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Ascent to Glory: How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic
Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seemed destined for obscurity upon its publication in 1967. The little-known author, small publisher, magical style, and setting in a remote Caribbean village were hardly the usual ingredients for success in the literary marketplace. Yet today it ranks among the best-selling books of all time. Translated into dozens of languages, it continues to enter the lives of new readers around the world. How did One Hundred Years of Solitude achieve this unlikely success? And what does its trajectory tell us about how a work of art becomes a classic?
Ascent to Glory is a groundbreaking study of One Hundred Years of Solitude , from the moment García Márquez first had the idea for the novel to its global consecration. Using new documents from the author’s archives, Álvaro Santana-Acuña shows how García Márquez wrote the novel, going beyond the many legends that surround it. He unveils the literary ideas and networks that made possible the book’s creation and initial success. Santana-Acuña then follows this novel’s path in more than seventy countries on five continents and explains how thousands of people and organizations have helped it to become a global classic. Shedding new light on the novel’s imagination, production, and reception, Ascent to Glory is an eye-opening book for cultural sociologists and literary historians as well as for fans of García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude .
Ascent to Glory is a groundbreaking study of One Hundred Years of Solitude , from the moment García Márquez first had the idea for the novel to its global consecration. Using new documents from the author’s archives, Álvaro Santana-Acuña shows how García Márquez wrote the novel, going beyond the many legends that surround it. He unveils the literary ideas and networks that made possible the book’s creation and initial success. Santana-Acuña then follows this novel’s path in more than seventy countries on five continents and explains how thousands of people and organizations have helped it to become a global classic. Shedding new light on the novel’s imagination, production, and reception, Ascent to Glory is an eye-opening book for cultural sociologists and literary historians as well as for fans of García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude .
384 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2020
About the author
Alvaro Santana-Acuña
4 books2 followersA native of the Canary Islands, Álvaro Santana-Acuña is a historian and sociologist. The idea for his newest book "Ascent to Glory" hit him under an umbrella on a very rainy day, when all of a sudden said to himself out loud, "It rains like in Macondo." Little did he suspect that his reaction was the idea for a book that, to complete it, took him ten years and travels to eight countries. "Ascent to Glory" tells the story of the making of one of the best-selling and most beloved novels of all time, "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
Santana-Acuña teaches at Whitman College and the Harvard Summer School. His award-winning sociology and history research has been featured in the BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, National Public Radio, El País, El Mundo, Radio Nacional de España, La Vie des idées, El Universal, El Espectador. He is a contributor to The New York Times, The New York Times en español, and El País.
Twitter: @santana_alvaro
***
Álvaro Santana-Acuña es un historiador y sociólogo originario de las islas Canarias. La idea para su nuevo libro "Ascent to Glory" le asaltó bajo un paraguas en un día muy lluvioso, cuando de repente se dijo en voz alta: "Llueve como en Macondo". Poco sospechaba que su reacción era la idea para un libro cuya escritura le tomó diez años y viajes a ocho países. "Ascent to Glory" cuenta la historia de la creación de una de las novelas más vendidas y queridas de todos los tiempos, "Cien años de soledad".
Santana-Acuña enseña en Whitman College y en el Harvard Summer School. Su investigación premiada en sociología e historia ha aparecido en BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, National Public Radio, El País, El Mundo, Radio Nacional de España, La Vie des idées, El Universal, El Espectador. Es colaborador de The New York Times, The New York Times en español y El País.
Twitter: @santana_alvaro
Santana-Acuña teaches at Whitman College and the Harvard Summer School. His award-winning sociology and history research has been featured in the BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, National Public Radio, El País, El Mundo, Radio Nacional de España, La Vie des idées, El Universal, El Espectador. He is a contributor to The New York Times, The New York Times en español, and El País.
Twitter: @santana_alvaro
***
Álvaro Santana-Acuña es un historiador y sociólogo originario de las islas Canarias. La idea para su nuevo libro "Ascent to Glory" le asaltó bajo un paraguas en un día muy lluvioso, cuando de repente se dijo en voz alta: "Llueve como en Macondo". Poco sospechaba que su reacción era la idea para un libro cuya escritura le tomó diez años y viajes a ocho países. "Ascent to Glory" cuenta la historia de la creación de una de las novelas más vendidas y queridas de todos los tiempos, "Cien años de soledad".
Santana-Acuña enseña en Whitman College y en el Harvard Summer School. Su investigación premiada en sociología e historia ha aparecido en BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, National Public Radio, El País, El Mundo, Radio Nacional de España, La Vie des idées, El Universal, El Espectador. Es colaborador de The New York Times, The New York Times en español y El País.
