Working with Difficult Literature

Reading Márquez’ novel reminds me of the title of Yeats’ poem, “The Fascination of What’s Difficult.” Difficult literature has always been one of my specialties, I love things like the intricacies of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and Ulysses and Nabokov’s Pale Fire. But difficulty can also deter people from reading many fine works of literature. So I thought I’d post a few tips, beyond what is already on the web site and this blog, to try to help our student readers.

Ø If you haven’t started reading the novel, you need to start as soon as possible. It is a difficult read and will require time to absorb.

Ø Don’t worry if you don’t get everything at first. The novel’s patterns start to emerge gradually. I don’t feel that I understood the sequence of narratives until the tenth segment; and even then, I’m not quite sure what Marquez is getting at, but I think I’m beginning to see. (I too am reading it for the first time this summer.)

Ø Trust the author. He has produced a book which is highly significant to him and to many of his readers.

Ø Take notes. Try to hook things together. If you are doing the assignment right, your book should already have many annotations, but notes on the side are also useful and helpful.

Ø Keep a log of the characters, in your notes or in the blank pages at the novel’s end. Record page numbers for characters’ first appearances, opinions about other characters, birth stories, deaths, escapes from death, killings, transformations, ascensions to heaven, or whatever might be significant. These notes will pay off when you start to write about the book.

Ø Flesh out your understanding of the background. Make use of the set of links to web sites on the history of Columbia. Don’t take the actual historical events as a guide, but try to work out how this tumultuous history helped to drive Márquez to produce this novel.

Ø Read what some of the critics have said about One Hundred Years of Solitude. Once you read and digest ideas that other writers have produced about a difficult work, you will probably be inspired to start developing your own ideas.

Ø Read what the author has said about his own work.

Ø If you are a novice at interpreting literature, go to the OWL at Purdue (a link to that site is provided on this blog) for advice on how to write an interpretive paper.

Ø Above all, talk to your friends, ask questions, and try to formulate answers about the book. If you are too shy to post on this blog, please email me at mjditmore@comcast.net and I will do what I can to help. And above all, as Andre Miripolsky urges, Fear no Art!