Innocent Erendira And Other Stories (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Another collection of short stories, and Marquez excels in the format. In this book, the first short story - the one about Erendira of the title - is about half the book, and the other eleven stories are much shorter. The majority of the stories are about death, actually, whether it's encroaching death or what happens afterward. In one story, a twin wonders what will become of him when his brother dies; will his brother be resurrected by his life force, or will his brother's death rot into his bones before he dies? In a different story, the narrator is the ghost inhabiting the house he lived in before dying, and is always rearranging the roses of his childhood friend who lives there now. One story is about a politician's unexpected passionate affair that begins after he learns he is dying, and ends with his bitter death. One of the more surreal stories is about a girl, Eva, who has vacated her body. She doesn't seem to have died, but just moved on to a higher spiritual plane that transcends corporeal forms; she considers reincarnating herself in her cat, just so she can have a taste of an orange. I am accustomed to Marquez's use of magical realism - actually, I love it - but these stories focus on the aspect of twinning, mirrors, and death, to the exclusion of some of the more earthy supernatural phenomenon I associate with his work. I remember studying in school the idea of the mythopoetic, an inward world that is transcendent and primitive. Authors create such an atmosphere through the use of mirrors and twins, among other things, and that feeling is very strong in much of this book. Also, a lot of the stories are more abstract, dealing as they do with existences after death or outside of life. I enjoyed them for their novelty, because I don't read short stories like that much; however, I must say, my favorite stories were the ones that I am more accustomed to, the ones that feel like magical realism to me. I loved the one called where the smell of roses came from the sea, and the men dive in and swim past all the happily swimming dead to find turtles at the bottom of the ocean. I also liked the story about two people meeting in dreams, who are in love, but can never find each other, because the man never remembers his dreams. The main story, Erendira, is also more similar to some of Marquez's novels in style and theme. If it weren't for the subject matter, I would have liked that one a lot as well. The innocent girl, Erendira, is a teenager when the winds of misfortune change her life. She is illegitimate, and lives with her grandmother; her father is dead and her mother is gone. One night, Erendira leaves a candle burning on her nightstand by mistake, and while she is sleeping, ferocious winds invade the house and knock the flame down. The ensuing conflagration destroys almost everything. Her grandmother has made a life out of her memories, so when she sees the mementos of her past dwindled into ashes, she decides that the only thing to do is to force Erendira to buy back everything. She sells her granddaughter's body to anyone who can pay, and is clean (she wouldn't want to damage her property). Over time, the grandmother's calculations of how much Erendira owes her for destroying their home grow more and more obtuse, as she adds in payments for the musicians and the traveling fees, and any other expense at all. It becomes apparent that Erendira will never clear her debt to her grandmother. Fortunately, she meets young Ulises who falls deeply in love with her. Deep enough to kill for her. He makes several failed attempts on the enormous grandmother, until, spurred by Erendira's scorn, he resorts to a brutal stabbing attack. As the grandmother dies and falls on Ulises, Erendira takes the vest stitched with gold bars, and flies into the wind, running, running, never to be seen again. The writing in this story is strong, the characters are fascinating and compelling, and the style is full of literary beauty and surprise. However, I simply don't like a story where a young girl is prostituted out by her own grandmother. Horrible. As a mother, my aversion is even stronger. So while the story may be good, it doesn't appeal to me; as my husband remarked upon seeing the synopsis on the cover, that Marquez is kind of a pervert. I don't agree with him, but I share his disgust at this story.Altogether, I enjoyed about half the book (the stories not about Erendira), and felt that the entire book was well written with that mystical feel I so enjoyed from South American writers. The stories about death were bizarre and intriguing, and a few of the short stories I absolutely loved. The book balances out for me, then, into a good read but not one of my favorites.
The author purpose of writing ‘’Innocent Erendira’’ is to show the way a twelve year old named Erendira lives with her grandmother and what she goes through. Another reason why the author purpose of writing this story is to talk about what the things that Erendira had to do in order to pay back her grandmother for what she had done. The impacts that this book have on the audience is very shocking because Erendira grandmother sells her into prostitution in order for her to pay her back for the thing she had done. A big impact that this book have on its audience is that while Erendira sells her body she falls in love with a boy named Ulises. Another shocking impact that this book can have is that Erendira and her grandmother travel all over for several years to sell Erendira body with men lining up for miles to enjoy her. The book ‘’Innocent Erendira ‘’ is well written because it explains everything about Erendira and the things that her grandmother made her do. An example from the text is that when Erendira burns down her grandmother house, she was force to pay her back by selling her body. Another example from the text is how her grandmother makes a business in the middle of the desert to sell and make money from Erendira body. The book is very captivating because it tells you everything that Erendira went through and all the pain that her grandmother made her go through in order for her to pay her back. Innocent Erendira is a very serious story because Erendira had to go through very bad things in her life. The book is also very dramatic because Erendira wanted to escape from her grandmother, from all the stuff that her grandmother makes her does.The greatest strength in this book is how Erendira at the end escapes from her grandmother, from all the stuff she went through and be free. Another great strength of the book is how Ulises did everything to be with Erendira and to get her free from her grandmother. The greatest weakness on this book is that it really doesn’t tell what happens to Erendira after she is free from her grandmother. I would recommend this book to a friend because is very interesting book. Another reason why I would recommend this book to a friend is because the book explains the pain and sadness the main character went through. I would also highly recommend this book to a friend because the author uses humor and dialogue on the book, an example would be ‘’People who die in the desert don’t go to heaven but to the sea’’.
