Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez & Mercedes Barcha

12:17AM Apr 9, 2022

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Keywords:

magical realism

mercedes

write

read

inspired

gabrielle

people

love

book

solitude

editor

managed

gabriel garcia marquez

create

story

invisible

correspondence

handled

support

character

Are you a fan of magical realism? What about mesmerizing epic Nobel Prize winning literature? What if we told you that the godfather of magical realism Gabrielle Garcia Marquez had a muse who inspired all of his most famous works? Keep listening to hear the full story today. I'm Alisha Rai.

And I'm Sarah Wendell. Welcome to lovestruck daily, where we bring a magical true love story to your eardrums each and every weekday. Start with you, Alicia. Have you ever read magical realism it is it? Is it a genre that you enjoy?

It is not? No, I haven't read a lot of it. Except for Isabel.

Isabel Allende.

Yes, I read Isabella, I ended and I enjoyed it. And I mostly read her because I was watching a show called Jane the Virgin, which kind of leaned very hard into the magical realism trope. And it was Jane's favorite author. So I was like, Oh, I'll give this a try. And very much enjoyed it. And then I kind of drifted away. And I haven't I haven't really read anything since then.

I had to read Like Water for Chocolate in English and in Spanish for different classes. So I've read it multiple times. And having read the same book in two languages, especially when I'm not as strong and reading and written Spanish as I am reading in written English was a was a really interesting experience. The thing about magical realism that I love is that that there's an opportunity to introduce an unexpected element. But usually that unexpected element is aimed directly at my heart and would like to slide my emotions right out from between my ribs and hold them up in front of me and go see you have really gooey feelings. Oh, magical realism can have such an emotional impact on me.

That's, that's fantastic. It's good to have, I think a genre or two that that gives you that sense of transportation and it is similar. A lot of similarities with romance. Absolutely.

Some of the best magical realism has romance in it. Of course,

why not both?

Well, today we are going to be talking about one of the most celebrated 20th century authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez, most famous for classics, such as 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, and his swoon worthy romance with Mercedes Barcia. Are you ready for this?

I think you will find a lot to appreciate in this story about writers who Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mercedes Barcia met when they were 13 years old, but their fathers were childhood friends. And upon meeting her, Gabrielle said, I just found out that all the verses I have written were dedicated to you be my wife. Wow. So certainly he was a very laid back and chill 13 year old.

Yeah, very many 13 year old. Also can I'm going to appreciate for a second because I do feel like a lot of historical stories. It's like she was 13. And he was 32 very happy that this is one where I mean, he might have been a little bit of a precocious 13 year old.

This theme of fate re occurs in all of his works, this sort of sense of impending outcomes that will shape a life for better or for worse, he really seemed to invest in believe in the idea of fate. Now, she of course being 13 and having been proposed to by this dude says I gotta finish school first. But they did get married 13 years later. And she took his proposal as a joke. And she took it seriously. Because they would see each other casually over the 10 years between when they met or when they got married. But they had a sort of mutual understanding that they hope to end up with each other and that they belong to one another in a mystical sense. And I love that because there's always people you meet. I mean, this happened when I met you, where you have this sort of resonance, where it's like, oh, we get each other. Yeah. And we move right away from like, how was the traffic? And how was the weather to real conversations between people I love when that happens. So Mercedes and Gabrielle wrote back and forth at school and jobs and stuff separated them and she decided that they needed to end their correspondence they needed to stop writing to each other. And so he just showed up in her town and proposed to her in earnest. No more letters real life now, and she accepted. An evidence of their correspondence does not exist because they mutually agreed later in life that they would destroy their letters, so no one knows what they

wrote to each other. Wow.

Now, he frequently referred to her as the giraffe because of her long neck and slyly named his first published story, the giraffe as well in her honor. And there were many, many works that are considered to be inspired by his love for her which was enduring and mythic and massive. And many, many times characters that were seemed to be inspired by her were acknowledgments of her appear in his work. Here's the part I think you'll like. Although Gabriel Garcia Marquez is obviously the most famous of the two, they very much considered his career, their partnership. She handled the accounts, she supported him during bouts of writing. And when the first line for what would become 100 Years of Solitude came to him while they were on a beach on vacation. She forced them to pack their bags up right then in there and go home immediately so he could begin writing. She knew when it was real, I like this lady. Yeah. Also, he did not write a single sentence without reading it to her first. And though she was not as formally educated as he was, she continuously offered really smart criticism and commentary and was his first editor before his editor ever saw the pages. Oh, that's amazing. During the writing of what would become his Nobel Prize winning novel, 100 Years of Solitude, he had run out of money, because it took so long for him to write it. And so Mercedes sold her hairdryer and her mixer in order to afford the postage, to send the book to his editor, which of course went on to be a massive success. That's so beautiful. And then he became like a literary celebrity, like almost instantly, and Mercedes became even more involved. His career was their partnership. So she managed his royalties. She managed, what magazines or publications they would invest in what interviews he did, and she managed all of their property. Here's my favorite part. In an interview with Vanity Fair in the 1980s, Gabriel Garcia Marquez said of the effect of success on his life and love and work, quote, you write better with all your problems resolved. You write better in good health, you write better without preoccupations. You write better when you have love in your life. There is a romantic idea that suffering and adversity are very good, very useful for the writer. I don't agree at all. I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah,

