One hundred years of Solitude -Perplexing, yet enchanting

Perplexing, yet enchanting. This is how I can describe in a single line my view of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realist classic “One hundred years of solitude”. I can either say that the novel is an over-ambitious, confusing work or that it would take me some more time to appreciate it fully. I feel both of it now, though more of the latter.

A summary can be found here. It tells about the founding of an imaginary remote Latin American town called Macondo, it growth and its decline and along with it the story of six generations of its founders – the Buendias. Jose Arcadio Buendia and his wife Ursula are the founders of the town. A very helpful family tree can be found here. More than magical realism the novel brims with symbolism. In fact it would be hard to find a main incident which is not magical realist or symbolic or both. It is generally felt that this is more understandable than Marquez’s “The Autumn of the patriarch” – but I differ. “The Autumn…” though much more difficult to get into, is much easier to understand then this novel with loads of symbolism. Of course if one wishes, they can consider this only as a story of a family, disregarding all the symbolism.

But on another level it becomes the story of the entire mankind. In fact it is quite interesting to find out the exact meaning of solitude in this novel. I feel that all the main characters in this novel (belonging to Buendia family) have a trait of solitude. In some reviews it is noted that Ursula, the matriarch of the family who lives to more than a hundred years, is an anti-solitude character. But I differ with this. Ursula is a pragmatic lady and involves herself in making the family financially secure. But she does little else. She leaves the bringing up of the children to her Indian servants and is not even aware of their growth. The following quote brings this out clearly (p. 55)-

“So busy was she in her prosperous enterprises that one afternoon she looked distractedly towards the courtyard while the Indian women helped her sweeten the dough and she saw two unknown and beautiful adolescent girls doing frame embroidery in the light of the sunset. They were Rebecca and Amarantha”

Hence this is also a kind of solitude – where one is so involved with material welfare, that they lose track of others feelings. Based on this I would say that solitude here means any state where one is oblivious of some of the happenings around them. That may be because one is too much engrossed in earning money (Ursula), involved in politics and work (Colonel Aureliano Buendia), obsessed with science (Jose Arcadio, the founder), two people obsessed with each other (Aureliano(II) and Amaranta Ursula), obsessed with social status (Fernanda del Carpio) or engrossed in the bitterness of past events (Amaranta and Meme).

Many confusing symbolisms reveal themselves after some thought. The unusual fertility of the farm animals of Aureliano Segundo and his concubine, Petra Cotes indicate the limitless resources available to one at youth. As they grow old, the fertility of the animals decreases. As they have squandered their riches of the youth they are doomed to suffer during old age, as Aureliano does. However there a few symbolisms which have not yielded to me yet, like the flying to sky of Remedios the beauty or the strange murder of Jose Arcadio (the second).

The novel also tries to symbolically tell the whole story of the mankind, but because of the same symbolism it is still quite confusing as to what it really tells. When the founders arrive at Macondo, it is a pristine place and “many things don’t have their names”. The only contact with the outside world is through gypsies – who bring some useful innovations to them. It is interesting that the innovations which are regarded as magic at this period appear again at a later time, but are then considered science. Marquez also notes that later group of gypsies parade technology as a entertainment rather as being useful to life. It is interesting to ponder on whether this rings a bell with the current direction of technological progress.

The town then gets embroiled in politics, as Colonel Aureliano organizes many revolutions against the central government (to which Macondo finally comes in contact with). The important turning point comes when a company decides to setup a banana plantation in the town. Initially it brings in a lot of progress but finally thousands of workers are massacred in a strike and as the banana company leaves the town, its decline begins. Despite his reportedly communist leanings, Marquez doesn’t seem to explicitly say that the banana company brought decline to Macondo. He notes the ‘prosperity’ brought in by the banana company and the decline when they withdraw from the town in a more or less neutral way. It is for us to decide whether the company is to be appreciated for bringing in some prosperity or accused for starting the decline from the height of the prosperity. And of course for us to decide whether the company stands as a metaphor for capitalism in today’s world.

The false ideologies in politics and the futility of war are clearly brought out. Here I found that Aureliano’s character became quite similar to the General in “The Autumn…” with Marquez using the concept of “Solitude of power” – but Aureliano recovers just in time.

Also Marquez stresses on the theme that Time moves in a circle. This is very obvious based on many things in the novel, like the inventions of gypsies appearing later as scientific inventions, Jose Arcadio Segundo fighting and remaining incognito like his grand-father Colonel Aureliano Buendia and incest between Aureliano Jose and Amaranta repeating itself more vigorously as that between Aureliano (the last) and Amaranta Ursula. In the novel also this is mentioned several times. The incessant repetition of names also hints at the circular nature. An interesting question is “If Time moves in circles then why does the town come to an end?” The novel itself provides the answer –

(p.402) "…the history of the family was a machine with unavoidable repetitions, a turning wheel that would have gone on spilling into eternity were it not for the progressive and irremediable wearing of the axle."

Thus Time moves in a spiral rather than a circle! A spiral which points towards the inevitable destruction, because when people repeat the same mistakes, the family is not as strong as before to deal with the mistakes.

