hmmmmmmm Erendiria girlboss

This author is a great master of tales and short stories, therefore I strongly recomment his oeuvre for anyone who's interested in the fantastic and wonder genre of Hispanic Literature, for sure.

Rarely would I make some declaration like, "I blew through this" because I don't equate ease of reading with quality nor am I impressed when people read a title quickly. However, I read this in relative haste owing to Gabriel García Márquez's way with language. (He did once claim his main translator Gregory Rabassa made his writing better than the original Spanish, but I don't believe that.) These short stories are evocative, they ground you in a space that isn't quite Colombia but is a tropical clime where siestas are as frequent as a sighting of a dead person who is not quite dead. These tales are often supernatural but grounded in humanity. They are larger than life, they turn a village into a spectacular metropolis teeming with a pulse, they set the page ablaze, they [insert cliche about writing that is exciting and vivacious]. I thoroughly enjoyed these rowdy characters and was happy to spend several days suntanning on the roof entrenched in their world.

Another recommendation from a friend, after discussing Jorge Luis Borges and magical realism, and boy did it deliver. This was my second dip into magical realism, and I'm not going to stop here. Marquez is quite a bit different than Borges, with some similarities. Borges magical realism (vs gaucho hyperrealism) tends to border into fantasy whereas Marquez blurs your perception where things feel familiar but also fabulous. There is a timeless nature to his stories as well that Borges also tapped into (but not as much since fictional Borges was often the protagonist).

This collection is apparently 3 smaller collections put together, each about 100 pages. My favorite is the final collection, which really ramps up the magical realism. The first collection is interesting as well, which almost jumps into horror a few times. The second collection has a bunch of small connections between stories, and a few show up in the third as well. Marquez, apparently, likes to have little connections between stories, although I'm undecided if there is any purpose to this.

I think I didn't praise this book enough, but 1. I have trouble reviewing short story books since there is so much to talk about 2. writing about magical realism is a bit tricky for me (still no written review on Borges, for example). This is a great 'little' collection (340 pages) which I found to be very engrossing. I've heard that even if you didn't enjoy Marquez's longer fiction, the short stories are still worth exploring (I can't comment yet, however).

مجموعة قصص ماركيز القصيرة شبيهة لدرجة كبيرة برواياته حتى في إسهابها وتفاصيلها الكثيرة وطولها في حالة بعض القصص، لدرجة جعلتني أتذكر رواياته المذهلة.

وقبل تعليقي على القصص، أبدي حزني على الترجمة، على رغم كونها جيدة بعض الشئ إلا أن هناك الكثير من الأخطاء في ترجمة الكلمات لبعض القصص التي قرأتها بالانجليزية من قبل والتي أعرفها، لذلك لاحظت الكثير من الأخطاء وهذا سئ، لأن القصص جيدة فعلا!

بالعودة إلى القصص، أعجبني معظمها مثل:
"عينا كلب أزرق" وكيف أنها تدور في حلمي شخصين مختلفين على ما يبدو ويتقابلان في الحلم وربما في الواقع أيضاً دون أن يعرف ذلك
أو "الإذعان الثالث" المرعبة والتي تدور أحداثها من وجهة نظر شخص "ميت" قضى حياته بأكملها ممداً في تابوت.
و "جنازة الأم الكبرى" والتي شعرت كما لو أنها امتداد لرواية "مائة عام من العزلة" كما لو أنها فصلها الأخير أو ما شابه.
أما أطول القصص وأروعها هي "الحكاية العجيبة والحزينة لطيبة القلب إيرينديرا و جدتها القاسية"، وهذه ليست قصة قصيرة عادية. هي ملحمة فتاة ظلت تتبع جدتها القاسية وتنصاع لأوامرها لسبب لازلت أجهله، ولكن هذا ما أضفى على القصة روعتها.
أما في "جئت لأتصل بالتليفون فقط" فقط شعرت برعب ماريا، وبداية القصة كانت مبهرة، رغم أنني لم أفهم نهايتها جيداً.
وفوجئت من تصرف الأطفال في قصة "الصيف السعيد للسيدة فوربس" وأعجبتني قصة "رحلة طيبة يا سيدي الرئيس" للغاية!

أسلوب ماركيز ساحر ويجعلك تغرق في تفاصيل قصصه سواء أكانت عشر صفحات أم مائة صفحة. لم أمل منه يوماً، أعتقد أن فكرة أن أبدأ بأكبر أعماله "مائة عام من العزلة" نجحت في منحي تلك المناعة والقدرة على قرائته دون كلل أو ملل.