that's so true. I mean, I can tell you, I remember when a few years ago and things were, you know, really, really hard. And a creator came out and said, you know, we'll think of all the great art that will be created during this time. No. And I just thought, oh, no, no, no, no. I mean, there, there's always going to be great art created. It doesn't matter whether it's through times of adversity or not, but you always write better when you're in a good place in your

life. He's entirely right you create when you have health when you're not preoccupied, when you don't have problems that are looming over you. You create. I mean, isn't that what it is to be human right? Should be? Yeah, yeah. So it is, as I said, there are many references and characters that people believe are inspired by Mercedes, but it is believed that Mercedes is particularly immortalized in Love in the Time of Cholera as the character fenomena data, who is a young, serious woman who haunts the protagonist, as he loves her throughout his entire life. And the book is dedicated to Mercedes. I love the idea of creating a character that's going to haunt your main character and inspiring it by your wife. And I'm sure she was like, Yeah, that sounds good, good plan.

Following his death in 2014, Mercedes made the decision to never discuss his work or his legacy publicly. She will not discuss her own involvement in his success and his writing. She said she would rather let his work speak for itself. That's beautiful. Isn't it? Lovely?

Yeah.

What a great relationship. And the thing that really struck me about his quote, you know, you write better with all your problems resolved, you write better in good health, you write better without preoccupations. You write better when you have love in your life. So what do you think is the modern day equivalent of that, to give yourself the undistracted space to write as a writer, as an as an author? That means you have a social media manager, a publicist, a housekeeper, a childcare provider, an elder care provider, a cook, think of all of the roles and the jobs that are basically often in the way of the time to create Yeah, and how much the support allows for creativity, like even even right now as we are recording this Like this time is blocked off on my calendar. My kids know to come in the house during our recording, they come in the house quietly, my husband is managing the dogs and making sure everything is quiet, we make sure there are no deliveries. Everyone around me make space for me to create this podcast because it's important to me. And I can't think of a more beautiful expression of

love. Yeah, very much. So I think I think it's especially hard. Right now, I mean, COVID still thing, and, and people are still home a lot. So the people who have managed to make that work in a way where there is split of household chores, and and the distractions that keep you from doing your job, hopefully the thing you love, that's invaluable. And I do think, you know, divorces have increased in the last few years. And I think that's partially because, because people have discovered that, you know, when you're when you're around someone a lot more, you realize the things they're not doing as much as you realize the things they are doing. Oh, yeah. So So I do think it is invaluable. And I heard this somewhere, a couple, you know, they like to check in with each other. And they like to say, How can I how can I help you today? How can I? How can I support you today? What am I doing that? What can I do to support you today? And that's something that we've got sort of implemented in our relationship guy and I that sometimes, you know, we'll just be working on computer and I'll say, am I supporting you? Well, right now, am I doing anything that is difficult for you? Or is causing you stress? Or is there something more I could do to take a little bit more off your plate? Because I have the bandwidth for that right now? Yeah. Or when I'm working. I mean, he doesn't mean most the time he doesn't even ask, he just handles a cooking, he started handling. You know, he wrangles the cat which as listeners will understand whenever you hear putting mouth knowing it's because guys nautical is the only time. So it is sometimes the most practical basic things. And sometimes it is extravagant things. But it doesn't always have to be that your partner is earning way more money. So you have the freedom to go right. Sometimes it's just your partner is doing the dishes so that you don't have to worry about it. It's one more mental load off of you.

I have to say I am so inspired by the idea that his career was their partnership, because sometimes that's how I'll actually know most of the time. That's how

I feel. Oh, yeah, I definitely feel like guys a big part of my career. I mean, even if it's just not even not even always the invisible labor, but sometimes they'll straight up give me an idea. And I'll say, why don't why don't we do it this way. Like we'll be talking about later nameless. I'm stuck on this. I don't know how to do it. Yep. And or, you know, I've put up full on poster boards on the walls. And we've workshopped out a book, because I can't get past a block where I've written myself into a corner. Yep. So essential, essential to have you know, that story like that sounding board for me. Yeah. And I can imagine, you know, for for Garcia as well.

Yeah. And I think that is such an important element of being in relationships with people that you are their biggest fan and they are your biggest fan. So I am always team Adam. I'm always on the time team of my children. But they are also team Sarah, which is a really lovely thing to know, my creativity and the work that I do can take up space and time and they make room for it.

Sarah, what would you say that your love to go is?

I would say, take time to thank the people around you for the invisible work that they do that doesn't get enough credit or appreciation? And make sure you thank the people who are on your team.

That's wonderful. Yeah, definitely. And you put invisible in air quotes, and nobody could see it. But yeah, but very much. It's not always invisible. It's

real. It's just people don't always see it.

Visible I think I think it often goes under appreciated. Yes. Why it's called Invisible labor. But but very much, you know, send send a little thank you to to anybody who helps you whether that's creative or not. And we would love to hear all about what you're grateful for and who you're grateful for. So please send an email to lovestruck daily at product at media. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at lovestruck daily. Please leave us a review, subscribe and spread the word about our show.

Our researcher is Jesse Epstein. Our editor is Jen Jacobs. We are produced by Abigail steckler and little Scorpion studios with executive producer frolic media. This is an I Heart Radio Podcast and we

wish you a very happily ever after. We're very grateful for you. In love with st st And I'm in love with you I'm in love with you