<DIV></DIV> <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>&#8220;Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buend&#237;a was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.&#8221; Thus begins Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s <I>One Hundred Years of Solitude,</I> one of the twentieth century&#8217;s most lauded works of fiction. In <I>Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez</I>, literary scholar Stephen M. Hart provides a succinct yet thorough look into Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s life and the political struggles of Latin America that have influenced his work, from <I>Love in the Time of Cholera </I>to <I>Memories of My Melancholy Whores</I>. </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; By interviewing Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s family in Cuba, Hart was able to gain a unique perspective on his use of &#8220;creative false memory,&#8221; providing new insight into the magical realism that dominates Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s oeuvre. Using these interviews and his original research, Hart defines five ingredients that are critical to Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s work: magical realism, a shortened and broken portrayal of time, punchy one-liners, dark and absurd humor, and political allegory. These elements, as described by Hart, illuminate the extraordinary allure of Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s work and provide fascinating insight into his approach to writing. Hart also explores the divisions between Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez&#8217;s everyday life and his life as a writer, and the connection in his work between family history and national history. </P> <P style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I>Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez</I> presents an original portrait of this well-renowned writer and is a must-read for fans of his work as well as those interested in magical realism, Latin American fiction, and modern literature.</P>