وسألني بعد ذلك ما الذي تفعله في الحياة ؟ ، فأجبته بأنني لا أعفل شيئاً سوي أنني أعيش ، لأن كل ما عدا ذلك لا يستحق أي عناء
،
مجموعة ضخمة وكبيرة ، لم يكن هناك بداً من تقسيمها حتي أقرأها دون شتات
فقسمتها إلي أربعة تلك ثلاث ، ومجموعة قصص متنو��ة جعلتها بشكل عشوائي ، أما الثلاث فكانت تلك مراجعتهم :

اثنتا عشرة قصة قصيرة مهاجرة
ارنديرا البريئة وجدتها القاسية
الأم الكبيرة

،
الكثير من القصص إحترافية وممتعة ولا شك أن جارسيا يستطيع التواجد في أي ميدان أدبي ، وبعض القصص لم أفهمه بالطبع
أما الثمان قصص التي جعلتها لمراجعة هذا الجزأ فقد أعجبني منها علي الترتيب :
أجمل غريق في العالم
الرحلة الأخيرة للسفينة الشبح
مونولج إيزابيل
يتضح من آخر ثمان قصص أن جارسيا قد مهد السبيل لأسطورة ماكوندو قبل نشر مئة عام من العزلة بـ 12 سنة وأسطورة المطر الذي ينهمر ولا يتوقف في مونولوج إيزابيل ، ومهد لغرائبية الأمور في ماكوندو وواقعيته السحرية وكل تلك الأمور كانت واضحة في مونولوج إيزابيل
دائماً بحب جارسيا أن يتحدث عن مواضيع إنسانية مختلفة ، فوجدناها من جديد يصنع شخصية من أشخاصه تبحث عن إثبات الذات والوجود بأي شكل ، تلك الشخصية الأوريليانية في السفينة الشبح ، وتحدث كثيراً في الثمان قصص عن الموت والوحدة وأهتم جداً بتطويع الواقع للسحر ليخرج تلك الدرر الأدبية التي تمتعك أثناء قرائتها ، وكأنك تقرأها إلي الأبد
،
إلي اللقاء أيها الرفيق ، كانت رحلة ضخمة داخل عالمك القصصي ، وقريباً ألتقيك في رواية

أفضل القصص على ما أتذكر:
عينا كلب أزرق
لا يوجد لصوص في هذه القرية
جنازة الأم الكبيرة
سيد عجوز بأجنحة هائلة
بلاكمان الطيب بائع المعجزات
القصة العجيبة والحزينة لإيرينديرا الساذجة وجدتها القاسية
رحلة موفقة سيدي الرئيس
جئت لأتكلم في الهاتف فقط

Read this one for school as we are studying "magical realism" and Gabriel Garcia Marquez is apparently the pioneer of this technique. I'm very interested to read one of his novels and probably will very soon. The short stories read like fairy tales for adults but I'm sure most of them had a deeper underlying meaning. I did really enjoy reading this collection of stories and enjoyed this much more than My Melancholy Whores.

প্রথমেই আমি দুঃখপ্রকাশ করছি বইটির অনুবাদের রেটিং এক তারা দেবার জন্য। কিন্তু উপায় ছিল না। কারণটি বলছি। আমি খুব আশা নিয়ে মার্কেজের অনুবাদের এই সংকলনটি সংগ্রহ করেছিলাম। অনুবাদটির উচ্চ প্রশংসা শুনেছিলাম বন্ধুদের কাছে। মার্কেজ নিয়ে আমার দীর্ঘকালের আগ্রহ এবং ভালোবাসা। মার্কেজের সাথে আমার পরিচয়ই ঘটেছিল অনুবাদের মাধ্যমে। অনেকদিন আগে নিঃসঙ্গতার একশ বছর পড়েছিলাম জিএইচ হাবীবের অনুবাদে। পরবর্তীতে পেঙ্গুইন থেকে প্রকাশিত ইংরেজি অনুবাদের সংকলন হাতে পাবার পর অন্যন্য গল্প পড়া হয়। তারও পরে হাতে পেলাম অমিতাভ রায়ের এই বহুল প্রশংসিত গল্প সমগ্রটি। আগ্রহ নিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করে হোঁচট খাই কয়েকটি গল্পে। আমি খুব অবাক হয়ে যাই মূল গল্প থেকে বাংলা অনুবাদ কিভাবে সরে গিয়ে ভিন্ন অর্থ ছড়িয়ে দিয়েছে পাঠকের মনে। অনুবাদক ইংরেজি থেকেই অনুবাদগুলো করেছেন বলে জানি। তিনি নিজে ইংরেজি সাহিত্যের বোদ্ধা অধ্যাপক। তবু কিভাবে এমন ভুল অনুবাদ করেছেন, সেটা বোঝার সাধ্য হয়নি আমার। সবগুলো গল্পে ভুল আছে তা বলবো না। কিন্তু উল্লেখযোগ্য সংখ্যক অনুবাদের মধ্যে এই সমস্যা আছে। তাই আমি অনুবাদকের কাছে অনুরোধ রাখবো ভবিষ্যত সংস্করণে তিনি যেন আরেকটু যত্ন নিয়ে সংশোধন করেন। বাংলা ভাষার পাঠকের জন্য শুদ্ধ অনুবাদ আসুক। একজন প্রজ্ঞাবান অনুবাদকদের কাছে এই দায়িত্বশীলতা আশা করা নিশ্চয়ই ভুল হবে না।