Twitter: @santana_alvaro
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 10, 2021
Um estudo sobre a sociogenêse de um clássico que vai acabar virando também um clássico.
November 28, 2020
The power of networking to create a Classic
Back in the Eighties, when I read for the first time “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, I was so amazed that I thought Gabriel García Márquez must have been struck by some kind of divine inspirational moment to create such a marvelous piece of literature. Since them, I had assumed that this masterpiece was exclusively produced by the mind of the great Colombian writer and I imagined him working alone and secluded in the room of his apartment in Mexico City. It was until I read “Ascent to Glory” that I learned how el Gabo wrote his famous novel assisted by the input and recommendations of the network of his close friends. But I also got to know how earlier novels produced by fellow Latin-American writers used similar themes and story lines to create great novels that did not become nearly as popular as the now classic “One Hundred Years of Solitude”.
Any aspiring writer should read “Ascent to Glory” to know how important is networking not only to publish a book but also to enrich it with the input of fellow writers, the way García Márquez did.
As a bonus for anybody interested in Latin-American literature, Álvaro Santana-Acuna also provides the names of several books of great value that would help enrich the enjoyable experience of delving into the literature of this interesting region of the World. Thanks to this book I will start reading novels from Alejo Carpentier, José Donoso and José Lezama Lima, among others.
Back in the Eighties, when I read for the first time “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, I was so amazed that I thought Gabriel García Márquez must have been struck by some kind of divine inspirational moment to create such a marvelous piece of literature. Since them, I had assumed that this masterpiece was exclusively produced by the mind of the great Colombian writer and I imagined him working alone and secluded in the room of his apartment in Mexico City. It was until I read “Ascent to Glory” that I learned how el Gabo wrote his famous novel assisted by the input and recommendations of the network of his close friends. But I also got to know how earlier novels produced by fellow Latin-American writers used similar themes and story lines to create great novels that did not become nearly as popular as the now classic “One Hundred Years of Solitude”.
Any aspiring writer should read “Ascent to Glory” to know how important is networking not only to publish a book but also to enrich it with the input of fellow writers, the way García Márquez did.
As a bonus for anybody interested in Latin-American literature, Álvaro Santana-Acuna also provides the names of several books of great value that would help enrich the enjoyable experience of delving into the literature of this interesting region of the World. Thanks to this book I will start reading novels from Alejo Carpentier, José Donoso and José Lezama Lima, among others.
November 17, 2020
This book is filled with fascinating details and a great topic: what makes a classic? Santana-Acuña shows us that it's not just the quality or originality of the writing, but the combination of a great number of factors: the timing, the economic environment, the support of peers, the approval of gatekeepers, the distribution system, and even the personality of the artist.
The only reason I don't give it five stars is because it's presented in a clumsy manner for academic consumption: each chapter deals with one facet, which requires a lot of repetition of information in every chapter for readers who aren't reading the book as a whole. I wish Santana-Acuña would consider publishing an edition for the general public that follows a more chronological format. Nevertheless, a book well worth reading, even if you find yourself skipping a bit.
The only reason I don't give it five stars is because it's presented in a clumsy manner for academic consumption: each chapter deals with one facet, which requires a lot of repetition of information in every chapter for readers who aren't reading the book as a whole. I wish Santana-Acuña would consider publishing an edition for the general public that follows a more chronological format. Nevertheless, a book well worth reading, even if you find yourself skipping a bit.
December 14, 2023
كتاب مهم ومليء بالمعلومات لكل مهتم بالأدب اللاتيني هو لا يحكي كيف كتب ماركيز مئة عام من العزلة,انما كيف حاك ماركيز الرواية وبمعاونة اصدقاءه في توفير الافكار والأحداث
أيضاً
.ماهو الأسلوب الذي استخدمه وبمن تأثر
يتحدث الكتاب ايضاً أثر الرواية عالمياً وماحدث قبل وبعد اصدار الرواية في المجتمع الأدبي وظهور وبروز الأدب اللاتيني وكتّابه مع ذكر اسماء ومصادر الكتب وتاريخها
أيضاً
.ماهو الأسلوب الذي استخدمه وبمن تأثر
يتحدث الكتاب ايضاً أثر الرواية عالمياً وماحدث قبل وبعد اصدار الرواية في المجتمع الأدبي وظهور وبروز الأدب اللاتيني وكتّابه مع ذكر اسماء ومصادر الكتب وتاريخها
June 8, 2022
In Ascent to Glory, Santana-Acuña has written more than a scholarly kunstlerroman, a portrait of an artist or an artist’s work,. Rather, he has written the arche-story of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Based on extensive, dedicated, and patient research, Santana-Acuña weaves together sources, discourses, and disciplines to tell a macro-level story about the creation of a work, its realization, its dissemination, and continued presence in the world. Gabriel García Márquez is part of this narrative, as is One Hundred Years of Solitude, but Santana-Acuña tells a much deeper and broader story that feels like a highly choreographed crowd scene in an epic movie or the camera work in Aleksandr Sokurov’s film Russian Ark (2002). There is so much in this book to take in, yet Santana-Acuña maintains deft control of his material to realize the argument embedded in the book’s title.