The novel also has some puzzling things towards the end – the whole story of the Buendia family is foretold in the parchments written by the gypsy Melquiades. In fact the name of the novel comes from the fact that a hundred years after the parchments are written, it is interpreted. Then is the novel the same as these parchments? Not likely because the novel doesn’t have this beautiful and chilling epitaph of the parchments (pp. 420) –

“The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants”.

Also a character with the name Gabriel Marquez (yes! with the same name), who is a friend of Aureliano (II) and descendant of a founding family, escapes from Macondo, just before it is destroyed. Is the whole story told through him?

Of course the last few pages of the novel happen to be the most puzzling. Especially the last sentence of the novel is as enigmatic as it is poetic –

“…because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth”

How can a race (or a town) be in solitude? The explanation I used to think of before reading the novel fully was that, the town was remote and always separated from the rest of the world. However, Macondo becomes well connected to the world around the time the banana company comes and even during its decline is connected by a rail road – only that it’s forgotten by the rest of the world. Now I think, this solitude has the same meaning as the others in the novel. In some vague way, it refers to the people of the town not paying enough attention and not taking enough efforts for the survival of the town. They are too busy earning and enjoying during the times of the banana company and after it leaves are totally shattered and they too begin to leave or stay passively in the society.

In trying to understand this novel I tried reading a few reviews online (by noted literature study aid publishers) and they seemed to be as confused as me! Quite a few reviews I read were contradicting each other in interpreting some of the symbolisms. In fact one of them interpreted that from the vigorous mating between Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes, Marquez favors sexual promiscuity, whereas his treatment of the sexual passion between Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano (II) would have easily disproved this. I am aware that there are entire books on this novel, but I would still like my remaining questions to be answered more easily. They could also be answered if I was to read the novel once again, but though I have the interest for it I don’t seem to have the patience for it now.

Irrespective of whether you want to peal away the symbolisms or not, this novel is certainly a good read – touching, comical and revealing sometimes, but always puzzling.

Ponniyin Selvan - An engaging lesson in history!

This is another post after a long break in my blog. But still this was a pretty quick entry to write up. The post which is really long pending is my review on “One hundred years of solitude”. Apart from the novel itself being very dense with a lot of symbolism, I also have to hunt through it for quotes whose location I have forgotten – felt I should have made a note of quotes as I did for “The Fountainhead”.

Coming to this post’s topic, it is the review of the Tamil historical epic novel – Kalki’s “Ponniyin Selvan” (Son of Ponni (Ponni is a river)). I had heard about this book for quite some time – it is arguably the most widely read Tamil novel and though written about 50 years back, it is still very actively read among the current generation of Tamil readers. It deals about the events during the succession of the Chola emperor Parantaka Chola II (Sundara Chola) around 970 AD. It is really an epic novel in characterization and the length – it runs to an amazing 5 volumes and nearly 2200 pages (in a size slightly bigger than normal English novels!).

Though the novel is too big to summarize here, I would attempt a very short summary to the story. During this time, Cholas are the dominant force in the south and their empire stretches from Kanyakumari to the banks of river Krishna and east cost to the Nilgiris. Aditha Karikalan is the crown prince (leading the northern forces at Kanchi) for over three years now, as the health of the emperor gets worse. However, due to some reasons a section of Chola generals plan to bring Madhuranthakar, the younger cousin of the emperor to throne. Vandiyathevan, heir to a now defunct royal family, brings a message from the crown prince for the princess Kundavai and comes to know of this plan and is sent by her to Srilanka to where Karikalan’s younger brother Arulmozhi Varman is leading an armed invasion of the country. On the way, he meets the bewitching Nandhini who is the wife of Chola chief general Periya Pazhuvettarayar (who is aligned with Madhuranthakar) and unknown to her husband is involved with a group of Pandya conspirators who are plotting to destroy the Chola family. The novel builds on the relations between these main characters and many more characters who come in later and finally ends with the succession being resolved in a rather unusual manner.

There are many areas in which I feel that the book is top notch. Below are the few of those.

• Retaining the interest of the reader for this length is itself quite an achievement, for any novel of any genre and Kalki does this with ease. Though I could notice a bit of slowing down in parts 3 & 4, part 5 picks up with more interest than ever. And of course I never felt the story was being dragged (considering that this was first serialized in a Tamil magazine and noticing the current mega serials in T.V!).
• Most of the major characters are real historical characters and many of the incidents are also real incidents. The amount of research that has gone into this is spectacular. Kalki brings alive the Chola world before more than 1000 years, reveals to us ancient Tamil culture and rule and all this without compromising much on historical truths! It seems he has only capitalized on the fuzzy areas of history to makes his own characters and incidents.
• The amazing depth in characterization. All the characters in the novel are truly multi dimensional and in fact nobody is portrayed as a villain! Kalki shows the fallibility and the prowess of all characters, except perhaps Arulmozhi. Here too, he shows that it is Arulmozhi’s nature that he is very gentle and obedient to elders, so this also seems quite realistic. In fact the novel seems to have two equally important heroes, Arulmozhi and Vandhiyathevan. Though the story is named after Arulmozhi (whose other name is Ponniyin Selvan), the narration starts, ends and mostly proceeds through with Vandhiyathevan. There are varied kinds of romances in the story from the matured love between Kundavai and Vandhiyatevan to the mad love of Manimekalai to Vandhiyathevan. This is one of the best, if not the best novel I have read as far as characterization goes.
• Kalki’s style of writing. In this story of betrayals, revenge, love and murder, Kalki succeeds in keeping a gentle undercurrent of humor mainly through the characters of Azhvarkhadiyan and Vandhiyathevan. He also turns the prose enjoyably poetic in quite a few places. And of course there are quite a few songs and poems, some of his own and some culled out from classic Tamil texts. Most touching among these were the song by Poonkuzhazhi (which appears quite a few times in the novel) –

