All this talk in class about repetition and difference got me thinking about the philosophic dimensions of 100 años, and specifically the concept of eternal recurrence. The latter refers to a cosmological theory according to which the exact history of the cosmos, being cyclical and not linear, endlessly repeats itself. Marquéz's book affirms eternal recurrence and at the same time denies it. It is both dynamic and static, moving forward while it looks back, proliferating difference while reproducing the same. Its treats time, as both linear and cyclical, in the same way it treats its material, as both realistic and fantastic. Cyclical teleology is here magical realism's structural counterpart, a different expression of the same phenomenon, namely the dialectical interplay between European (linear) rationality and Native-American (cyclical) cosmology.
Eternal recurrence was taken up by Nietzsche, who, unconcerned with its truth or falsity, uses it as a heuristic device whose affirmation allows him to formulate what he considers the correct attitude toward life. Ideally, we should respond to being told that we will have to live our present life again and again with joy and not despair. Despite its repeated sufferings, we should love life enough to respond joyfully to the truth of eternal recurrence and be willing to repeat the whole process eternally. 100 años presents a seemingly endless proliferation of Jose Arcadios and Aurelianos whose (often tragic) character traits are transmitted, like their names, from generation to generation. The exuberance with which Marquez represents this epic disaster seems to suggest, in Nietzschean fashion, that life, despite being a never-ending succession of catastrophes, is worth living over and over again.
3 comments:
What ur saying is very interesting. I agree with u that Marquez is very cyclical in his writing. I've just finished the book and I like the sense u gave it... That life is worth living even if it's a series of repetitions ;)
I also really like what you said Niall, about life being a cycle of horrendous events, always worth living nonetheless. There is definitely a contrast between the linear and cyclic passage of time. We see the events in Macondo occur in a sort of linear fashion, from the establishment of the town to the construction of a railway, compared to the characters, who seem to evolve in a cyclic manner, with the constant reuse of names and repetition of their behaviour/actions.
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I appreciate your Nietzschean reading of the text - it wasn't something that occured to me. Macondo has a finite amount of matter (such as names and personality types) but it exists in infinite time. In an accelerated form of eternal recurrance, that which has already occured does so multiple times within a small number of generations. However - these repitions are never exact. I wonder which characters would throw themselves down and curse, as Nietzsche describes, if told they had to repeat their life and which would be joyful?
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