Rather than understand One Hundred Years of Solitude narrowly as a singular work of genius, product of a unique literary genius, Santana-Acuña sees the novel as a collective expression, product of a vast network of collaborators (individuals, groups, institutions) and historical, cultural, and aesthetic forces. Some of this material is well known because of the numerous interviews with García Márquez over the course of his life, his autobiography Living to Tell the Tale (2002), or Gerald Martin’s thorough biography Gabriel García Márquez: A Life (2008), but Santana-Acuña is charting a vaster ground in Ascent to Glory, because he wants to understand One Hundred Years of Solitude can be initially conceived within Colombian regionalism, then through its development and publication become a scion of the New Latin American Novel, then through translation transform into a piece of world literature, and finally to be taken up by non-literary cultural forces to become a global classic. At each stage, the novel breaks from one context–one set of collaborators and collaborations–into a geographically and culturally broader, more networked context with new, more numerous collaborators. It is through this widening arc of cultural power, dissemination, and presence that Santana-Acuña organizes his diverse research and makes sense of his collaborative focus and argument.
Rather than understand One Hundred Years of Solitude narrowly as a singular work of genius, product of a unique literary genius, Santana-Acuña sees the novel as a collective expression, product of a vast network of collaborators (individuals, groups, institutions) and historical, cultural, and aesthetic forces. Some of this material is well known because of the numerous interviews with García Márquez over the course of his life, his autobiography Living to Tell the Tale (2002), or Gerald Martin’s thorough biography Gabriel García Márquez: A Life (2008), but Santana-Acuña is charting a vaster ground in Ascent to Glory, because he wants to understand One Hundred Years of Solitude can be initially conceived within Colombian regionalism, then through its development and publication become a scion of the New Latin American Novel, then through translation transform into a piece of world literature, and finally to be taken up by non-literary cultural forces to become a global classic. At each stage, the novel breaks from one context–one set of collaborators and collaborations–into a geographically and culturally broader, more networked context with new, more numerous collaborators. It is through this widening arc of cultural power, dissemination, and presence that Santana-Acuña organizes his diverse research and makes sense of his collaborative focus and argument.
December 26, 2024
Álvaro is unique as an author and as an academic. Although the world's foremost expert on Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Gabo), his prose is accessible, interesting and dynamic enough for even the most casual reader's bookshelf. This is a landmark study, novel, and seminal work in the field of Gabriel Garcia Marquez studies - fast-moving and full to the brim of fascinating detail (as Álvaro is in real life himself) about Gabo and Mercedes's life, sociocultural milieu and life's architecture around the book. An unprecedented look into the lead-up, the after-math and the construction and meaning of 100 Years of Solitude, this book paints Gabo's oeuvre in such bright and new hues (you'll never look at yellow roses, butterflies or the color yellow in general in the same light again) that even the biggest fan who's read and re-read Gabo's work will walk away surprised, delighted, and with a new appreciation both for Gabo and Álvaro together.
December 1, 2020
Avec « Ascent to glory » Álvaro Santana-Acuña explore l’univers poétique de l’écrivain colombien Gabriel García Márquez. Son étude montre comment « Cent ans de solitude » est devenu un chef d’œuvre universel. Le chercheur Explore toutes les facettes de cette œuvre intemporelle.
« Ascent to glory » nous permet de voir comment « cent ans solitude » a été construit et comment il reflète la vie caribéenne, la vie colombienne, la vie latino-américaine et la vie au delà des frontières.
Ce livre est le résultat du travail assidu et rigoureux du sociologue, écrivain et professeur espagnol Álvaro Santana-Acuña. En utilisant plusieurs ressources et des documents inédits, l’auteur nous présente une excellente recherche où la sociologie et la littérature se rencontrent.
Un livre à lire absolument! Une invitation au voyage vers le réel merveilleux !
« Ascent to glory » nous permet de voir comment « cent ans solitude » a été construit et comment il reflète la vie caribéenne, la vie colombienne, la vie latino-américaine et la vie au delà des frontières.
