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Á. Santana-Acuña, Ascent to Glory. How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic

Á. Santana-Acuña, Ascent to Glory. How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic

Publié le par Université de Lausanne

Ascent to Glory

How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic

Álvaro Santana-Acuña

Columbia University Press, August 2020

ISBN: 9780231184335 — 384 p.

 

Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seemed destined for obscurity upon its publication in 1967. The little-known author, small publisher, magical style, and setting in a remote Caribbean village were hardly the usual ingredients for success in the literary marketplace. Yet today it ranks among the best-selling books of all time. Translated into dozens of languages, it continues to enter the lives of new readers around the world. How did One Hundred Years of Solitude achieve this unlikely success? And what does its trajectory tell us about how a work of art becomes a classic?

Ascent to Glory is a groundbreaking study of One Hundred Years of Solitude, from the moment García Márquez first had the idea for the novel to its global consecration. Using new documents from the author’s archives, Álvaro Santana-Acuña shows how García Márquez wrote the novel, going beyond the many legends that surround it. He unveils the literary ideas and networks that made possible the book’s creation and initial success. Santana-Acuña then follows this novel’s path in more than seventy countries on five continents and explains how thousands of people and organizations have helped it to become a global classic. Shedding new light on the novel’s imagination, production, and reception, Ascent to Glory is an eye-opening book for cultural sociologists and literary historians as well as for fans of García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Álvaro Santana-Acuña is an assistant professor of sociology at Whitman College.

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Contents

Introduction
Part I. From the Idea to the Book
1. Imagining a Work of Art
2. The Publishing Industry Modernizes
3. A Novel in Search of an Author
4. Networked Creativity and the Making of a Work of Art
Part II. Becoming a Global Classic
5. Controversy, Conflict, Collapse
6. A Novel Without Borders
7. Indexing a Classic
8. Ascent to Glory for Few, Descent to Oblivion for Most
Conclusion
Appendix: Why and How to Study Classics?
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index

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On peut lire sur laviedesidees.fr un article sur cet ouvrage :

"Dix-sept ans de multitude", par Annick Louis (en ligne le 15 octobre 2020)

Un sociologue étudie l’histoire de l’écriture et l’accès à la célébrité de Cent ans de solitude de Gabriel García Márquez. Il met en lumière la dimension collective du processus et souligne le rôle des médiateurs culturels dans la fabrique de ce classique de la littérature du XXe siècle.