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As he reflects on the past , the General often thinks and dreams about his former friend Francisco de Paula Santander . The historical Francisco de Paula Santander was a friend of Simón Bolívar , but was later accused of complicity in a plot to assassinate him and sent into exile . In the novel , the General remembers that he had once appointed Santander to govern Colombia because he believed him to be an effective and brave soldier . He formerly regarded Santander as " his other self , and perhaps his better self " , but by the time of the events in The General in His Labyrinth Santander has become the General 's enemy and has been banished to Paris after his involvement in the assassination attempt . The General is depicted as tormented by the idea that Santander will return from his exile in France ; he dreams , for example , that Santander is eating the pages of a book , that he is covered in cockroaches , and that he is plucking out his own eyeballs . |
= = = Field Marshal Antonio José de Sucre = = = |
Field Marshal Antonio José de Sucre is portrayed as an intimate friend of the General . The historical Antonio José de Sucre , the Field Marshal of Ayacucho , had been the most trusted general of Simón Bolívar . García Márquez describes him as " intelligent , methodical , shy , and superstitious " . The Field Marshal is married to and has a daughter with Doña Mariana Carcelén . In the first chapter of the novel , the General asks Sucre to succeed him as President of the Republic , but he rejects the idea . One of the reasons Sucre gives is that he wishes only to live his life for his family . Also at the beginning of the novel , Sucre 's death is foreshadowed . Sucre tells the General that he plans on celebrating the Feast of Saint Anthony in Quito with his family . When the General hears that Sucre has been assassinated in Berruecos on his way back to Quito , he vomits blood . |
= = = Minor characters = = = |
The novel revolves around the fictionalized figure of Bolívar and includes many minor characters who are part of the General 's travelling party , whom he meets on his journey or who come to him in his memories and dreams of his past . Sometimes they are identified by particular quirks or tied to small but significant events . They include , for instance , General José María Carreño , a member of the entourage , whose right arm was amputated after a combat wound , and who once revealed a military secret by talking in his sleep . At other times , they are prostheses for the General 's now failing powers : Fernando , for example , the General 's nephew , is " the most willing and patient of the General 's many clerks " , and the General wakes him " at any hour to have him read aloud from a dull book or take notes on urgent extemporizations " . One of the least developed of the minor characters is the General 's wife , María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alayza , who had died , readers are told , in mysterious circumstances shortly after their marriage . The General has " buried her at the bottom of a water @-@ tight oblivion as a brutal means of living without her " ; she only fleetingly enters his memories in the book 's last chapter . According to Menton , she is " upstaged " by Manuela Sáenz , whose later history García Márquez recounts as if she instead were the General 's widow . María Teresa 's death , however , marked the General 's " birth into history " , and he has never tried to replace her . |
= = Major themes = = |
= = = Politics = = = |
In The General in His Labyrinth , García Márquez voices his political views through the character of the General . For example , Alvarez Borland points out that in the scene where the General responds to the French diplomat , his words closely reflect García Márquez 's 1982 Nobel Address . The diplomat is critical of the barbarism in Latin America and the brutal means used in attempting to achieve independence . Bolívar replies by pointing out that Europe had centuries to progress to its current state , and that South America should be left to experience its " Middle Ages in peace " . Similarly García Márquez remarks in his Nobel Speech that " venerable Europe would perhaps be more perceptive if it tried to see Latin America in its own past . If only it recalled that London took three hundred years to build its first city wall ... " . |
The novel was published in 1989 , when the Soviet Union was disintegrating and the political map was being radically redrawn . Reviewing The General in His Labyrinth in 1990 , the novelist Margaret Atwood pointed to another instance of García Márquez raising political issues through the character of the General . He has him tell his aide that the United States is " omnipotent and terrible , and that its tale of liberty will end in a plague of miseries for us all " . Atwood noted the contemporary relevance of this sentiment , since " the patterns of Latin American politics , and of United States intervention in them , have not changed much in 160 years . " She suggested that García Márquez 's fictionalization of Bolívar is a lesson " for our own turbulent age ... Revolutions have a long history of eating their progenitors . " The central character is a man at the end of his life , who has seen his revolution and dream of a united Latin America fail . |