Ce livre est le résultat du travail assidu et rigoureux du sociologue, écrivain et professeur espagnol Álvaro Santana-Acuña. En utilisant plusieurs ressources et des documents inédits, l’auteur nous présente une excellente recherche où la sociologie et la littérature se rencontrent.
Un livre à lire absolument! Une invitation au voyage vers le réel merveilleux !
January 7, 2024
This book was good but not what I had expected. This surprised me because it focused mostly on the cultural and social-network that fostered its creation. Unlike other books that I have loved, this did not seek to explain the structure of the book--information that would be most valuable to a writer looking to write their own "Cien años de soledad".
Certainly it was fascinating to learn how long it took to envision the book before a single word was written, and to learn how much García Márquez had workshopped its chapters among his peer writers and other literary critics.
Though this observation should not detract from the fine achievement that is this book--I have to conclude that I still have not read a book that explains the structure of this novel, as a writer would be looking for.
Certainly it was fascinating to learn how long it took to envision the book before a single word was written, and to learn how much García Márquez had workshopped its chapters among his peer writers and other literary critics.
Though this observation should not detract from the fine achievement that is this book--I have to conclude that I still have not read a book that explains the structure of this novel, as a writer would be looking for.
February 23, 2021
Historia, sociología y critica literaria son, sin duda, elementos cruciales para el estudio del libro y en especial para comprenderlos como objetos culturales que pueden llegar a tener una repercusión global dentro y fuera de la literatura. No basta un elemento estético, sino son múltiples las razones que pueden convierten una novela en un clásico global. Santana-Acuña con un lenguaje sencillo que se lee por momentos como una novela y con una estructura teórica clara logra demostrarlo con un clásico global como Cien años de soledad.
December 13, 2024
Cómo es que un libro se vuelve un clásico? El genio, el talento, el trabajo del autor, por supuesto. Pero hace falta mucho más. Las condiciones del mercado, no en uno, sino en varios países. Las redes culturales del autor. Los agentes literarios. Incluso la disponibilidad del papel para imprimir un libro en miles y miles de ejemplares: también eso se necesita. Este es uno de los mejores libros de sociología literaria que he leído. Y ha recibido muy buenas críticas. Esperemos que pronto salga la versión en español.
December 13, 2024
Amazing book!
It is very well written. The author does a really great job here. This book is a must read to understand how García Márquez came up with the idea for his great novel, how he wrote it and why it has become so popular. "Ascent to glory" is super detailed and funny at times. I read this book after reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and I got to understand the novel a lot much better. I'm ready to watch the series now.
It is very well written. The author does a really great job here. This book is a must read to understand how García Márquez came up with the idea for his great novel, how he wrote it and why it has become so popular. "Ascent to glory" is super detailed and funny at times. I read this book after reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and I got to understand the novel a lot much better. I'm ready to watch the series now.
January 18, 2026
من الكتب الرائعة جدا
شكرا دار المحيط للنشر على حسن الاختيار
كتاب يُقرأ بالتشريح البطيء
يُقرأ للفائدة والاستزادة والتعمق والإبحار في الأسماء والمعلومات
العديد والعديد من الكتب والشعراء والكُتّاب والأسماء والنقاد والنسخ الأولية والدواوين
شخصيا قرأت كل الكتب المترجمة التي كُتبت عن ماركيز وسيرته
ومع ذلك جاء هذا الكتاب بجديد من ناحية المعلومات وحتى من ناحية الربط والتحليلات (مع وجود المشتركات بكل تأكيد)
كانت رحلة طويلة وجميلة وتفصيلية
شكرا دار المحيط للنشر على حسن الاختيار
كتاب يُقرأ بالتشريح البطيء
يُقرأ للفائدة والاستزادة والتعمق والإبحار في الأسماء والمعلومات
العديد والعديد من الكتب والشعراء والكُتّاب والأسماء والنقاد والنسخ الأولية والدواوين
شخصيا قرأت كل الكتب المترجمة التي كُتبت عن ماركيز وسيرته
ومع ذلك جاء هذا الكتاب بجديد من ناحية المعلومات وحتى من ناحية الربط والتحليلات (مع وجود المشتركات بكل تأكيد)
كانت رحلة طويلة وجميلة وتفصيلية
February 11, 2023
A great explanation of cosmopolitanism, the rise of the Spanish publishing industry, the Latin American novel, cultural brokers, and how it all helped "One Hundred Years of Solitude" become what it is known today. Helped me realize why I liked the book so much.
August 26, 2021
Bastante informativo. Muy interesante saber detalles de cómo Cien años de soledad llegó a ser lo que es.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews