枯枝败叶 (1955)

《枯枝败叶》（西班牙语：La hojarasca）是哥伦比亚小说家加布列·贾西亚·马奎斯出版于1955年的小说。广受赞誉的《百年孤寂》故事发生的背景小城马康多首次在此书出现；因此《枯枝败叶》被认为是《百年孤寂》的试验场和前奏作品，同时也是加布列·贾西亚·马奎斯的成名作。

《枯枝败叶》分别从祖孙三代（父亲、女儿和孙子）三个人的不同视角叙述了一个带有魔幻现实主义色彩的故事。剧情推进的过程中叙事的视角不断地被转换，三人的不同感触和回忆互相穿插。

剧情介绍

故事发生在古旧气氛浓郁的小城马孔多。现代意义上的商业组织“香蕉公司”已经在马孔多落脚，吸引了大量为公司工作的外地人。来到马孔多的外地人正如一股狂风席卷了守旧而落后的小城（这正是书名的由来）。

小说以一个广受尊敬的老上校、上校女儿伊莎贝尔和上校的孙子三人为中心，描述了祖孙三代在一个大夫的葬礼上各自的心理活动和大夫在世时的关于他的回忆。大夫因性格古怪和行为不检点，为小城的大多数居民所唾弃；上校却遵守与大夫的约定，不顾旁人的冷眼，为其主持葬礼。

在遭到无数居民愤恨但与老上校有着千丝万缕联系的大夫死后，祖孙三人发现自己正面临精神上的无所寄托的处境。

Leaf Storm is the common translation for Gabriel García Márquez's novella La Hojarasca (lit. 'Litter'). First published in 1955, it took seven years to find a publisher. Widely celebrated as the first appearance of Macondo, the fictitious village later made famous in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Leaf Storm is a testing ground for many of the themes and characters later immortalized in said book. It is also the title of a short story collection by García Márquez.

The other stories compiled in the English translation are “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, “Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles”, “The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship”, “The Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo”, and “Nabo”. Several of these short stories appeared elsewhere before being put into this compilation. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” first appeared in Playboy magazine in 1971. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” first appeared in New American Review and “Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles” was first published in Esquire Magazine.

The narrative of Leaf Storm shifts between the perspectives of three generations of one family as the three characters (father, daughter and grandson respectively) find themselves in a spiritual limbo after the death of a man passionately hated by the entire village yet inextricably linked to the patriarch of the family.

Plot introduction

The novella takes place in Macondo, the fictional town that would be the future site of more García Márquez stories. At this point in time, the banana company has landed in the little town of Macondo and, with it, many new people to work. The newcomers are referred to as “la hojarasca,” hence the title of the book. However, the narrative surrounds a colonel, his daughter Isabel, his grandson and the burial of a doctor scorned by the village. The story takes place at the wake of the doctor.

Plot summary

The Father, an aging, half blind man who carries the title of colonel within the village, has made a promise to bury the recently deceased former doctor in spite of the consensus within Macondo that he should be left to rot within the corner house where he had lived in complete social isolation for the past decade. The daughter, Isabel, is obliged to accompany her father out of respect for traditional values while knowing she and her son will be doomed to face the wrath of her neighbors in Macondo. The narrative of the grandson, on the other hand, is more preoccupied with the mystery and wonder of death.

As with many of his stories, such as Love in the Time of Cholera and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, García Márquez introduces a dramatic scene to begin his narrative and then moves backward, rehashing the past that will lead up to the ultimate conclusion. It is discovered within the narrative that the center of all the conflict (the deceased) is a doctor who came to Macondo with a mysterious past and no clear name. The man's only saving grace is a letter of recommendation from the Colonel Aureliano Buendia, one of the main characters of the later One Hundred Years of Solitude. It is this letter that leads the stranger to the family that serves collectively as narrator to the drama that unfolds.

List of characters

Colonel - Old Colombian Civil War veteran in Macondo. First-person narrator. His unnamed wife died long ago (1898), soon after giving birth to his only child, Isabel.

Isabel (Chabela) - Colonel's 30-year-old daughter. First-person narrator.

Child - 10-year-old son of Isabel and Martín. First-person narrator.

Adelaida - Colonel's second wife, stepmother of Isabel.

Doctor - Physician, living at the colonel's house.

Remedios Orozco (Meme) - Adelaida's indian maid, Doctor's concubine. Last seen in 1917.

Martín - Isabel's husband, profession unknown. Last seen in 1920.

Pup, father Ángel - Parish priests in distinct generations.

Rebeca, Águeda, Veva García, Solita - Friends of Isabel.

Tobías, Abraham, Gilberto - School friends of the child.