The archive of writer Gabriel García Márquez finds a home in Texas
Gabriel García Márquez was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He was a proud Colombian who wrote passionately, and vividly, about Latin America. Now, just months after his death, an archive containing drafts, manuscripts, photos and correspondence between García Márquez and political and literary figures from around the world has found a new home -- in Texas. ...
Gabriel García M árquez was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He was a proud Colombian who wrote passionately, and vividly, about Latin America. Now, just months after his death, an archive containing drafts, manuscripts, photos and correspondence between García M árquez and political and literary figures from around the world has found a new home -- in Texas.
The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas in Austin has recently acquired the huge archive from García Márquez's family.
Typescript of Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" [Photo: Harry Ransom Center]
The Colombian government expressed sadness that the archive did not remain in Colombia. But Steve Inness, director of the Harry Ransom Center, tells As It Happens host Carol Off, "I understand on the sentimental basis how there could be that feeling...but it's important to realize that the Center truly is an international research centre and last year we supported scholars coming from 24 different countries around the world... I think the (García Márquez) family recognized that we were a very suitable and appropriate home for the archive".
One of Gabriel García Márquez's passports [Photo: Harry Ransom Center]
The Nobel prize-winning author, who was known to have had a close friendship with Fidel Castro, corresponded with many people around the world. Inness explains, "There's a large number of letters. We estimate approximately two thousand...given the nature of an archive these are typically the letters that he received, not the ones that he wrote...but there are letters from people like Carlos Fuentes, Milan Kundera, Graham Greene, Francois Mitterrand and Bill Clinton...the list is really very extensive."
Gabriel García Márquez's annotated typescript of "Love in the Time of Cholera [Photo: Harry Ransom Center]