The General in His Labyrinth

I have found reading “The General and his labyrinth” interesting as for the first time I find myself sympathizing with the dictator of our dictator novels. I was most excited to read this book of all the books we are reading as it was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of my favourite authors, and my wiki topic! I have to say that this is not my favourite of Marquez’s novels however, of all the books we have read this semester, it is so far at the top of my list.

As I read this novel, I compare it a lot to Garcia Marquez’s other novels and really look for his style throughout it. Most notably is the fact that this plot is historically accurate and thus Marquez is restricted to portraying these facts. Here I also see solidarity, as I see the General as a very lonely man.

Also, I find it interesting that we never talked about the epigraph in this novel- “It seems that the devil controls the business of my life. (Letter to Santander, August 4, 1823)” We spent so much time looking at the opening letter in “Yo el Supremo”.

Something that I noticed from the very beginning was how in depth Garcia Marquez goes into descriptions. That of the General shaving on page 5 is notable as it goes into such vivid detail. “Then he plucked the hairs in his nose and ears, polished his perfect teeth with charcoal powder on a silver-handled silk brush…”(5) and it goes on and on! Do we really need to know such specific details?! Again we get this on page 10 when it says “His body burned in a bonfire of fever, and he was farting stony foul-smelling gas” I would like to read that in Spanish!

Furthermore, the fist part gives light to what an important figure the General was at this time. He had José Palacios, who “knew and loved him so well…”(40) and then an entourage of five men always with him on his voyage. As well as seven pack mules who carried what seems to be all of his belongings (31).


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