Dear Gabo:
In you works many impulses and traditions cross each other. Folk culture, including oral storytelling, reminiscences from old Indian culture, currents from Spanish baroque in different epochs, influences from European surrealism and other modernism are blended into a spiced and life-giving brew. From it derives material and inspiration. The violent conflicts of political nature - social and economic - raise the temperature of the intellectual climate. Your superlative writing skills and the tapestry that’s evident from your stories complement the picture of a writer who combines the copious, almost overwhelming narrative talent with the mastery of the conscious, disciplined and widely read artist of language.
Death is perhaps the most important director behind the scenes in your invented and discovered world. Often your stories revolve around a dead person - someone who has died, is dying or will die. A tragic sense of life characterizes your books - a sense of the incorruptible superiority of fate and the inhuman, inexorable ravages of history. The comedy and grotesqueness in YOU can be cruel, but can also glide over into a conciliating humor. With your stories you create a world of your own which is microcosmic, it is tumultuous, bewildering yet graphically convincing.
You are a master,who leave an ineffaceable impression of magic, mystery and mastery.

“Only his own death came between him and his grave. Resigned, he listened to the drop, thick, heavy, exact, as it dripped in the other world, in the mistaken and absurd world of rational creatures.’’

In twenty-six stories from Eyes of a Blue Dog, Big Mama’s Funeral, and The Incredible and Sad Tale of lnnocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother, the greatness of Gabriel García Márquez is confirmed once again. Stories of communities torn apart by dispute, poverty and superstition. Stories of communities brought together by hope and love and the daily struggle to survive. Towns where angels with gigantic wings roam free, demons spread their stink which the perfume of roses cannot disguise, women are either revered figures or seductresses that search for an escape from a bleak reality. Either way, it is women that hold the strings to the puppet show of a paranoid world.

‘’Every day I try to remember the phrase with which I am to find you,’’ I said. ‘’Now I don’t think I’ll forget it tomorrow. Still, I’ve always said the same thing and when I wake up I’ve always forgotten what the words I can find you with are.’’

Eyes of A Blue Dog

It would be impossible to choose my favourite stories in the array of crumbling towns, and dirty harbours. In the company of fairs, civil servants and officials, shady encounters and enterprises and otherworldly women. In the nights of August, with its melancholy and strange magnetism, all things are possible. ‘’I remembered the August nights in whose wondrous silence nothing could be heard except the millenary sound that the earth makes as it spins on its rusty, unoiled axis. Suddenly I felt overcome by an overwhelming sadness.’’

‘’Since it’s Sunday and it’s stopped raining, I think I’ll take a bouquet of roses to my grave.’’

Birds are breaking windows, invading houses only to die inside. In the August heat, the deserted streets, unwashed because of the droughts, are suffocating the pedestrians with the stench of death. What does the troubled priest actually see around him? The Wandering Jew or the Devil himself? Blind women try to warn others with their vision but who believes them? Wives ask to be buried alive, and a town is visited by the travelling show of the woman who was turned into a spider for having disobeyed her parents. The isolated, ruined towns have lost their multicoloured glory, eaten away by the vicious sun and the cruel sea. And there is no mercy in store for the residents.

If we find each other sometime, put your ear to my ribs when I sleep on the left side and you’ll hear me echoing.’’

Eyes of a Blue Dog: A sensual, haunting, mesmerizing elegy of a relationship in a dream.

Someone Has Been Disarranging These Roses: Who is the ghost? Who is dead? Who is alive? A tale of loneliness, isolation, sanctity and sacred roses.

Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo: The desire for rain becomes an unimaginable terror for the community of Macondo. A story that represents the unique, lyrical voice of Márquez.

The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her heartless Grandmother: One of the most powerful, cruel, raw stories by Márquez. How much does innocence cost in a community that cannot find its way through the darkness?

Every passage written by Márquez is a revelation of the power of Literature. Its magic, its lyrical voice, its mesmerizing quality to carry you in dark worlds into your soul. In a site that supposedly promotes reading, it is astonishing to see many ‘’readers’’ dismissing Márquez on the grounds of ‘’magical realism’’ and being ‘’incomprehensible’’. How about you try a little more until a brain transplant becomes available to put you out of your misery?

‘’The angel was the only one who took no part in his own act. He spent his time trying to get comfortable in his borrowed nest, befuddled by the hellish heat of the oil lamps and sacramental candles that had been placed along the wire.’’

‘’She’s done a lot of travelling’’, Mr Herbert said. ‘’She’s carrying behind the flowers from all the seas of the world.’’

A great collection of short stories covering a period from 1947 to 1972. The stories ranged from excellent to mundane and most had some form of magical realism to them as would be expected from Garcia Marquez, although the first couple of stories were more morbid than anything else.