This epic work set in the fictional Macondo, a village in Colombia, employs the wonders of magical realism and focuses on the history, religion, family relationships, politics, and culture of Latin America in a unique narrative style and structure.

First published in Spanish in 1967, the novel catapulted Gabriel Garcia Marquez to international fame. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Considered to be the Moby Dick of Latin American literature, the novel tells the story of six generations of the Buendia family as a microcosm of the isolated history of Latin America. As a work of art, the novel challenges readers with magical realism, dark humor, and satire. Politically speaking, it criticizes the isolated Latin American history and politically motivates readers to avoid the detrimental effects of solitude.

This unit concentrates on the study of literary form and Latin American culture. It also focuses students’ attention on the author’s unique perspective and humor, context of cultural life in Latin America, the nature of metaphor, and important leitmotifs. A systematic method of questioning requires higher order thinking skills. In addition, lessons cover genealogy, and analysis of male and female relationships. This unit helps students with pronunciation, sorting the many generations and similarly named characters. Special features include the introduction of reader-response logs, composing original tales using magical realism, comparing the novel with a Pablo Neruda poem, and an abridged analysis of the novel as a supplement. Many well-supported methods of educational research are evident in this unit. Among those are student-centered instruction, creative approaches to uncovering subtext, and interdisciplinary lessons.

Supplementary materials include essay topics.