When Gabriel Garcia Marquez published his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude in 1967, both the author and the writing technique he used, magic realism, were catapulted into the international spotlight. Magic realism (the term was first used in 1925 by a German art critic, and about twenty-five years later, it was rediscovered by a…
Tag: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: Setting
Political Background During the period of European imperialism following Columbus’s arrival in the New World, Colombia’s indigenous tribes could offer little resistance to Spanish conquest. For the most part, these tribes amalgamated (intermarried and lived together in society) with their Spanish conquerors. Consequently, much of the Colombian population consists of mestizos—people of both native Colombian…
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: Literary Devices
The arrival of a large drowned man on their shores inspires the imagination of the inhabitants of a tiny fishing village. Point of View The simplicity with which “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is told conceals a rather complex narrative technique. The villagers, finding a drowned man on their beach, begin to admire…
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: Themes
When a large drowned man washes up on the beach of a tiny fishing village, his presence inspires the villagers to create fantastic stories about him and to improve their own lives as well. Myth and the Human Condition “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” illustrates the collective human tendency to create myths. The…
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: Characters
Esteban Although he is a stranger—and a dead stranger at that—Esteban plays a central role in the villagers’ lives. He does not speak, yet his face and his body speak for him, telling the villagers how sorry he is to be such a bother, large and cumbersome as he is. They intuit that he is…
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: Summary
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” begins when the children of a small coastal village see an unfamiliar bulge in the sea. When it washes up on the beach they realize it is a drowned man. For the rest of the afternoon they play with the corpse until another villager sees…