Of Love and Other Demons
Book 1 of 125:
Of Love and Other Demons
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(Penguin Books, 1996, 160 pp.)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez made two Pinoy references in Of Love and Other Demons: first, the Filipinos as traffickers of opium from China to Mexico; and second, the Philippines as an exporter of rocking chairs, one of which was eventually owned by the Bishop in the novel. I always take note of these to imagine how we, our country, are being imagined by great writers. It gives relief: We are in their consciousness, no matter how peripheral and sometimes, even, stereotypical.
Aside from mentions of Filipino, I also take note of other texts that are mentioned within a novel. I always believe that novels encourage novel-reading, that’s why most characters are either writers or fanatic readers. In Of Love, Father Cayetano Delaura is the librarian of the diocese; and the physician Abrenuncio owns books of about 200 more than those found in the library of Petrarch, most of which are books forbidden by the Church, “like the best novels of our times,” added Abrenuncio himself. The two, in one occasion, talked about Voltaire, Fray Gerundio, Lettres Philosophiques, The Four Books of Amadis Gaul and Don Quijote. I haven’t heard of Fray Gerundio and Amadis Gaul before, and now I am certainly curious.
Most novels are about the joy of reading novels, that’s why they thrive despite our fast-paced lives. This is the first time I’ll say this: I can imagine myself without any poetry, but not without novels. But, of course, you can say that my imagination has nothing to do with reality. I am free to imagine; you are free to say whatever you want.
But, why is love a demon? Near the end of the novel, Abrenuncio said that “love was an emotion contra natura that condemned two strangers to a base and unhealthy dependence, and the more intense it was, the more ephemeral.”
Certainly, love shares the curse of the demon: It cannot last.
Palaging binabanggit iyang amadis of gaul sa don quixote. romansa ata iyang caballero.
Wow, talaga? Panahon na talagang basahin ang Don Quixote. Pakiramdam ko kasi, hindi pa ako handa. Noong January 2, bumili na ako ng sarili kong kopya nito sa National BS – Cubao. 200 pesos lang, nasa sale books floor nila.
Certainly, love shares the curse of the demon: It cannot last.
- lalim. di ko ma reach. :p
Siyempre, dapat e pa-”deep” paminsan-minsan.
[...] I said earlier that novels themselves are the foremost advocates of novel-reading; I extend its metafictional character now by underlining its inclination towards commenting on the craft and practice of novel-writing. In the “half” chapter of the book (“Parenthesis”), which discourses on love (how I wished Barnes knew of our “mahal kita”), the novelist revealed himself and his thoughts on the ironic virtue of the prose, at the expense of poetry (a lot similar to what Kundera did on the “lyric” in his Life Is Elsewhere): [...]
A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters « Ilang Tala Mula sa Atisan said this on January 9, 2008 at 2:13 pm |