If you would have to divide serious literary writing in two broad categories, style versus message would be a good one, the talented word magicians (Nabokov, Marquez, Flaubert) versus the socially committed (Hugo, Tolstoj, Allende), the writers’ writers versus the mass favorites. If you prefer the first over the latter, like the Zac, you have to admire the Tzumprize. The Tzumprize hands out a yearly award for the most eloquent sentence produced that year in the Dutch world of fiction. The prize is worth the number of words in euros. Last year was a record, with a winning sentence by Jeroen Brouwers .
Posts Tagged ‘Marquez’
Style über Message
Thursday, September 4th, 2008Literary showdown: Vargas Llosa vs. Garcia Marquez
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Nothing like a good beating between world famous intellectuals -and we seem to have so few of them. Some thirty years ago, Mr. Vargas Llosa took a swing at Mr Marquez and gave him a black eye. Apparently, they have not spoken to each other since. Some say it was political, others suggest they both fell for the same woman .
A daytrip to Macondo
Friday, July 14th, 2006
Dutch photographer Hannes Wallrafen visualized the most famous nonexisting city of Macondo for his book ‘A day trip to Macondo’, and he managed to get with Gabriel Garcia Marquez involved. Marquez wrote in his introduction: “In the midst of so many superimposed Macondos there’s another that rises up: that of the Dutch photographer Hannes Wallrafen, (more…)
Aracataca is not Macondo [Marquez]
Tuesday, June 27th, 2006
Aracataca, hometown of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, will not be renamed as Macondo, the ficitious city in One hundred years of solitude. A vote was held among the citizens, but although 92 % voted in favour of the renaming, the number of voters did not reach the crucial limit of one third of the population.
The Washington Post has the full story.
Marquez’ writer’s block
Friday, January 27th, 2006
“Garcia Marquez’s first volume of memoirs, Living to Tell the Tale, became a bestseller when it appeared in 2002. It was while working on the second volume that his creative juices dried up, he admitted. He blamed personal problems – now 78, he has been suffering from lymphatic cancer since 1999 – and, more prosaically, computer difficulties.”The independent