Artistic and Literature in Spanish
America
Chronicle of a death foretold
Dra. Patricia Nigro
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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-FrenchColombian 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.
Chronicle of a death foretold
Chronicle of a death foretold
Chronicle of a death foretold
• Themes:
– honor,
– revenge,
– sex roles,
– deception,
– supernatural: dreams,
allucinations,
premonitions.
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.
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.
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.
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."
Chronicle of a death foretold: style
• Chorus: It was the last time he (she, they) saw
him.
– Page 8 (Santiago’s mother, Plácida Linero).
– Page 19 (Margot, narrator’s sister).
– Page 67: (Cristo Bedoya, Santiago’s friend).
– Page 104: (Yamil Shaium, Santiago’s future father
in law).
Chronicle of a death foretold: style
• Description of houses:
– Santiago Nasar’s
place: page 10.
– Ángela Vicario’s place:
page 39-40.
– Old Xius’s place, then
Bayardo San Roman’s
place: page 35.
Chronicle of a death foretold: style
• First person narrator related to García Márquez’s 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.
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 can´t imagine how hard
is to kill a man: page 118.
– My aunt, Wenefrida Márquez...:
page 120.
Chronicle of a death foretold: style
• Foresights:
– Santiago’s dream the night before
he was murdered: page 10.
– That’s what’s 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.