full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Francisco Díez-Buzo: Why should you read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
What makes One Hundred yares of Solitude so rmelaabkre? The novel cinhercols the fortunes and misfortunes of the Buendía family over seven groeniatnes. With its lush, detailed sentences, large cast of characters, and tlaengd narrative, One Hundred Years of Solitude is not an easy book to read. But it’s a deeply rewarding one, with an epic assortment of intense romances, civil war, political intrigue, globe-trotting adventurers, and more characters named Aureliano than you’d think possible.
Yet this is no mere historical drama. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most famous examples of a literary grene known as magical realism. Here, supernatural events or abilities are described in a realistic and matter-of-fact tone, while the real events of human life and history reveal themselves to be full of faaaictstnl absurdity. Surreal phenomena within the faniioctl village of moncdao intertwine saslsemely with events taking place in the real country of Colombia. The settlement bengis in a mythical state of itoialson, but is gdlulraay exposed to the outside world, fcinag multiple calamities along the way. As years pass, characters grow old and die, only to return as ghosts, or to be seemingly reincarnated in the next generation. When the American fruit company comes to town, so does a romantic mechanic who is always followed by yellow butterflies. A yonug woman up and floats away.
Open Cloze
What makes One Hundred _____ of Solitude so __________? The novel __________ the fortunes and misfortunes of the Buendía family over seven ___________. With its lush, detailed sentences, large cast of characters, and _______ narrative, One Hundred Years of Solitude is not an easy book to read. But it’s a deeply rewarding one, with an epic assortment of intense romances, civil war, political intrigue, globe-trotting adventurers, and more characters named Aureliano than you’d think possible.
Yet this is no mere historical drama. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most famous examples of a literary _____ known as magical realism. Here, supernatural events or abilities are described in a realistic and matter-of-fact tone, while the real events of human life and history reveal themselves to be full of ___________ absurdity. Surreal phenomena within the _________ village of _______ intertwine __________ with events taking place in the real country of Colombia. The settlement ______ in a mythical state of _________, but is _________ exposed to the outside world, ______ multiple calamities along the way. As years pass, characters grow old and die, only to return as ghosts, or to be seemingly reincarnated in the next generation. When the American fruit company comes to town, so does a romantic mechanic who is always followed by yellow butterflies. A _____ woman up and floats away.
Solution
- isolation
- seamlessly
- fantastical
- years
- facing
- remarkable
- genre
- gradually
- young
- tangled
- fictional
- generations
- macondo
- begins
- chronicles
Original Text
What makes One Hundred Years of Solitude so remarkable? The novel chronicles the fortunes and misfortunes of the Buendía family over seven generations. With its lush, detailed sentences, large cast of characters, and tangled narrative, One Hundred Years of Solitude is not an easy book to read. But it’s a deeply rewarding one, with an epic assortment of intense romances, civil war, political intrigue, globe-trotting adventurers, and more characters named Aureliano than you’d think possible.
Yet this is no mere historical drama. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most famous examples of a literary genre known as magical realism. Here, supernatural events or abilities are described in a realistic and matter-of-fact tone, while the real events of human life and history reveal themselves to be full of fantastical absurdity. Surreal phenomena within the fictional village of Macondo intertwine seamlessly with events taking place in the real country of Colombia. The settlement begins in a mythical state of isolation, but is gradually exposed to the outside world, facing multiple calamities along the way. As years pass, characters grow old and die, only to return as ghosts, or to be seemingly reincarnated in the next generation. When the American fruit company comes to town, so does a romantic mechanic who is always followed by yellow butterflies. A young woman up and floats away.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| garcía márquez |
5 |
| gabriel garcía |
4 |
| latin american |
2 |
| american fruit |
2 |
| fruit company |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
| collocation |
frequency |
| gabriel garcía márquez |
4 |
| american fruit company |
2 |
Important Words
- abilities
- absurdity
- adventurers
- american
- assortment
- aureliano
- begins
- book
- buendía
- butterflies
- calamities
- cast
- characters
- chronicles
- civil
- colombia
- company
- country
- deeply
- detailed
- die
- drama
- easy
- epic
- events
- examples
- exposed
- facing
- family
- famous
- fantastical
- fictional
- floats
- fortunes
- fruit
- full
- generation
- generations
- genre
- ghosts
- gradually
- grow
- historical
- history
- human
- intense
- intertwine
- intrigue
- isolation
- large
- life
- literary
- lush
- macondo
- magical
- mechanic
- mere
- misfortunes
- multiple
- mythical
- named
- narrative
- pass
- phenomena
- place
- political
- read
- real
- realism
- realistic
- reincarnated
- remarkable
- return
- reveal
- rewarding
- romances
- romantic
- seamlessly
- seemingly
- sentences
- settlement
- solitude
- state
- supernatural
- surreal
- tangled
- tone
- town
- village
- war
- woman
- world
- years
- yellow
- young