately, seeing his human qualities. In the view of critic

Isabel Alvarez Borland, by choosing to fictionalize a national hero in this way, Garca Mrquez is challenging the

claim of official history to represent the truth.[] In the "My Thanks" section of the novel, Garca Mrquez asserts

ironically that what he is writing is more historical than fictional, and he discusses his own historical methodology in

detail. By posing in the role of a historian, he challenges the reliability of written history from within the writingprocess.[38] According to Alvarez Borland, this serves to "remind us that a claim to truth is not the property of any

text; rather it is the result of how a historian (as a reader) interprets the facts". []

The General in His Labyrinth also confronts the methods of official historians by using an oral style of narration.

The narration can be considered an oral account in that it is woven from the verbal interactions of everyday people.[]

Alvarez Borland explains that the advantage of this technique, as discussed by Walter Ong, is that "the orality of any

given culture, residing in the unwritten tales of its peoples, possesses a spontaneity and liveliness which is lost once

this culture commits its tales to writing."[39] The oral style of narration therefore provides a truthfulness which

official history lacks. Alvarez Borland concludes that The General in His Labyrinth suggests new ways of writing

the past; it takes account of voices that were never written down as part of official history. []

Comparisons with other Garca Mrquez novels

In an interview published in the Colombian weeklyRevista Semana on March 20, 1989, Garca Mrquez told Mara

Elvira Samper, "At bottom, I have written only one book, the same one that circles round and round, and continues

on."[13] Palencia-Roth suggests that this novel is a "labyrinthine summation ... of Garca Mrquez's long-standing

obsessions and ever-present topics: love, death, solitude, power, fate".[]

Like the Patriarch in Garca Mrquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch, Bolvar was an absolute dictator.[] The

Patriarch is never identified by name; Bolvar, too, is identified chiefly by his title. [] Bolvar also invites comparison

with Colonel Aureliano Buenda in One Hundred Years of Solitude: both characters believe the wars they have

waged have been fruitless and overwhelming, and both face numerous attempts on their lives, but eventually die ofnatural causes.[] In his belief that life is controlled by fate, the General resembles Buenda in One Hundred Years of

Solitude and Santiago Nasar in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.[]

Palencia-Roth notes that critics have been struck by the humorless elegiac style ofThe General in His Labyrinth;[] its

dark mood and somber message is similar to that ofThe Autumn of the Patriarch. Love is a theme common to both

Love in the Time of Cholera and The General in His Labyrinth, but the latter is considered a tragedy. These two

novels have been used to demonstrate the range of Garca Mrquez's work.[]

Isabel Alvarez Borland, in her essay "The Task of the Historian inEl general en su laberinto", claims that " ... while

El general en su laberinto is in many ways a continuation of Garca Mrquez's criticism of Latin America's official

history seen in his earlier works, the novel contrasts sharply with his previous fictions".

[]

In Chronicle of a DeathForetold, according to Alvarez Borland, the narrator challenges the truth of official language. However, The General
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chronicle_of_a_Death_Foretoldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitudehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Autumn_of_the_Patriarchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revista_Semana


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in His Labyrinth "differs from these earlier works in employing narrative strategies which seek to answer in a much

more overt and didactic fashion questions that the novel poses about history". []

In a summary of Edward Hood's bookLa ficcion de Gabriel Garca Mrquez: Repeticin e intertextualidad, Garca

Mrquez is characterized as an author who uses repetition and autointertextualidad (intertextuality between the

works of a single author[]) extensively in his fiction, including in The General in His Labyrinth. Hood points out

some obvious examples of repetition in Garca Mrquez's works: the themes of solitude in One Hundred Years ofSolitude, tyranny in Autumn of the Patriarch, and the desire for a unified continent expressed by Bolvar in The

General in His Labyrinth.[] An example of intertextuality can be seen in the repetition of patterns between books. For

example, both Jose Arcadio Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Bolvar in The General in his Labyrinth

experience labyrinthian dreams.[]

Genre

Memorial to Simn Bolvar at the Quinta de San Pedro

Alejandrino just outside Santa Marta, Colombia. The final

pages ofThe General in His Labyrinth are set in SantaMarta.