“Alaikadalthaan oyindhirukka

Agakadalthaan ponguvathen?....”

(When the sea of waves is silent, why is the sea of my heart turbulent?)

And the love song of Manimekalai.

Also he handles the narration almost continuously for over 6 months, which is quite difficult to do. He achieves this by focusing the story at some place and then goes back and forth a little in time. Though this doesn’t make the narration non-linear, the effect was quite different.

• Kalki includes so much of historical information that this almost becomes like a historical text! Though the story is about the Chola dynasty which has been flourishing for about 100 years, Kalki takes pains to illustrate the history of earlier Cholas and also the history of some Chola general’s dynasties. He also deals quite a bit on the religion, culture and even food habits of the time! In particular he shows the Saiva – Vaishnava dichotomy in Hinduism very clearly. He also maintains the tone of the novel very objective. Whether it’s dispelling myths of Kollivaipisasu (a form of ghost) or discussing atheism and religious theism at one stretch, this is about the most liberal a historical novel can get!

No doubt the novel rekindles the interest in Tamil history, literature and culture among the people in the current generation and is hence a hot favorite even now. I have personally seen copies of this book getting sold out in a book exhibition when copies of most other novels were still available. In spite of all these, I feel the novel could have been better in some ways. These are not flaws, but I feel the novel could have been even better (though many may not agree with me). I feel the difference especially when comparing this with my other favorite historical novel, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. This novel tells about the English history from about 1123 to 1174 AD. I feel the following points are worth noting –

• The novel seems to be almost obsessed with happenings in royal household. Most of the major characters are royal characters and even the few exceptions like Poonkuzhazhi and Senthan Amuthan are highlighted only when they interact with the royal family. This is of course not a flaw, but I feel that to reflect more on practical values one could have focused on some commoners. This is where I like the “The Pillars…” more, since it shows a few commoners as the main characters and through them illustrates a range of values. Though this novel also illustrates few values like good governance, true love, generosity I feel it lacks the full range of values as done in “The Pillars…”.
• I personally like an epic novel to span a large time, like 50 years for “The Pillars”. I feel this shows the real nature of the characters as they age and take on more responsibilities and change. However this novel stretches only for about 8 months. Though Kalki tells some history about each character and ends with a note on the future of the main characters, this still doesn’t have the same effect.
• (Spoilers here!) I can’t fully appreciate the climax of the novel, which is the sacrifice done by Arulmozhi – relinquishing the throne to (new) Madhurantakar. At least if he had relinquished it to old Madhurantakar it could be called a sacrifice, since old Madhurantakar wanted the throne badly. But in the climax, when every one wants him to be the emperor, Arulmozhi almost forces new Madhurantakar to be the emperor. This seems more of a shrewd move, of freeing himself for his long wanted expeditions, than a sacrifice to me! Of course, as I have learnt from some articles in Ponniyin Selvan e-group, history could be actually different here, as it is mentioned in some engraving that the Madhurantakar who was crowned as Utthama Chola “wanted” the throne.

To summarize, this is an excellent read for anyone who is even slightly interested in Tamil / Indian history. For a non-Tamil reader there is a complete English translation available here. It seems to be quite a faithful translation of the original.This novel is ideal to be made into a two part or three part movie. It seems the cost is deterring people who wanted to film it, but it's nevertheless a pity that this hasn't been made into a movie. Though there is a related movie by name Raja Raja Cholan, it deals with his life after coronation and it seems to be more of fiction than history.

[Note on history: For those who haven’t found this out already, the novel’s hero Arulmozhi is later crowned as Rajaraja Cholan. He and his son Rajendra Cholan expanded the Chola Empire far and wide by conducting successful expeditions to various places like Srilanka, Bengal, Myanmar, Malaya peninsula, Sumatra and came to be known as one of the greatest emperors in south Indian history. He also built the famous Thanjavur Big temple and later built a new capital for Cholas – Gangaikondacholapuram, consecrated with water from the Ganges. The Cholas flourished for nearly another 300 years, creating a Golden age for Tamil literature and culture, until they finally fell to the resurgent Pandyas by about 1279 AD]