Artistic and Literature in Spanish America

Chronicle of a death foretold

Dra. Patricia Nigro

Chronicle of a death foretold

• Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica

de una muerte anunciada) was

published in 1981. It tells, in the form

of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction,

the story of the murder of Santiago

Nasar by the two Vicario brothers.

Chronicle of a death foretold

• One of the unanswered questions in this book is who actually took

Angela Vicario's virginity, for the narrator is unsure why she

named Santiago Nasar as the one who committed the crime,

although it is suggested by gossip that she did it to protect the

man whom she loved. The crime against Santiago would not only

be done to him by the Vicario brothers, but also by all those in his

community.

Chronicle of a death foretold

• It's also possible to read the book as a

Kafkaesque love and crime story: the

beginning of the book is itself a

variation of the start of The Trial and

The Metamorphosis, both by Franz

Kafka. García Márquez himself

acknowledges this influence.

Chronicle of a death foretold

• The story exhibits many of the magic realist style:– it makes oblique references to

God and clairvoyance. – it has the magic realism aspect

of a warped timeline. The main plot plays out five times--once in each of the five chapters--and each time information is given from a different individual in the community.

– this allows for the storyline to portray the idea of fragmentation, thus bringing in this idea of reality and fantasy.

Chronicle of a death foretold

– the narrator's inclusion of personal judgments, as well as the events occurring many years after the drama unfolds, seems to breach the definition of a chronicle.

– the kaleidoscopic imagery found in the novel adds to this impression and, combined with the contorted chronological structure and the townspeople's anticipation of Santiago Nasar's murder, erodes the plausibility of mere irresponsibility as an explanation for the tragedy,

Chronicle of a death foretold

– this incongruity fits with the magic realism style; it may be put down to fate,

– the opposite of unlikely powerlessness, unlikely endurance, is also present as Santiago Nasar's stench permeates the town even after he dies,

– the subtle intersection of human values and the supernatural with the physical world is a hallmark of magical realism.

Chronicle of a death foretold

• The book was adapted for the big screen in the Spanish language film: Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987), an Italian-French-Colombian co-production, directed by Francesco Rosi, starring Ornella Muti, Rupert Everett and Anthony Delon.

• In 1995, Graciela Daniele adapted it into the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical of the same name, which she also directed and choreographed.

Chronicle of a death foretold

Chronicle of a death foretold

Chronicle of a death foretold

• Themes:

– honor,

– revenge,

– sex roles,

– deception,

– supernatural: dreams,

allucinations, premonitions.

Chronicle of a death foretold: point of view

• Narrating the story from the first-person point of view is the unnamed son of

Luisa Santiaga and brother of Margot, Luis, Jaime, and a nun. Having

returned to the river village after twenty-seven years, the narrator tries to

reconstruct the events of the day that ends in the murder of Santiago Nasar.

• Typically, a first-person narrator gives his own point of view but does not

know what other characters are thinking: an ability reserved for the third-

person omniscient, or all-knowing, point of view.

• The writer bends the rules: the narrator tells the story in the first person, yet

he also relates everything everyone is thinking.

Chronicle of a death foretold: setting

• It takes place in a small, Latin American river village off the

coast of the Caribbean sometime after the civil wars. Once a

busy center for shipping and ocean-going ships, the town

now lacks commerce as a result of shifting river currents.

Chronicle of a death foretold: setting

• The events evolve over a two-

day time period. A wedding

has taken place the night

before. On the day of the

murder, most of the

townspeople have hangovers

from the wedding reception.

Because a visit from the

bishop is expected,

however, a festive air

prevails.

• García Márquez said in an

interview: "the area is soaked in

myths brought over by the slaves,

mixed in with Indian legends and

Andalusian imagination. The result

is a very special way of looking at

things, a conception of life that

sees a bit of the marvelous in

everything."

Chronicle of a death foretold

• Chorus: It was the last time he (she, they) saw

him.

– Page 8 (Santiago’s mother, Plácida Linero).

– Page 19 (Margot, narrator’s sister).

– Page 67: (Cristo Bedoya, Santiago’s friend).

– Page 104: (Yamil Shaium, Santiago’s future father

in law).

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Description of houses:

– Santiago Nasar’s

place: page 10.

– Ángela Vicario’s place:

page 39-40.

– Old Xius’s place, then

Bayardo San Roman’s

place: page 35.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• First person narrator related to García Márquez’s life:

– Luisa Santiaga (his mother): page 24.

– ...my wife Mercedes recalls: page 31.

– General Petronio San Roman put to flight Coronel Aureliano

Buendía (One hundred years of solitude): page 33.

– ...to shake hands with the man who gave the order for

Gerineldo Márquez to be shot in the back: page 34.

– Many knew that in the confusion of the bash I had proposed

marriage to Mercedes Barcha as soon as she finished

primary school, just as she would remind me fourteen years

later when we got married: pages 43-4.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

– ...we took the musicians with us

for a round of serenades...: page

66.

– She wrote a weekly letter for

over half a lifetime: page 93.

– ...Mercedes says: page 111.

– ...you can´t imagine how hard is

to kill a man: page 118.

– My aunt, Wenefrida Márquez...:

page 120.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Foresights:

– Santiago’s dream the night before

he was murdered: page 10.

– That’s what’s my wedding going to

be like: page 18.

– Only a long time after the

unfortunate wedding: page 27.

– On the eve of his death...: page 42.

– ....it was a very clear vision, Divina

Flor told me: page 116.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Fate and religion:

– No one could understand suchs fatal coincidences: page 12.

– It was a breath of the Holy Spirit: page 16.

– (Luisa Santiaga had) power of divination: page 20.

– ...disdain that prize of destiny: page 34.

– ...it was for such an unforseen reason that the investigator

who drew up the brief never did understand it: page 50.

– ...he never forgot the fatal drink Pedro Vicario offered him...:

page 68.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Fate and religion:

– The report says: It looked like a stigma of the crucified

Christ: page 75.

– ...we all could have been to blame: page 81.

– ...to give order to the chain of many events that had made

absurdity possible...: page 96.

– ...he was so perplexed by the enygma...: page 99.

– ...life should make use of so many coincidences...: page 99.

– ...fatality makes us invisible: page 113.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Chronicle: dates, exact time, complete names and relationships

between the characters.

– In the course of the investigations for this chronicle...:page

43.

– ...five hours before the killing: page 45.

– According to what they told me years later...: page 49.

– Pablo Vicario confirmed several times to me...:page 60.

– Santiago Nasar went into the house at four twenty...: page

64.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Chronicle:

– Father Amador confessed me many

days later...: page 70.

– Years later when I came back to search

out the last pieces of testimony for this

chronicle...: page 86.

– ...several people helped me look for

twenty years later in the Palace of

Justice in Riohacha: page 98.

– ...let me rescue some 322 pages filched

from the more than 500 that the brief

must have contained...: page 99.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Legal process:

– ...the investigating judge who came from Riohacha: page 12.

– Someone who was never identified had shoved an envelope under

the door...: page 14.

– ...she declared to the investigator: page 20.

– It had never been well-established how they had met: page 28.

– ...all the versions agreed that... : page 29.

– The laywer stood by the tesis of homicide in legitimate defense of

honor...: page 48.

– ...with the reconstructions of the facts...: page 49.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style

• Legal process:

– The investigator had made sketches of them in the brief...: page

58.

– ...in their separate statements to the investigator...:page 60.

– ...the unforgiving autopsy...: page 72.

– ...as a useful piece of evidence: page 75.

– ...the cause of death had been a massive hemorrhage...:

page 76.

– ...there is a declaration of him in the brief...: page 87.

– On folio 416,...: page 100.

Chronicle of a death foretold: style