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In 1967 Nobel prize winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote "One Hundred Years of Solitude". The novel takes place in the fictional and fantastical town of Macondo. Macondo serves as a setting as well as a metaphor for Colombia itself. The novel’s magical realism inspired a genre of writing and in an ironic twist of fate inspired the naming of the oil field that was blown out by the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2011. Listen to learn more about the literary and thematic connections between the two.
Story Length: 1:25
© 2011 National Public Radio, Inc. Used with the permission of NPR. All rights reserved.
04/20/2011
https://app.listenwise.com/students/lessons/179-the-setting-of-macondo-in-one-hundred-years-of-solitude
Where are the two Macondos?
How was Macondo a unique and special place at the beginning of the novel?
How did the BP oil field get its name?
Why is the oil field’s explosion ironic given the end of "One Hundred Years of Solitude?"
How was the town of Macondo different at the beginning and the end of the novel?