"Most critics don't realize that a novel..." - Quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Most critics don't realize that a novel like One Hundred Years of Solitude is a bit of a joke, full of signals to close friends; and so, with some pre-ordained right to pontificate they take on the responsibility of decoding the book and risk making terrible fools of themselves.
More by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“He did not dare to console her, knowing that it would have been like consoling a tiger run thru by a spear.”
“It was also her nature that caused her letters to avoid emotional pitfalls and confine themselves to relating the events of her daily life in the utilitarian style of a ship's log. In reality they were distracted letters, intended to keep the coals alive without putting her hand in the fire, while Florentino Ariza burned himself alive in every line.”
“An artisan without memories, whose only dream was to die of fatigue in the oblivion and misery of his little gold fishes.”
More on Literature
“This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing-room.”
“We become lovers when we see Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet makes us students. The blood of Duncan is upon our hands, with Timon werage against the world, and when Lear wanders out upon the heath the terror of madness touches us. Ours is the white sinlessness of Desdemona, and ours, also, the sin of Iago.”
“I had read a Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life...her voice slid in and curved down trough and over the words. She was nearly singing.”
More on Criticism
“If labor mainly, or to any considerable degree, serves the purpose of a police, to keep men out of mischief, it indicates a rottenness at the foundation of our community.”
“We're doing terribly. We're leaving these unborn children trillions of dollars of debt, which is just horrific. We're leaving nuclear weapons - enough to end life as we know it - all over the planet. We're leaving a legacy of violence and killing and guns.”
“Contrary to the claims of some of my critics and some of the editorial pages, I am an ardent believer in the free market.”