Memory and the Quest for Family History in One Hundred Years of Solitud

Memory and the Quest for Family History in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Song of Solomon Pierre Nora proposes that "the quest for memory is the search for one's history" (289). In their attempt to reconstruct the communal histories of their people, Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez rely heavily on the use of memory as a means to rewrite the history of those oppressed because of race, class and/or gender in a world where historiography has been dominated by the white man. Memory is closely related to the reclamation of identity and history -- both personal and collective. Both memory and history dominate Cien Aà ±os de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) from the very beginning, where the character Aureliano Buendà ­a is introduced through his own recollections: "Muchos aà ±os despuà ©s, frente al pelotà ³n de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendà ­a habà ­a de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevà ³ a conocer el hielo" (9) / "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendà ­a was to remember that dis tant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice" (9). Like Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez, Toni Morrison claims memory -- as well as imagination -- as an essential part of the narrative act: "The act of imagination is bound up with memory. You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. 'Floods' is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: Remembering where we were, what valley we ran through, what the banks were like, the light... ...tive Literature Courses." Approaches to Teaching Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Marà ­a Elena de Valdà ©s and Mario J. Valdà ©s. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1990. 21-32. Parkinson Zamora, Lois. "The Usable Past: The Idea of History in Modern U.S. and Latin American Fiction." Do the Americas Have a Common Literature? Ed. Gustavo Pà ©rez Firmat. Durham: Duke UP, 1990. 7-41. Pierce, Robert N. "Fact or Fiction?: The Developmental Journalism of Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez." Journal of Popular Culture 22.1 (1988): 63-71. Ricci Della Grisa, Graciela N. Realismo Mà ¡gico y Conciencia Mà ­tica en Amà ©rica Latina. Buenos Aires: Fernando Garcà ­a Cambeiro, 1985. Strouse, Jean. "Toni Morrison's Black Magic." Newsweek (30 March 1981): 52-57. Watkins, Mel. "Interview with Toni Morrison." New York Times Book Review (11 September 1977): 50.