Spain in the Making and Reception of García Márquez’s Works

Abstract Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most beloved and read writers of the last century in Spain. Yet his early literary works went almost unnoticed for more than a decade among Spanish publishers, critics, and readers. The success of One Hundred Years of Solitude and subsequent works transformed him into a popular bestselling writer and iconic figure in that country. Using little-known and new sources, including documents from contemporary reviews and readers’ reactions as well as the author’s archives, this article studies the reception of García Márquez’s works and his rise to stardom in Spain. Key to the successful response to his oeuvre were (1) the literary education of the author, which allowed him to develop a writing style with appeal to Spanish audiences; (2) the diffusion and consecration of the New Latin American Novel (aka Boom novel) during a crisis in Peninsular fiction; (3) the modernization of Spain’s book industry, which benefited the promotion of García Márquez’s works among the rising middle classes; and (4) the writer’s involvement in the country’s cultural and political affairs during its transition to and consolidation of democratic rule. The intersection of these threads resulted in the appropriation of García Márquez as a Spanish writer and his transformation into one of Spain’s cultural icons. This article builds on analytical tools developed by the fields of cultural sociology and the history of reading practices.