Critics consider Garca Mrquez's book in terms of the

historical novel, but differ over whether the label is

appropriate. In his review of The General in his Labyrinth,

Selden Rodman hesitated to call it a novel, since it was so

heavily researched, giving Bolvar's views "on everything

from life and love to his chronic constipation and dislike of

tobacco smoke".[40] On the other hand, reviewer Robert

Adams suggested that Garca Mrquez had "improved on

history".[41] According to critic Donald L. Shaw, The General

in His Labyrinth is a "New Historical Novel", a genre that he

argues crosses between Boom, Post-Boom, and Postmodernist

fiction in Latin American literature: "New Historical Novels

tend either to retell historical events from an unconventionalperspective, but one which preserves their intelligibility, or to

question the very possibility of making sense of the past at

all."[] Shaw believes that this novel belongs to the first category.[] Garca Mrquez is presenting both a historical

account and his own interpretation of events.[42]

David Bushnell, writing in The Hispanic American Historical Review, points out that the work is less a pure

historical account than others suggest. Garca Mrquez's Bolvar is a man "who wanders naked through the house,

suffers constipation, uses foul language, and much more besides."[43] He argues that documentation does not support

many of these details. Bushnell suggests, however, that the fact that the novel is not entirely historically accurate

does not necessarily distinguish it from the work of professional historians. The main difference, Bushnell believes,

is that Garca Mrquez's work "is far more readable" than a pure history. [44]

Reception

The General in His Labyrinth was relatively poorly received by the general public in the United States, despite the

praise of critics. Critic Ilan Stavans, who himself praised the book as "one of the writer's most sophisticated and

accomplished", attributes this to the novel's time period and to its profusion of historical information, neither of

which proved attractive to English-speaking readers.[] Isabel Alvarez Borland notes that, like Stavans, "critics in the

United States have largely celebrated Garca Mrquez's portrait of this national hero and considered it a tour de

force";[] but she also observes that in Latin America the book received more mixed reviews, ranging from "outrage

to unqualified praise".[]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ilan_Stavanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Latin_American_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Postmodernisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Latin_American_Boomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Historical_novelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ABolivarmemorial01.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Martahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quinta_de_San_Pedro_Alejandrinohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quinta_de_San_Pedro_Alejandrino


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The novel generated huge controversy in Latin America: some Venezuelan and Colombian politicians described its

depiction of Bolvar as "profane".[] According to Stavans, they accused Garca Mrquez of "defaming the

larger-than-life reputation of a historical figure who, during the nineteenth century, struggled to unite the vast

Hispanic world".[] The novel's publication provoked outrage from many Latin American politicians and intellectuals

because its portrayal of the General is not the saintly image long cherished by many.[] Mexico's ambassador to

Austria, Francisco Cuevas Cancino, wrote a damning letter, which was widely publicized in Me xico City, objecting

to the portrayal of Bolvar. He stated: "The novel is plagued with errors of fact, conception, fairness, understanding

of the historical moment and ignorance of its consequences ... It has served the enemies of Latin America, who care

only that they can now denigrate Bolvar, and with him all of us." [45] Even the novel's admirers, such as the leading

Venezuelan diplomat and writer Arturo Uslar Pietri, worried that some facts were stretched. Garca Mrquez

believes, however, that Latin America has to discover the General's labyrinth to recognize and deal with its own

maze of problems.[]

More positively, Nelson Bocaranda, a Venezuelan TV commentator, considers the novel to be a tonic for Latin

American culture: "people here saw a Bolvar who is a man of flesh and bones just like themselves". Mexican author

Carlos Fuentes agrees with Bocaranda saying: "What comes across beautifully and poignantly in this book is a man

dealing with the unknown world of democratic ideas".[45]

Garca Mrquez realistically portrays a ridiculous figuretrapped in a labyrinth, magnifying the General's defects, and presenting an image of Bolvar contrary to that instilled

in classrooms. However, the novel also depicts Bolvar as an idealist and political theorist who predicted many

problems that would obstruct Latin American advancement in the future. Garca Mrquez depicts a figure who was

aware of the racial and social friction in Latin American society, feared debt, and warned against economic

irresponsibility. He has the General warn his aide-de-camp, Agustn de Iturbide, against the future interference of the

United States in the internal affairs of Latin America.[]

Novelist and critic Barbara Mujica comments that the book's English translator, Edith Grossman, fully captures the

multiple levels of meaning of the text, as well as Garca Mrquez's modulations in tone. [] Garca Mrquez himself

has admitted that he prefers his novels in their English translations. []

Publication history

The original Spanish version ofThe General in His Labyrinth was published simultaneously in Argentina, Colombia,

Mexico, and Spain in 1989.[] The first American edition was listed as a best seller in The New York Times the

following year.[]

The novel has been translated into many languages since its first publication in Spanish, as detailed by Sfeir de

Gonzlez in 2003.[46]

