Introduction

Given his world-wide popularity, it is not surprising that an enormous amount has been written on García Márquez. Much of the commentary is illuminating and I do not wish to repeat it except by way of necessary synthesis.1 Nonetheless, the way in which I now wish to view his oeuvre is partly by reconsidering this criticism and, through that, the nature and meaning of his popularity. For, as with Dickens, the deliberately popular note of the fiction has often successfully disguised its underlying complexity.