Abstract

FORERO QUINTERO, Gustavo. The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez and Conviene a los felices permanecer en casa by Andrés Hoyos: two visions of Colombian Independence. Hist. Soc. [online]. 2011, n.21, pp.197-221. ISSN 0121-8417.

The aim of this essay is to compare the political perspectives put forward by two historical novels tackling the theme of Colombia's Independence: El General en su laberinto (GL) by Gabriel García Márquez, and Conviene a los felices permanecer en casa (CF) by Andrés Hoyos. Each one of these books suggests two very different destinies for the Colombian nation in accordance with its nation-founding inspiration: the first one, seeking unity at any price with Bolivar's image on the background, and the other one, that acknowledges the required fragmentation of the discourses and the value found in the version of the defeated. This way, these novels account for two visions of Colombia's philosophy of history: one that depends on the wisdom of ''important men'' and the other that refers to partial discourses by social groups with vague objectives.

Keywords : Independence; Colombia; literature; philosophy of history; historical novel.

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