Year Language Title Translator Company Pages

1989 Arabic Al-Jiniral fi matahatihi Salih Ilmani Nicosia: IBAL 2871989 German Der General in seinem

Labyrinth: RomanDagmar Ploetz Cologne: Kiepenheuer &

Witsch359

1989 Swedish Generalen i sin labyrint Jens Nordenhk Stockholm: Wahlstrm &Widstrand

267

1989 Portuguese O General em seu Labirinto Moacir Werneck de Castro Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record 281

1990 English The General in His Labyrinth Edith Grossman New York City: Alfred A.Knopf

285

1990 French Le Gnral dans sonlabyrinthe

Annie Morvan Paris: B. Grasset 318

1990 Turkish Labirentindeki General nci Kut stanbul: Can Yaynlar 253
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portuguese_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rio_de_Janeirohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C4%B0stanbulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C4%B0stanbulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C4%B0stanbulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rio_de_Janeirohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portuguese_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stockholmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swedish_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colognehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicosiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arabic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_New_York_Timeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edith_Grossmanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barbara_Mujicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agust%C3%ADn_Jer%C3%B3nimo_de_Iturbide_y_Huartehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_of_democratic_ideashttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carlos_Fuenteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nelson_Bocarandahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arturo_Uslar_Pietrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Historical


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1990 Basque Jenerala bere laberintoan Xabier Mendiguren Donostia-San Sebastin, Spain:Eikar

279

1991 Hebrew General be-mavokh Ritah Meltser and AmatsyahPorat

Tel Aviv: Am Oved 205

1991 Japanese Meikyu no Shogun Kimura Eiichi Tokyo: Shinchosha 323

1991 Persian Zhiniral dar hazar tu-yi khvad Hushang Asadi (based on theEnglish version)

Tehran: Kitab-i Mahnaz 237

1992 Hungarian A tbornok tvesztje Tomcsnyi Zsuzsanna Budapest: Magvet 254

1992,1996

Italian Il generale nel suo labirinto Angelo Morino Milan: Mondadori 286

1993 Polish Genera w labiryncie Zofia Wasitowa Warsaw: Pnstwowy InstytutWydawniczy

285

1995 Chinese Mi gong zhong di jiang jun Chengdong Yin Taipei: Yun chen wen hua shiye

321

1996 Dutch De generaal in zijn labyrint Mieke Westra Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 3rd

ed.

317

1996 Romanian Generalul n labirintul su Mihaela Dumitrescu Bucharest: RAO 256

1999 Vietnamese Tng qun gia m hn trn Nguyn Trung c Hanoi: Hi Nh Vn 394

2000 Albanian Gjenerali n labirintin evet:Roman

Nasi Lera Tirana: Msonjtorja e Par 305

n.m. Greek

Klaiti Sotiriadou - Barajas Athens: Livanis Publications 309

Notes

[2][2] Alvaro Mutis is said to be very fond of the book.

[13][13] qtd.

[14][14] "Jos Palacios, his oldest servant, found him floating naked with his eyes open in the purifying waters of his bath and thought he had

drowned."

[36][36] "Parece que el demonio dirige las cosas de mi vida"

[37][37] qtd.

[39][39] qtd.

[45][45] qtd.

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Article Sources and ContributorsThe General in His Labyrinth Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=549917321 Contributors: 42PlatypusVictim42, Acer, Aille, Art LaPella, Artichoker, Attilios, Aymatth2,Bearcat, Blancoduno, Bogdangiusca, Bongwarrior, BonsaiViking, Boofalo7, Brighterorange, Cambalachero, Camr, CanisRufus, Carlaty, Cherian Nair, Circeus, CommonsDelinker, Cuchullain,Darwinek, Donald Albury, DrKiernan, Efe, ElTchanggo, Epbr123, Eshiu, EyeSerene, Fibonacci, Gail, Geometry guy, Gil Gamesh, Gizzakk, GrahamColm, GrahamHardy, Heshanu, Hmains,Jainituos, Jbmurray, Juancarlos2004, Kaiser matias, Kevinalewis, Krakatoa, Lawikitejana, Lightmouse, Like tears in rain, Logan, Lola Voss, Luna Santin, Maclean25, Malleus Fatuorum,Mangostar, Marskell, Mato, Maxmordon, Mboverload, Michael Devore, Mifter, Mike Christie, Norwaystudent, Nousernamesleft, Osobooks, Outriggr, P.L.A.R., Paulleblanc, Persian Poet Gal,PoorTom, Qp10qp, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, SJP, ST47, Sadads, SandyGeorgia, Stefanomione, Suruena, Tabletop, Thingg, Thomas Guibal, Tkynerd, Tolo, Tony1, Ujustlost, Varlaam, Visor,

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