Marquez 2 (Span 312)

What is the final portrait of Latin America’s greatest military and political figure? What does Marquez leave the reader with? Certainly it is one failure, as his death coincides with the outbreak of war among the various unitarian and nationalist factions of the formerly united countries of Gran Columbia. This, however, is not in-and-of-itself an indictment of Bolivar. Two centuries later, nobody has come closer to achieving his dream or even creating lasting stability in the countries that formerly made up his short-lived nation. More than anything we are left with the portrait of a man whose ambitions could not overcome his decaying body or quite realize the political reality of a truly unified Gran Columbia.

Marquez’s Bolivar seems to simultaneously accept the limitations of physical reality and yet reject them. “He could not renounce his infinite capacity for illusion at the very moment he needed it most” (p.135), and for this reason he conspired and inspired towards his pan-American ends until the very end, while simultaneously claiming that “I don’t exist” (p.137). The general knew that his body was failing him; the same body that had escaped from so many battles and assassination plots unharmed. He knew that death would find him before he could finish a project that only he could have started. Undoubtedly the general knew that his project would crumble in the power vacuum he had left, especially after, General Sucre, his only worthy heir, shuns power and is then assassinated. On his deathbed, despite of his pessimistic (realistic?) and bitter pronouncements that he has uttered over the previous 250 pages he finds himself “shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line.” Is this surprising? I don't think so.

Only a person of incredible resolve and with infinite capacity for dreaming (if not illusion) could have undertaken Bolivar’s project. His capacity to reject Manuela and life-long companionship; to take interest in the suffering of strangers when he was in his last painful days; to love strange and dirty dogs when he had lived in the lap of luxury on so many occasions; to ride a horse when he could barely sit-up. These are all evidence of a of a supernaturally willed and compassionate individual. In the end it was as though neither his body nor his newly created nation was made of the same exceptional material as his will, and thus both broke and perished.

Span 312: Marquez Blog #1

It’s exciting to finally get to this book because it deals with such a mythic figure in Latin American history. I have spent time in Cuba and read many pieces of Latin American non-fiction literature in which Bolivar is omni-present, and with the continued development of MERCUSOR the specter of Bolivar appears stronger than ever. Generally, he is portrayed as the liberator of Latin America so it is of interest to read about him in the context of a course themed on the dictator novel. Marquez paints a tragic and contradictory picture of Bolivar. In the first three pages we come to understand his love life, his failing emotional, physical and mental state, as well as his crumbling political project. First and foremost we see his devouring weakness, but this is undergirded by the remains of an immense strength. It is almost as if Bolivar’s health mirrors his military career. In the depths of weakness he rises from “the ashes” again and again, surprising even those closest to him, such as Jose Palacios when he rises from the motionless depths of his early morning bath. Every night he descends into dementia and wakes up lucid. The question that will be answered in the second part of the book (I believe) is whether this is representative of his whole life at some level. Has he always had elements of insanity, vulnerability and madness, but in different proportions?

Also of interest in the first part of this novel is his relationship with his faithful servant Jose Palacios, because it comes on the heels of “I the Supreme”. Bolivar, like Dr. Francia has to rely completely his assistant, although Palacios is not his scribe in the same fashion. Despite this dissimilarity between the two assistants they both bring to light to the vulnerability of all dictators or military leaders: they must put their total faith in those closest to them to keep their sanity. In contrast to Dr. Francia’s insane mistrust of Patino, Bolivar seems to trust Jose Palacios entirely. I will be watching how this relationship develops throughout the novel.