Artistic and Literature in Spanish America Chronicle of a death foretold Dra. Patricia Nigro

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Artistic and Literature in Spanish
AmericaChronicle of a death foretoldDra.
Patricia Nigro
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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Chronicle of a death foretold
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Chronicle of a death foretold
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Chronicle of a death foretold

• Themes
• honor,
• revenge,
• sex roles,
• deception,
• supernatural dreams, allucinations, premonitions.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Chronicle of a death foretold

• 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."

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Chronicle of a death foretold style

• Chorus It was the last time he (she, they) saw
  him.
• Page 8 (Santiagos mother, Plácida Linero).
• Page 19 (Margot, narrators sister).
• Page 67 (Cristo Bedoya, Santiagos friend).
• Page 104 (Yamil Shaium, Santiagos future father
  in law).

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Chronicle of a death foretold style

• Description of houses
• Santiago Nasars place page 10.
• Ángela Vicarios place page 39-40.
• Old Xiuss place, then Bayardo San Romans place
  page 35.

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Chronicle of a death foretold style

• First person narrator related to García Márquezs
  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.

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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 cant imagine how hard is to kill a man
  page 118.
• My aunt, Wenefrida Márquez... page 120.

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Chronicle of a death foretold style

• Foresights
• Santiagos dream the night before he was
  murdered page 10.
• Thats whats 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.