What do You think about Innocent Erendira And Other Stories (2005)?
أيوه تمام هي مجموعة قصصية حوالي 10 قصص منهم ع" عينا كلب أزرق " لم أحبها ولكن هناك قصة أخري بجوار ايرينديرا أاسمها " الموت القابع فيما وراء الحب " مميزة
—أحمد نفادي
This amazing book brings together the short novel that gives the book his name,and six more fantastic short stories. Each of them a masterpiece on their own,all of them world famous. It's hard for me to pick a favorite from this collection,or from any other by Garcia Marquez,he's just such a good and powerful writer,a magician. I really enjoy and love the ending for the story "Blacaman el bueno,vendedor de milagros",I thought I was reading something from "The Arabian Nights". And that's the feeling you get after reading it,the magical realism,the miracles,the legends that come alive each time Marquez takes a pen.Even the titles are awesome: "Un senor muy viejo con unas alas enormes", "El ahogado mas hermoso del mundo", "Muerte constante mas alla del amor","El mar del tiempo perdido", "El ultimo viaje del buque fantasma". A classic of world literature!
—Benjamin Zapata
Quizá no soy tan hincha de García Márquez. O quizá eso del «realismo mágico» —que, con los últimos apuntes realizados por los críticos y por los estudiosos, ya no sé si es un término adecuado o no— no es lo mío. Quizá simplemente me es posible apreciar de mejor forma cualquier relato anclado en el realismo cotidiano, no en el plano de la fantasía desbordada. Como sea, el caso es que La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada me ha gustado... sí. A secas. Y no mucho. No es un perfecto bodoque pero tampoco, en mi opinión, constituye un hito literario —y si por esta afirmación merezco ser quemado en leña verde, lo sentiré mucho—. Las razones que me llevan a aventurar estas opiniones son un poco difíciles de poner en claro, pero podrían resumirse en que el libro de marras —una colección de cuentos escritos, principalmente, en la década de 1960— me parece una obra plagada de excesos, falsa a más no poder. Como puedo adivinar que la expresión de «¿y cómo esperas que sea un libro de García Márquez, pedazo de estúpido?» no tardará en aparecer en el rostro de algún fortuito lector de estas líneas, trataré de explicarme. Hay, por principio de cuentas, lo que considero una paradoja fundamental en esto de la escritura fantástica. Hasta donde me es posible ver, el éxito de Cien años de soledad reside en que conserva una buena dosis de naturalidad, de credibilidad y de verosimilitud a pesar de la disparatada realidad de que da cuenta. Tal cual. La realidad que plasma el autor tiene tal solidez que consigue ser apropiada por el lector sin demasiados esfuerzos, la convención literaria —esa por la que el que lee se cree todo lo que el autor le cuenta y, en su mente, le confiere la calidad de verdadero— se esteblece con presteza y todos tan contentos. No es el caso, sin embargo, de algunos de los cuentos que integran el volumen cuyo texto culminante es La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada —que, conviene decirlo, es un muy buen cuento, salvo por detalles excesivos que no conducen a ningún lado y que incluso quedan como hilos sueltos de la narración. Para quien ya lo haya leído, quizá el episodio de las naranjas traiga algo de lo que comento a su mente—. En la mayoría de los relatos, hay pasajes, muchos pasajes, de una falsedad manifiesta. ¿Es eso un problema? Sin duda, sobre todo cuando se percibe que la apuesta del autor gira en torno a ese suceder disparatado pero falto de credibilidad o, quizá, de gracia, de una narración adecuada que lo ponga frente al lector y lo naturalice con la maestría con la que acontece en Cien años de soledad. Podría decirse que, si bien la mayoría de los cuentos son bellos, hay algunos en los que el paso a lo fantástico se ve sumamente forzado y lo que, contado de otro modo y con un pocio de mesura, sería una farsa magistral, queda en el nivel del desvarío poco legible y, sobre todo, poco disfrutable.
—Alfredo
