Atisbando el Quijote americano : la representación visual de Cien años de soledad

Abstract

Unlike the numerous visual representations that have been made of the masterful novel Don Quijote, few have been made of Cien años de soledad —the so-called American Quijote. In order to shed light on its photographic narrative and its relationship to the story, in this article the author studies the images of the German photographer Robert Gerstmann, taken from the book Colombia: 200 grabados en cobre to illustrate the edition by Cátedra of Gabriel García Márquez’s key novel. The themes identified indicate that the images not only push the observer to consider Macondo a real place, but also bring to light themes that recall early European views of the American continent. In an era of hyperrealism, this essay makes evident that Cien años de soledad is a quintessential work that resists visual representation.