= = = Figural labyrinth = = = |
According to literary critic David Danow , the labyrinth of the novel 's title refers to " a series of labyrinths that are contingent upon matters of history , geography , and biography ... that consistently and conclusively result in a dead end " — in this case , the General 's own death . His final voyage along the Magdalena River involves a doubling back and forth from one location to another that leads him and his followers nowhere . The labyrinth does not lead to happiness ; instead , it results in madness from constant pondering on the past and an impossible future . At the end of his life , the General is reduced to a spectre of his former self . The labyrinth also recalls the labyrinth built to imprison the minotaur in Greek mythology , and the endless travelling and searching of ancient Greek heroes . In Danow 's view , " The Labyrinth mirrors the wanderings and travails of the hero in search for meaning and resolution to the vicissitudes of life " . |
García Márquez depicts the General 's body itself as a labyrinth . His doctor observes that " everything that enters the body , adds weight , and everything that leaves it is debased . " The General 's body is described as a " labyrinth coming to a literal dead end " . The labyrinth is also expressed in geographical and architectural imagery . The country 's destiny is imagined as a break @-@ up , a folding of north into south . The seas offer the hope of a new life and a new world , but the closer the General is to Colombia , the less chance he has of moving on . García Márquez describes buildings as " daunting , reverberating ( if not exactly reiterating ) with the echoes of a bloody past " . The portrayal of the General 's world as a labyrinth is underlined by his constant return to cities and towns he has visited before : each location belongs to the past as well as to the present . The General in his Labyrinth blurs the lines between perdition in a man @-@ made world and wandering in the natural world . |
= = = Fate and love = = = |
Bolívar 's fate is known from the beginning , and García Márquez constantly uses images which foreshadow this ending . For instance , a clock stuck at seven minutes past one , the exact time of the General 's death , appears repeatedly in the novel . This sense of fate is introduced in the epigraph , which comes from a letter written by the historical Bolívar to General Santander on August 4 , 1823 : " It seems that the devil controls the business of my life . " As Palencia @-@ Roth points out , the word used for devil here is demonio rather than the more familiar diablo . Demonio derives from the Greek word daimon , which can equally mean divine power , fate , or destiny . Accordingly , the General succumbs to his fate and accepts his death as destiny . |
The theme of love is central to the novel . Bolívar had a reputation as a womanizer , and books have been written on his philandering ; but as depicted in this novel , during the last seven months of his life , the General could no longer engage in the activities that had fueled that reputation . García Márquez mentions a woman every few pages , many of whom are his own invention , exploring love through the General 's memories . Palencia @-@ Roth notes that the presence of these women " allows a labyrinthine exploration of his life before his final journey " and suggests that García Márquez uses love as a barometer of the General 's heart and health . Although Bolívar is usually thought to have died from tuberculosis , Palencia @-@ Roth believes that for the author , the General dies from the lack of love . " Despised by many of his countrymen , abandoned by all but a few aides and associates , left — during the final seven months of his life — without even the companionship of his longtime mistress Manuela Saenz , Bolívar had no choice but to die of a broken heart . " |
= = = Numbers and religious symbols = = = |
Numbers are an important symbolic aspect of the novel . The book is divided into eight chapters , almost all of equal length , which represent the eight @-@ year love affair between the General and Manuela Sáenz . The General 's last hours are marked by an octagonal clock . Allusions to the number three are even more common in the novel . As García Márquez scholar Isabel Rodríguez Vergara notes , the number three — the Trinity which occupies a vital place in the symbology of the Catholic Mass — is repeated 21 times throughout the book . She quotes Mircea Eliade : " In the novel it represents a symbolic sacrifice aimed at redeeming humankind — that of Bolívar , a misunderstood redeemer sacrificed by his own people . " |
Rodríguez Vergara observes that the General is like a supernatural being , simultaneously dying and being surrounded by symbolic circumstances such as rain , fiestas , and the plague . The novel begins with Bolívar immersed in purifying waters , in a state of ecstasy and meditation that suggests a priestly ritual . One of the women with whom the General sleeps , Queen Marie Louise , is described as a virgin with the profile of an idol — an allusion to the Virgin Mary . The General rides a mule into the last towns on his journey towards death , echoing Christ 's entry into Jerusalem . He dies of mysterious and unknown causes , and the people burn his belongings in fear of catching his illness . In Rodríguez Vergara 's view , " Bolívar was sacrificed as a scapegoat to purge the guilt of the community . " |
René Girard has interpreted the recurrence of rain in the novel as one of the purifying rituals the community must undergo in order to wash away the contagion of violence . The fiestas may represent another ritual of purification and also symbolize war . Fiestas are held to honour the General when he arrives at a town , but at other times , political demonstrations against the General are mistaken for a fiesta . According to Rodríguez Vergara , this shows how " information is manipulated " and " depicts an atmosphere where fiesta and war are synonymous " . |
= = = Melancholy and mourning = = = |
Latin American cultural theorist Carlos J. Alonso , drawing on Freudian theory , argues that the novel is essentially a therapeutic device , designed to help move Latin America past its problematic experience of modernity . He compares this to the way the healing state of mourning replaces grief in the process of recovering from a death . Both activities are mechanisms for dealing with loss . Alonso believes that The General in his Labyrinth , by almost entirely centering the novel on the General 's death , forces the reader to confront the horror of this process . In Alonso 's view , the reader is meant to pass from " a melancholy relationship vis @-@ a @-@ vis the figure of Bolívar to a relationship that has the therapeutic qualities of mourning instead " . |
Latin America 's history and culture , Alonso suggests , began with the loss of Bolívar 's dream of a united continent and as a result has developed under a melancholy shadow ever since . Thus , by forcing the reader to return to the origin of modernity in Latin America and confront its death in the most horrific way , García Márquez compels the reader to move from melancholy to mourning , " so that the phantom of the lost object of modernity may cease to rule the libidinal economy of Spanish American cultural discourse and historical life " . |
= = = Challenging history = = = |
García Márquez comments on the nature of historical fact by drawing attention to the way history is written . The novel recreates a time in Bolívar 's life that has no historical precedent , as there is no record of the last 14 days of his life . In García Márquez 's account readers observe Bolívar intimately , seeing his human qualities . In the view of critic Isabel Alvarez Borland , by choosing to fictionalize a national hero in this way , García Márquez is challenging the claim of official history to represent the truth . In the " My Thanks " section of the novel , García Márquez asserts ironically that what he is writing is more historical than fictional , and he discusses his own historical methodology in detail . By posing in the role of a historian , he challenges the reliability of written history from within the writing process . According to Alvarez Borland , this serves to " remind us that a claim to truth is not the property of any text ; rather it is the result of how a historian ( as a reader ) interprets the facts " . |
The General in His Labyrinth also confronts the methods of official historians by using an oral style of narration . The narration can be considered an oral account in that it is woven from the verbal interactions of everyday people . Alvarez Borland explains that the advantage of this technique , as discussed by Walter Ong , is that " the orality of any given culture , residing in the unwritten tales of its peoples , possesses a spontaneity and liveliness which is lost once this culture commits its tales to writing . " The oral style of narration therefore provides a truthfulness which official history lacks . Alvarez Borland concludes that The General in His Labyrinth suggests new ways of writing the past ; it takes account of voices that were never written down as part of official history . |
The historian Ben Hughes commented on the novel : " The Liberator 's British confidants , including Daniel O 'Leary , were amongst the closest figures to the general in this period . Nevertheless , they are ignored in the novel . Instead , Márquez uses the character of a fictional Colombian servant , José Palacios , as The Liberator 's final sounding board , thereby neatly sidestepping the more complex reality . " In Hughes 's view modern South American literature has played a role in cleansing the national memory of British soldiers ' assistance to The Liberator . |
= = Comparisons with other García Márquez novels = = |
In an interview published in the Colombian weekly Revista Semana on March 20 , 1989 , García Márquez told María Elvira Samper , " At bottom , I have written only one book , the same one that circles round and round , and continues on . " Palencia @-@ Roth suggests that this novel is a " labyrinthine summation ... of García Márquez 's long @-@ standing obsessions and ever @-@ present topics : love , death , solitude , power , fate " . |
