changed history, but not as much as he would have liked. There are statues of ''The Liberator'' all over Latin America, but in his own eyes he died defeated.

Novelist and critic Bárbara Mujica comments that the book's English translator, Edith Grossman, fully captures the multiple levels of meaning of the text, as well as García Márquez's modulations in tone. [75] García Márquez himself has admitted that he prefers his novels in their English translations. [73] Publication history [ edit ] Bushnell, David; García Márquez, Gabriel (February 1990), "Review of El general en su laberinto", The Hispanic American Historical Review, Duke University Press, 70 (1): 200–201, doi: 10.2307/2516398, JSTOR 2516398, S2CID 146193456 . ( JSTOR subscription required.) The General in his Labyrinth is the compelling tale of Simon Bolivar, a hero who has been forgotten and whose power is fading, retracing his steps down the Magdalena River by the Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.the Spaniards from their former colonies. In the process many rich and long-established cities were devastated, vast wealth was captured and squandered, whole populations were laid waste through slaughter, famine and disease; and,

But Bolivar, while only 47, is very ill, and the political winds are moving against the concept of a unified continent. From his perspective this is a dark period, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s writing of his physical and mental struggles underlines this with passion. The leading character in the novel is "the General", also called "the Liberator". García Márquez only once names his protagonist as Simón Bolívar, the famous historical figure, whose full title was General Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar 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. [14]At the age of forty-six General Simon Bolivar, who drove the Spanish from his lands and became the Liberator of South America, takes himself into exile. He makes a final journey down the Magdalene River, revisiting the cities along its shores, reliving the triumphs, passions and betrayals of his youth. Consumed by the memories of what he has done and what he failed to do, Bolívar hopes to see a way out of the labyrinth in which he has lived all his life. . ..

above all by his own reluctance to leave the scene of his former glories, he wanders from city to city, house to house, refuge to refuge, dragging his increasingly baffled and restless entourage in his wake. In some places he is treated Adams, Robert M. (October 11, 1990), "Liberators. Review of The General in His Labyrinth", New York Review of Books, 37 (15): 17–18 , retrieved 2008-03-22 . The novel begins with the name of José Palacios, [19] who, here as with the historical figure of the same name, is Bolívar's "long-serving mayordomo". [20] As literary critic Seymour Menton observes, Palacios's "total identification with Bolívar constitutes the novel's frame". [21] 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. [22] Simultaneously, however, Palacios is also the General's closest confidante, the person best able to read his moods and share in his emotions. 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 Bolívar's life is essential for García Márquez's recreation of the character, as it allows the Bolívar of official history to be placed within the context of everyday life. [23] Manuela Sáenz [ edit ]

The historian Ben Hughes commented on the novel: "The Liberator's British confidants, including Daniel O'Leary, were amongst the closest figures to the general in this period. Nevertheless, they are ignored in the novel. Instead, Márquez uses the character of a fictional Colombian servant, José Palacios, as The Liberator's final sounding board, thereby neatly sidestepping the more complex reality." [61] In Hughes's view, modern South American literature has played a role in cleansing the national memory of British soldiers' assistance to The Liberator. Mujica, Barbara (1991), "A generation in shadows", Americas, 43 (3): 60 , retrieved 2008-03-21 . ( EBSCO subscription required.) The General is now told by one of his aides-de-camp that General Rafael Urdaneta has taken over the government in Bogotá, and there are reports of demonstrations and riots in support of a return to power by Bolívar. 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. be to do it an injustice. Nor is it one of those fictions - such as, for instance, ''A Maggot'' by John Fowles - in which a few real personages are mingled with the imagined ones. In this book, the element of the

In an interview with María Elvira Samper, García Márquez has admitted that his portrayal of Bolívar is partly a self-portrait. He identifies with Bolívar 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". [18] José Palacios [ edit ] Padgett, Tim (October 8, 1990), "Battling over Bolívar's Soul", Newsweek, 116 (15): 70 , retrieved 2008-03-17 . Don't go . . . to the United States,'' he warns a colleague. ''It's omnipotent and terrible, and its tale of liberty will end in a plague of miseries for us all.'' As Carlos Fuentes has remarked, the at his nakedness. He even heard the words of the song she was singing under her breath: ''Tell me it's never too late to die of love.'' . . . The General was so sure he had seen her that he looked for her everywhere Palencia-Roth, Michael (Winter 1991), "Gabriel García Márquez: Labyrinths of Love and History", World Literature Today, 65 (1): 54–58, doi: 10.2307/40146120, JSTOR 40146120 . ( EBSCO subscription required.)In an interview published in the Colombian weekly Revista Semana on March 20, 1989, García Márquez told María Elvira Samper, "At bottom, I have written only one book, the same one that circles round and round, and continues on." [18] Palencia-Roth suggests that this novel is a "labyrinthine summation... of García Márquez's long-standing obsessions and ever-present topics: love, death, solitude, power, fate". [2]