R.I.P. Gabriel García Márquez

[LeftyStrat]

If you've never read any of his books, you owe yourself the pleasure of reading 'Love in the Time of Cholera' and 'One Hundred Years of Solitude.' Both are magical and surreal.

[Jana]

I agree, Lefty. I use One Hundred Years of Solitude as one of the novels for a literature class. Marquez was truly a visionary in the field of literature.

[Phil_S]

I'm not fond of translations. I'll save this for retirement, when I can use it as a springboard to learn Spanish. I like the reviews given here. Sounds like my kind of book.

[Jana]

You're missing out on a lot of literature if you avoid translations.

[Jerry2013]

Mad Maria is a great book. RIP Gabriel Marquez.

[tribi9]

You're missing out on a lot of literature if you avoid translations.

As a true fluent bilingual, I can truly assure you that there are always awesome little things, that you would only understand if you spoke the original language the book was written in. No matter how good the translation is.

[LeftyStrat]

You're missing out on a lot of literature if you avoid translations.

As a true fluent bilingual, I can truly assure you that there are always awesome little things, that you would only understand if you spoke the original language the book was written in. No matter how good the translation is.

True. But better to miss some awesome little things, than to miss the entire work, because you'll never get around to learning every language that all the great works have been written in. The friends I have turned on to his works have never expressed disappointment in reading the English translations.

I've been a collector of every translation of the Tao Te Ching. They all differ wildly. But I would hate to miss the profound thoughts in this work because I never got around to learning classical Chinese. I studied enough Chinese to understand the differences in translation. Chinese pictographs are often more concepts than words.

Though I'll admit, someday I'd love to brush up on my Spanish enough to read the original.

[jaysg]

I've only read the novella Chronicle Of A Death Foretold. Brilliant...