Like the Patriarch in García Márquez 's The Autumn of the Patriarch , Bolívar was an absolute dictator . The Patriarch is never identified by name ; Bolívar , too , is identified chiefly by his title . Bolívar also invites comparison with Colonel Aureliano Buendía in One Hundred Years of Solitude : both characters believe the wars they have waged have been fruitless and overwhelming , and both face numerous attempts on their lives , but eventually die of natural causes . In his belief that life is controlled by fate , the General resembles Buendía in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Santiago Nasar in Chronicle of a Death Foretold . |
Palencia @-@ Roth notes that critics have been struck by the humorless elegiac style of The General in His Labyrinth ; its dark mood and somber message is similar to that of The Autumn of the Patriarch . Love is a theme common to both Love in the Time of Cholera and The General in His Labyrinth , but the latter is considered a tragedy . These two novels have been used to demonstrate the range of García Márquez 's work . |
Isabel Alvarez Borland , in her essay " The Task of the Historian in El general en su laberinto " , claims that " ... while El general en su laberinto is in many ways a continuation of García Márquez 's criticism of Latin America 's official history seen in his earlier works , the novel contrasts sharply with his previous fictions " . In Chronicle of a Death Foretold , according to Alvarez Borland , the narrator challenges the truth of official language . However , The General in His Labyrinth " differs from these earlier works in employing narrative strategies which seek to answer in a much more overt and didactic fashion questions that the novel poses about history " . |
In a summary of Edward Hood 's book La ficcion de Gabriel García Márquez : Repetición e intertextualidad , García Márquez is characterized as an author who uses repetition and autointertextualidad ( intertextuality between the works of a single author ) extensively in his fiction , including in The General in His Labyrinth . Hood points out some obvious examples of repetition in García Márquez 's works : the themes of solitude in One Hundred Years of Solitude , tyranny in Autumn of the Patriarch , and the desire for a unified continent expressed by Bolívar in The General in His Labyrinth . An example of intertextuality can be seen in the repetition of patterns between books . For example , both Jose Arcadio Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Bolívar in The General in his Labyrinth experience labyrinthian dreams . |
= = Genre = = |
Critics consider García Márquez 's book in terms of the historical novel , but differ over whether the label is appropriate . In his review of The General in his Labyrinth , Selden Rodman hesitated to call it a novel , since it was so heavily researched , giving Bolívar 's views " on everything from life and love to his chronic constipation and dislike of tobacco smoke " . On the other hand , reviewer Robert Adams suggested that García Márquez had " improved on history " . According to critic Donald L. Shaw , The General in His Labyrinth is a " New Historical Novel " , a genre that he argues crosses between Boom , Post @-@ Boom , and Postmodernist fiction in Latin American literature : " New Historical Novels tend either to retell historical events from an unconventional perspective , but one which preserves their intelligibility , or to question the very possibility of making sense of the past at all . " Shaw believes that this novel belongs to the first category . García Márquez is presenting both a historical account and his own interpretation of events . |
David Bushnell , writing in The Hispanic American Historical Review , points out that the work is less a pure historical account than others suggest . García Márquez 's Bolívar is a man " who wanders naked through the house , suffers constipation , uses foul language , and much more besides . " He argues that documentation does not support many of these details . Bushnell suggests , however , that the fact that the novel is not entirely historically accurate does not necessarily distinguish it from the work of professional historians . The main difference , Bushnell believes , is that García Márquez 's work " is far more readable " than a pure history . |
= = Reception = = |
The General in His Labyrinth was relatively poorly received by the general public in the United States , despite the praise of critics . Critic Ilan Stavans , who himself praised the book as " one of the writer 's most sophisticated and accomplished " , attributes this to the novel 's time period and to its profusion of historical information , neither of which proved attractive to English @-@ speaking readers . Isabel Alvarez Borland notes that , like Stavans , " critics in the United States have largely celebrated García Márquez 's portrait of this national hero and considered it a tour de force " ; but she also observes that in Latin America the book received more mixed reviews , ranging from " outrage to unqualified praise " . |
