One Hundred Years of Solitude is known as "a masterpiece to reproduce the historical and social picture of Latin America", which is the representative work of Garcia Marquez and also the representative work of Latin American magical realism literature.
The book is nearly 300,000 words, with complicated contents, numerous characters and bizarre plot twists and turns. In addition, fairy tales, religious allusions, folklore and the writer's original novel flashback technique of recalling the past from a future perspective are dazzling. However, after reading this book, readers can understand that the author wants to reflect the historical evolution and social reality of Colombia and even Latin America through the mysterious bumpy experiences of seven generations of Boondia family, and ask readers to think about the causes of Magondeau's loneliness for a hundred years, so as to find the right way to get rid of his fate.
During the 70 years from 1830 to the end of last century, dozens of civil wars broke out in Colombia, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. This book describes the historical facts in this respect in a large space, and it is condensed through the legendary career of the protagonist in the book. The hypocrisy of politicians, the cruelty of rulers, the blind obedience and ignorance of the people and so on. They are all very vivid. With vivid brushstrokes, the writer created many characters with distinct personalities and described the lonely spirit of this family. In this family, there is no emotional communication, lack of trust and understanding between husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, and brothers and sisters. Although many people have made arduous explorations to break the loneliness, they all failed in the end because they could not find an effective way to unify the scattered forces. This sense of loneliness permeates not only the Buendia family and Magondeau town, but also the narrow thoughts, which has become a big burden that hinders the progress of the country and the nation. The author wrote this point in the hope that Latin American people will unite and work together to get rid of loneliness. Therefore, the loneliness immersed in One Hundred Years of Solitude, its main connotation should be resentment and protest against the exclusion of the whole suffering Latin America from the modern civilized world, and it is the stubborn self-confidence formed by the writer's unique research on the history of Latin America for nearly a hundred years and the unique vitality, living conditions and imagination of the people on this continent.
Garcí a Má rquez follows the creative principle of magical realism of "turning reality into fantasy without losing reality". Through ingenious conception and imagination, he combines the shocking reality with the fantasy originated from myths and legends to form a colorful and unique picture, which gives readers a sense of deja vu in the "specious" image, thus arousing the desire to trace back to the source and pursue the true meaning of the writer's creation. Magic realism must be based on realistic power, but this does not prevent it from taking extreme exaggeration. For example, the invasion of Magondeau by external civilization in this book is realistic, but it is also magical: Gypsies drag two magnets "... and walk door to door ... Iron pots, iron pots, iron tongs and small iron stoves fall from their original places, and the boards rattle, because nails and screws are desperately free ... and roll behind those two magic irons"; Another example is the silence of the night. People can actually hear "the cries of ants in the moonlight, the loud noise of moths eating and the persistent and clear screams of weeds growing"; For another example, after the government killed a large number of strikers, it put the bodies on the train, transported them to the sea and threw them away. The train actually has 200 carriages, with three locomotives in the front, middle and back! The writer seems to be constantly changing mirrors, telescopes, magnifying glasses and even microscopes, so that readers can see a series of pictures that are difficult to distinguish between true and false, thus enriching their imagination and receiving strong artistic effects.
The use of Indian legends, oriental myths and biblical allusions further strengthens the mysterious atmosphere of this book. For example, if the ghost of Providenciao haunts the Buendia family day and night, it is based on the Indian legend that the ghost has no peace of itself and does not let the enemy have peace; The description of flying carpets and beautiful girls holding sheets to heaven is an extension of the Arabian Myth Arabian Nights. The continuous rainstorm in Magondeau for four years, eleven months and two days is a transplant of the story about flood disaster and Noah's Ark in Genesis. Folklores in Latin America are often superstitious, and writers sometimes describe them as reality when adopting them. For example, the protagonist Francisco "once sang against the devil and defeated his opponent"; Amaranta chatted to death while embroidering in the gallery and so on. Sometimes it is used in the opposite direction. For example, writing that Father Nicanor can leave the ground after drinking a cup of chocolate 12 cm proves that "God has infinite power", which is obviously a satire and mockery of religious superstition.
If symbolism is used successfully and meaningfully in this book, the description of insomnia should be the first. Soon after the village was built, all the residents of Magondeau contracted an insomnia. In severe cases, people will lose their memory if they get this disease. In order to make a living, they have to label things. For example, they labeled the cow: "This is a cow, which needs to be milked every day; You have to boil milk and add coffee to make milk coffee. "Such sample books abound, and the author intends to remind the public to remember the history that is easily forgotten.
In addition, the writer also created a novel flashback technique to recall the past from the perspective of the future. For example, at the beginning of the novel, the writer wrote: "Many years later, facing the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia will recall the distant afternoon when his father took him to see the ice." A short sentence actually contains three time levels: the future, the past and the present, and the writer is obviously hidden in the narrative angle of "the present". Then, the author turns to lead the reader back to the initial period of Magondeau. This time structure appears repeatedly in the novel, one after another, interlocking, constantly causing new suspense to readers.
Finally, it is worth noting that the book's dignified historical connotation, sharp critical vision, profound reflection on national culture and huge mythological metaphor system are all permeated with a refreshing mysterious language. Some critics think that this novel was written by an 8-year-old child, and Garcí a Má rquez is quite gratified. This is a very profound judgment. Because this intuitive and simple language really effectively reflects a new perspective, a backward nation (human children) self-awareness. The wry smile of the parties replaces the tears of onlookers, and the pain of self-expression of "fools" replaces the seemingly fair criticism and analysis of "wise men", which can better receive the objective effect of arousing the profound reflection of the fooled group.
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A Comparison of Chinese Versions of One Hundred Years of Solitude
At present, there are mainly four kinds of translators, which readers can easily find and really translate. The main translators are Gao, Huang, Wu Jianheng and Tong Yanfang. In addition, there are some translations, but the version seems to be exactly the same as Huang's version; There is no difference between the wonderful edition of Time Literature and Art Publishing House and the high edition. A cursory look at these two "sub-editions" shows that although no typos are found, compared with the real high edition and yellow edition, the preface and comments no longer exist.
There is a saying on the Internet that China's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is actually not legally authorized by the original author! Then, readers can only settle for the second best and pursue "domestic own genuine".