Discursul literar si adevarul istoriei
Literary Discourse and the Truth of History

Summary/Abstract: Centered upon the last period of Simón Bolívar, “El Libertador” (1783 – 1830), the great liberator of the countries of South America, Gabriel García Márquez’s novel, The General in His Labyrinth (1989) explores the implications of power, freedom and the literary discourse. Only apparently a historical text, this narration also evaluates the significance of the act of writing for all the characters involved and for the creator of the novel, too. Of course, the image of the leader (either a patriarch or a dictator!) continues the one already imposed by the Colombian Nobel in his celebrated book entitled The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), but the meanings are slightly different in order to completely express the nature of a man of arms who secretly decides to become a man of letters. Literature thus becomes another way of living and the perfect way for the novelist to relate to postmodern aesthetics of his time.

• Details
• Contents