The novel generated huge controversy in Latin America : some Venezuelan and Colombian politicians described its depiction of Bolívar as " profane " . According to Stavans , they accused García Márquez of " defaming the larger @-@ than @-@ life reputation of a historical figure who , during the nineteenth century , struggled to unite the vast Hispanic world " . The novel 's publication provoked outrage from many Latin American politicians and intellectuals because its portrayal of the General is not the saintly image long cherished by many . Mexico 's ambassador to Austria , Francisco Cuevas Cancino , wrote a damning letter , which was widely publicized in Mexico City , objecting to the portrayal of Bolívar . He stated : " The novel is plagued with errors of fact , conception , fairness , understanding of the historical moment and ignorance of its consequences ... It has served the enemies of Latin America , who care only that they can now denigrate Bolívar , and with him all of us . " Even the novel 's admirers , such as the leading Venezuelan diplomat and writer Arturo Uslar Pietri , worried that some facts were stretched . García Márquez believes , however , that Latin America has to discover the General 's labyrinth to recognize and deal with its own maze of problems . |
More positively , Nelson Bocaranda , a Venezuelan TV commentator , considers the novel to be a tonic for Latin American culture : " people here saw a Bolívar who is a man of flesh and bones just like themselves " . Mexican author Carlos Fuentes agrees with Bocaranda saying : " What comes across beautifully and poignantly in this book is a man dealing with the unknown world of democratic ideas " . García Márquez realistically portrays a ridiculous figure trapped in a labyrinth , magnifying the General 's defects , and presenting an image of Bolívar contrary to that instilled in classrooms . However , the novel also depicts Bolívar as an idealist and political theorist who predicted many problems that would obstruct Latin American advancement in the future . García Márquez depicts a figure who was aware of the racial and social friction in Latin American society , feared debt , and warned against economic irresponsibility . He has the General warn his aide @-@ de @-@ camp , Agustín de Iturbide , against the future interference of the United States in the internal affairs of Latin America . |
Novelist and critic Barbara Mujica comments that the book 's English translator , Edith Grossman , fully captures the multiple levels of meaning of the text , as well as García Márquez 's modulations in tone . García Márquez himself has admitted that he prefers his novels in their English translations . |
= = Publication history = = |
The original Spanish version of The General in His Labyrinth was published simultaneously in Argentina , Colombia , Mexico , and Spain in 1989 . The first American edition was listed as a best seller in The New York Times the following year . |
The novel has been translated into many languages since its first publication in Spanish , as detailed by Sfeir de González in 2003 . |
= Copia ( museum ) = |
Copia : The American Center for Wine , Food & the Arts was a non @-@ profit museum and educational center in downtown Napa , California , dedicated to wine , food and the arts of American culture . The center , planned and largely funded by vintners Robert and Margrit Mondavi , was open from 2001 to 2008 . The museum had galleries , two theaters , classrooms , a demonstration kitchen , a restaurant , a rare book library , and a 3 @.@ 5 @-@ acre ( 1 @.@ 4 ha ) vegetable and herb garden ; there it hosted wine and food tasting programs , exhibitions , films , and concerts . The main and permanent exhibition of the museum , " Forks in the Road " , explained the origins of cooking through to modern advances . The museum 's establishment benefited the city of Napa and the development and gentrification of its downtown . |
Copia hosted its opening celebration on November 18 , 2001 . Among other notable people , Julia Child helped fund the venture , which established a restaurant named Julia 's Kitchen . Copia struggled to achieve its anticipated admissions , and had difficulty in repaying its debts . Proceeds from ticket sales , membership and donations attempted to support Copia 's payoff of debt , educational programs and exhibitions , but eventually were not sufficient . After numerous changes to the museum to increase revenue , Copia closed on November 21 , 2008 . Its library was donated to Napa Valley College and its Julia Child cookware was sent to the National Museum of American History . The 12 @-@ acre ( 4 @.@ 9 ha ) property had been for sale since its closure ; the Culinary Institute of America purchased the northern portion of the property in October 2015 . The college intends to open a campus , the Culinary Institute of America at Copia , which will house the CIA 's new Food Business School . |
= = History = = |
= = = Name = = = |
The museum was named after Copia , the Roman goddess of wealth and plenty . According to Joseph Spence in Polymetis ( 1755 ) , Copia is a name used to describe the goddess Abundantia in poetry , and was referred to as Bona Copia in Ovid 's Metamorphoses . |
