El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba

By Gabriel García Márquez

Book Overview

Gabriel Garc a M rquez has been described as the greatest writer in Spanish since Cervantes, and El coronel no tiene quien le escriba is considered to be one of his best works. This reflective and atmospheric novel is set in a small Colombian town where the frustrated and stubborn Colonel, a veteran of the 'War of a Thousand Days', is still, after thirty years, waiting for the letter authorising payment of his war pension.

The old soldier and his wife mourn the brutal killing of their only son, and the story of their struggle against poverty and sickness culminates in the Colonel's defiant refusal to part with his cherished fighting cock, however serious the consequences.

The moving narrative pays tribute to the resilience of human nature and man's will to survive in the face of heavy odds. The novel also throws light on the turbulent religious and political troubles in Latin America.

Now revised to include an updated chronology and bibliography, Giovanni Pontiero's acclaimed critical edition provides English-speaking students with an introduction to, and notes on the text, and a selected vocabulary.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0719008360
• ISBN13: 9780719008368
• Release Date: June 1981
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 4.9" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Sad and Depressing but such a well written story

Every time when I'm feeling lonely, I always say "No one writes to the Colonel". That's the feeling that you take away from this book, I def would not recommend this book if your standing on the edge of the rooftop cause you probably will jump (then again i don't recommend reading on edges of rooftops either). The book tells a story of a aging, dying, old man, who fought alongside General Buendia in his heyday, who is waiting for pension from the war day after day. He lost his son, his wife is dying everyday from asthma, he sold all his belongings to pay for food including his son prize fighting cock, all he have left is the hope that one day all his troubles will end when finally receive his pension. One of the central theme in this book is "money isn't everything unless you don't have any".

La esperanza como ultimo recurso!

Historia de penumbras y congojas, de zozobras y desasosiegos; de ilusiones perdidas que reavivan con menor esplendor cada vez que el Coronel recibe un No como respuesta en la Oficina de Correos. El Coronel es una aguda e incisiva metafora que se anida en la memoria maltratada y desamparada de seres quienes vieron pasar lo mejor de sus vidas al arraigo de una promesa, del pago puntual de una merecida pension por servicios prestados. El tiempo y el olvido son dos viejos amigos, y esa espera cotidiana se convierte en el unico asidero esperanzador que alimenta el deseo de vivir de un hombre ya olvidado, relegado por los nuevos tiempos, protagonista de hazanas crepusculares que inflaman la imaginacion historica y poetica, pero que poco o nada dicen a las nuevas generaciones. Una de las joyas cimeras de la Literatura Latinoamericana, El Coronel tiene ese sabor obsesivo del Tango, de lo que pudo haber sido y no fue. Este militar es un miembro mas de una legion de seres quienes vivieron seducidos por la palabra y aplastados por el burocratismo y el populismo. Poco importan las coordenadas geograficas y el entorno historico. El subdesarrollo, entendido como la incapacidad de transformacion, no tiene edad, pues como mala hierba, se reproduce en cualquier rincon de la naturaleza. Soberbio e inolvidable relato de este ilustre escritor colombiano, Premio Nobel de Literatura 1984.

short stories from marquez

a series of short stories from marquez that intrique the reader in the same sense his other novels have accomplished

No One Writes to the Colonel

This story, about an old, sad Colonel who spends his time waiting for a pension that, deep down, he knows he will never receive, is simply heart-breaking. Every paragraph is laced with sadness - sadness that his circumstances are how they are and sadness that it won't ever really change, not even in the promised January when the rooster will finally pay off for him and his wife and they can finally put the memory of their dead son behind them.It was a short story, only ~60 pages long, so I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read something quickly. It is rather depressing, probably made more so by the fact that the Colonel is a dignified man and that he knows that the misfortunes of his life are not his fault at all. Unfortunately, even at the end, there isn't any real hope. It does end with a great last line, but there is no retribution, no deliverance, no satisfaction to be had for the Colonel and his wife. I think that if Marquez had solved all of the Colonel's problems, it would have been a weaker story, so I'm not too upset about that.

A Triumph of Hope

Marquez has done it again, to weave a story of pathos and vividness which, even a gifted painter would find it difficult to portray. Set in a small Mexican town, the world of the Colonel and his wife along with the memories of his lost son and his parting rooster, become a symbol of defiance, a triumph of human spirit amidst the ruin and the debris that has come to haunt the Colonel in all possible forms.A pension that never comes, an asthma of his wife that never cures and a life that does not have enough food, confront the world of the exploiter.The memories of the Colonel's dead son and his rooster become the living example of bravery which may have deserted many hardened Colonels. This bravery unfolds itself as the Colonel defies everything in life, even the approaching depriviation and death, as the Col. zealously protects his honours and values. The sale of his rooster, possibly his only option for continuance of his life, is heroically opposed, despite a clear possibility of stark and naked death knocking at his door. In thus defying death the Col.has sought to immortalize his life and possibly all that life stands for - hope.A million such examples abound. What is brilliant is that the pathos of a lonely life, devastated by a crumbling world, and the undaunting spirit of a man fighting against everything from insensitivity to disease has been so movingly portrayed in the novella. Beneath this brilliant portrayal of human pathos lies a subtext that is deeply political and social. Politics of the country and its victims are most tellingly described through the Col. and his travails. Marquez is a writer who is a dreamer and an activist too. In his Col.who is both the hero and the anti-hero, Marquez has punched politics and sufferings in a brilliantly conceived character and has invested him with a realism that transcends nations and nationalities and speaks a language which is moving and absorbing.