Who loves "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:23 pm

*raises hand*

The whole end of the story just glows.

carrie

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:39 pm

i have no clue what you are talking about and am too lazy to do an internet search.

Caroluna · Post by **Caroluna** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:15 pm

A short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in which a drowned man washes up on the beach of a small island. His body is found by children of a nearby village, where he is taken and prepared for burial. As he is cleaned, the villagers discover he is of enormous size, and the women fantasize about what kind of man he must have been. They decide he must have been a gentle giant, ashamed of his own size. They eventually release his body out into the sea, but his landing there has such an impact on the villagers that they are never the same again. This is an excellent story, and it is a great example of magical realism.

Found it online and I'm reading it now...

http://iws.ccccd.edu/jmiller/handsome.htm

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:26 pm

me too...finished...hand up

Thanks!

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:26 pm

As he is cleaned, the villagers discover he is of enormous size, and the women fantasize about what kind of man he must have been. They decide he must have been a gentle giant, ashamed of his own size.

Hmmm...

I bet.

(sorry... its been a long week)

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:17 pm

Very nice story. Thanks for introducing me to it. The version I found din't give the author's name. Glad to get that!

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:03 am

Marquez is a favourite of mine. I haven't read this story yet.

Autumn of the Patriarch is a great novel.

Whistlin'Dixie · Post by **Whistlin'Dixie** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:46 am

Such a beautiful story, thanks, I enjoyed it and nice way to start my day.... (*hugs*)

M

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:19 am

Does anyone know what the reference to "Esteban" is? I recognize the reference to "Sir Walter Raleigh." Was Esteban some sort of contemporary?

djm

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:38 am

So glad to share the story and its pleasures with all of you!

djm, I wondered about Esteban too. The only vaguely related Esteban I could think of was "Esteban the Moor" who was among the Spanish explorers of the SW US, looking for the lost cities of gold. But that seems too geographically distant to be meaningful. I'm thinking it might just have been chosen because of its meaning. It's the Spanish form of Steven, which means crown or wreath. That makes sense, I think.

Caroluna · Post by **Caroluna** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:13 am

I don't know if this relates, but St. Stephen was a martyr...??? He gave a long speech that took up all of Acts ch 7, criticizing the people, and got everyone so mad that they stoned him to death. As he was dieing he said "Lord, do not hold this sin against them". So, St. Stephen represents a noble person who causes people to become aware of their faults??

Carrie, I have such a hard time w/ Gabriel Garcia Marquez! I read 100 Yrs of Solitude and found it upsetting because I could never tell when he was holding people up as admirable, or ridiculing them. The same thing in this story. Did he think it was good that these townsfolk were so moved by the stranger who came to them? Or is he making fun of them for inventing a personality for this unknown guy? "Look how stupid they were, their lives were changed because of some illusion that came out of their own heads".

I suppose if it had happened in my town, I would have been right there bringing flowers. So maybe GGMarquez is making fun of me too

and I guess that's OK

What's your take on it???

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:56 am

Caroluna wrote:I read 100 Yrs of Solitude and found it upsetting because I could never tell when he was holding people up as admirable, or ridiculing them. The same thing in this story. Did he think it was good that these townsfolk were so moved by the stranger who came to them? Or is he making fun of them for inventing a personality for this unknown guy? "Look how stupid they were, their lives were changed because of some illusion that came out of their own heads".

For me it goes beyond admiration or ridicule, as both elements are squarely there. "Humanly sublime" comes to mind. I think you have to love, with eyes open, the human condition to write like that. I didn't get a sense of bitterness out of the translation, anyway.

I enjoyed the story very much indeed. I loved this part: "...and the captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star, and his row of war medals and, pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in fourteen languages, look there..."

I had a subtle sense throughout of all the living characters having stars in their eyes, as it were. Even the gross, dirty work of dragging a dead body seemed somehow miraculous, despite, or maybe because of, the simple way it was presented.

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:04 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
Caroluna wrote:I read 100 Yrs of Solitude and found it upsetting because I could never tell when he was holding people up as admirable, or ridiculing them. The same thing in this story. Did he think it was good that these townsfolk were so moved by the stranger who came to them? Or is he making fun of them for inventing a personality for this unknown guy? "Look how stupid they were, their lives were changed because of some illusion that came out of their own heads".
For me it goes beyond admiration or ridicule, as both elements are squarely there. "Humanly sublime" comes to mind. I think you have to love, with eyes open, the human condition to write like that. I didn't get a sense of bitterness out of the translation, anyway.

I didn't feel any sense of ridicule. I ended up feeling what the villagers felt: overwhelming love for this kind giant; appreciation for the innate goodness that gave him the power to win over skeptics. It's how I felt when I read Stephen Mitchell's translation of The Gospel According to Jesus. That these qualities arose from the imagination of the women does not diminish them for me, not at all.

Nanohedron wrote:I enjoyed the story very much indeed. I loved this part: "...and the captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star, and his row of war medals and, pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in fourteen languages, look there..." .

I loved that too and was very moved.

Nanohedron wrote:I had a subtle sense throughout of all the living characters having stars in their eyes, as it were. Even the gross, dirty work of dragging a dead body seemed somehow miraculous, despite, or maybe because of, the simple way it was presented.

Yeah, and the children "playing" with it, not frightened or "grossed out"--all so simple.

I really ended up glowing as I read this; and I'm so grateful for that. I can't even think of the ending without tears welling up!

This is the first work by Garcia Marquez that I have read, so I can't really comment beyond this one, but I am highly motivated to read more!

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:18 pm

Caroluna wrote:...I have such a hard time w/ Gabriel Garcia Marquez! I read 100 Yrs of Solitude and found it upsetting because I could never tell when he was holding people up as admirable, or ridiculing them. The same thing in this story. Did he think it was good that these townsfolk were so moved by the stranger who came to them? Or is he making fun of them for inventing a personality for this unknown guy? "Look how stupid they were, their lives were changed because of some illusion that came out of their own heads". ...

I think it is both sides of the same coin, well illustrated in the tales. If you look at just about anything, especially actions compared with motives, you will find that there is a lot of back and forth, and adjustment as people either learn or shut off, or otherwise find a way to deal with the occurances in their lives... they move from one frame of reference to the next, sometimes noticing it themselves, sometimes oblivious to the greater picture.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:35 pm

In Marquez's writing, one is never quite sure what is fantasy and what real. I think it is a big part of his point that, in Latin America, the two blend to such an extent that nobody is quite sure where one ends and the other begins. Fantastic things really do happen. But some things believed to happen were only imagined. If he isn't quite sure which is which, how can he tell you?