= = = Background = = = |
The city of Napa has historically not received as many wine country tourists as the cities north of it . A $ 300 million flood management project around the turn of the 21st century to widen the Napa River and raise bridges prompted building developments . In the early 2000s , a large development was completed in the downtown area , as well as several hotels . Copia and the nearby Oxbow Public Market were two large developments also constructed around that time to increase tourist and media focus on the city of Napa . |
The museum opened in 2001 , two months after the September 11 attacks . The museum 's visitor attendance was much lower than what was projected ; the museum partially attributed that to the depressed tourist economy stemming from the attacks . |
= = = Conception and construction = = = |
In 1988 , vintner Robert Mondavi , his wife Margrit Mondavi , and other members of the wine industry began to look into establishing an institution in Napa County to educate , promote , and celebrate American excellence and achievements in the culinary arts , visual arts , and winemaking . Three organizations supported the museum : the University of California at Davis , the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration , and the American Institute of Wine & Food . In 1993 , Robert Mondavi bought and donated the land for Copia for $ 1 @.@ 2 million ( $ 1 @.@ 97 million today ) , followed by a lead gift of $ 20 million ( $ 32 @.@ 8 million today ) . Mondavi chose the downtown Napa location with urging from his wife , who raised her children there . James Polshek was hired by the foundation as the architect for the building in October 1994 . Subsequently , the " Founding Seventy " , supporters from Napa Valley and the surrounding Bay Area , made substantial donations . Initial financing for Copia was $ 55 million ( $ 66 @.@ 8 million today ) , along with a $ 78 million ( $ 104 million today ) bond prior to opening in 2001 . |
When the organization purchased the property , it was an empty lot next to a tire store . Steve Carlin , founder of the Oxbow Public Market , believed that Copia 's establishment helped expand Napa , its downtown area , and the Oxbow District . Construction of the facility triggered a significant growth in development of a gourmet marketplace , hotels and restaurants in downtown Napa . The museum began construction in 1999 and hosted opening celebrations on November 18 , 2001 . In 2005 , Copia sold 3 @.@ 5 acres ( 1 @.@ 4 ha ) to Intrawest for construction of a Westin hotel . |
= = = Decline and bankruptcy = = = |
Although the facility did attract visitors , local residents ' support failed to reach the numbers expected by the founders . Original projections of 300 @,@ 000 admissions per year were never met . In October 2006 , the museum announced plans to turn galleries into conference rooms , remove most of the museum 's focus on art , and lay off 28 of its 85 employees ( most of whom were security guards for the art gallery ) . At the time , Copia had $ 68 million ( $ 74 @.@ 7 million today ) in debt . That year the museum also lowered its original adult admission fee of $ 12 @.@ 50 to $ 5 . For three months in 2006 , the museum admitted guests free of charge , and attendance and revenue increased . The museum also began hosting weddings and renting its space more frequently in order to raise revenue . In 2007 , the museum altered its theme significantly by removing its focus on food and art , and instead focusing solely on wine . It replaced some of its gardens with vineyards , changed its displays to focus more on the history and aspects of wine and viticulture , and decreased the restaurant 's and programs ' focus on food . |
In September 2008 , Garry McGuire announced that 24 of 80 employees were being laid off and the days of operation would be reduced from 7 to 3 per week . Attendance figures had never reached either original or updated projections , causing the facility to operate annually in the red since its opening . In November , he announced that the property would be sold due to unsustainable debt . The museum closed on Friday , November 21 , 2008 . The closure was without warning ; visitors who had arrived for scheduled events found a paper notice at the entrance that the center was temporarily closed . The next days ' events involving chef Andrew Carmellini and singer Joni Morris were also abruptly cancelled ; the museum later stated that it would reopen on December 1 . On that day , the organization ( with $ 80 million ( $ 87 @.@ 9 million today ) in debt ) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . The federal bankruptcy court blocked a $ 2 million ( $ 2 @.@ 2 million today ) emergency loan with priority in security , leaving Copia with no funds to resume operations . |
Writing about the failure of the project , The New York Times and other newspapers suggested that Copia had failed to clearly define its focus . Potential tourists were left feeling unsure whether they were visiting a museum , a cooking school , or a promotional center for wine . |
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