Simón Bolívar's historical fiction account of the last seven months, "The General in His Labyrinth", written by Gabriel García Márquez, has been praised by the St. Petersburg Times as "the author's most readable book... His words are lush and readers will walk away with a sense of Bolivar's dank, weary world and its rich odor of decay." After the success of his novels: “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”, García Márquez chose to write about the “Great Liberator” of Latin America (Simón Bolívar) after reading a partially completed by his friend since childhood, Álvaro Mutis. Inspired by the work of his friends and his familiarity with the region, García Márquez received permission from Mutis and began writing his own novel in honor of Bolívar which took the setting of the Magdalena River and the plot from Mutis' unfinished novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Márquez spent two years researching the historical context of his novel, drawing largely on the memoirs of Bolívar's Irish aide-de-camp, Daniel Florencio O. 'Leary with the intent of recreating Bolívar's full persona. García Márquez considered most information about Bolívar to lack complexity, making Liberator very one-dimensional. As Márquez would later say about his research: "No one ever said in Bolívar's biographies that he sang or that he was constipated... but historians don't say these things because they think they're not important." Fortunately, Márquez appreciated these unimportant details that give us a Bolívar that seems strangely human; not a distant memory recorded in the pages of history. The result of Márquez's writings breaks with the traditional heroic depiction of Simón Bolívar, El Liberatdor, instead Márquez depicts a pathetic protagonist, a broken man. , physically ill and mentally exhausted. This portrait of their beloved hero alarmed Latin Americans especially regarding Márquez's fictionalized elements, the detailed description of Bolívar's most intimate moments, and the victory of desperation and illness over the themes of love, life, and happiness. were initially a source of outrage, leading many prominent Latin Americans to accuse Márquez of tarnishing one of the region's most important historical figures. Others revere Márquez's portrait of Simón Bolívar as a unique insight into his innermost thoughts and feelings. Márquez took a risk, he removed the drapes that shrouded Bolívar's life in heroism and sainthood, revealing a tragically flawed hero, who fought a losing battle against Reaslim. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay García Márquez sets his novel in the year 1830, in the aftermath of the Spanish-American Revolution in which Spanish-Americans took advantage of Spain's weakness and, following the example of the French and American revolutions, rebelled. Bolívar was extensively involved in attempts to liberate South America from Spanish control and with the help of independence movements managed to co-liberate Venezuela, New Granada, and what is now Ecuador and Peru, eventually taking office as president of Gran Colombia. However, Bolívar's dream of uniting the Spanish American nations under one central government failed. Shortly after the liberation of these colonies, troubles developed, civil wars ensued, and those who had once supported Bolívar now became his bitter enemies. Shocked, Bolívar opened his.