Good Bye Gabo: In memorial to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Yesterday one of the most important Latin American writers died, at the age of eighty seven years, he gave our region literary fame after receiving several awards including the novel prize for literature. Not bad! Watch out for 'at the age of' and note that we don't say latinoamerican in English, either 'Latin American' or 'South American'
I shall remember him by citing an extract that shows all his genius:
Geniality = friendliness - this is a very formal word that we don't use very often, perhaps like 'cordialidad' in Spanish.
"If for a while God forgets that I am a cloth puppet and he gives me a piece of life, I would use this time as much as I can. Perhaps I wouldn´t say all that I think, but I would definitely think all that I say. Good!
I would give value to the things not for their worth but for their meanings. Good! Remember 'their' has to agree to the plural noun 'things'
I would sleep little, and I would dream more, because for every minutes that we close our eyes, we lose sixty minutes of light.
Good! Look out for tense on 'lose' - present should be used here for speaking in general terms.
I would walk while others stop and I would wake up when others sleeps. Good! 'Others' is a plural noun and so conjugates with 'sleep' not 'sleeps'
If God gifts me a piece of life, I would dress simply. I would throw myself headlong to the sun, not just to expose my body but also my soul. Remember reflexives in English use 'myself' not just 'me'
I would prove to men, how wrong they are to think that we stop feeling love when we grow older. We begin to grow old when we stop falling in love.
To a child I would give wings, but I would let him learn how to fly by himself.
To the elderly I would teach that death do not come with the old age, it comes with the forgetfulness. 'An old' doesn't make sense in English, you can say 'an old person' but I think 'the elderly' sounds a bit more sophisticated here.
I have learnt a lot of things from you, I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain, without knowing that the true happinnees is in the way to climb up the slope. I changed the word order in the first sentence to make it sound a little more natural.
I have learned that when a newborn grasps for the first time, with its little fist , the finger of his father, he is trapped forever.
I have learned that a man just have the right to look at to another man down , when he has to help him to stand up." Can you try writing this again? I'm not sure what this means.
I did my best to capture all the magic of his words. Perfect!
Great post, Marquez was an inspiration and incredible writer and you wrote a good translation! :)