El coronel no tiene quien le escriba fue escrita por Gabriel Garcia Marquez durante su estancia en Paris, adonde habia llegado como corresponsal de prensa y con la secreta intencion de estudiar cine, a mediados de los anos cincuenta.

El cierre del periodico para el que trabajaba le sumio en la pobreza, mientras redactaba en tres versiones distintas esta excepcional novela, que fue rechazada por varios editores antes de su publicacion. Tras el barroquismo faulkneriano de La hojarasca, esta segunda novela supone un paso hacia la ascesis, hacia la economia expresiva, y el estilo del escritor se hace mas puro y transparente. Se trata tambien de una historia de injusticia y violencia: un viejo coronel retirado va al puerto todos los viernes a esperar la llegada de la carta oficial que responda a la justa reclamacion de sus derechos por los servicios prestados a la patria. Pero la patria permanece muda.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The
novel, written between 1956 and 1957 while living in Paris, and first
published in 1961, is the story of an impoverished, retired colonel, a
veteran of the Thousand Days’ War, who still hopes to receive the pension he
was promised some fifteen years earlier.

The colonel lives with his asthmatic
wife in a small village under martial law. The action opens with the colonel
preparing to go to the funeral of a town musician whose death is notable
because he was the first to die from natural causes in many years.

The main characters of the novel are not named, adding to the feeling of
insignificance of an individual living in Colombia. The colonel and his wife,
who have lost their son to political repression, are struggling with poverty
and financial instability. The corruption of the local and national officials
is evident and this is a topic which Garcia Marquez explores throughout the
novel, by using references to censorship and the impact of government on
society. The colonel desperately tries to sell their inheritance from their
only son who is now dead and eventually the only reminder of his existence is
a rooster that the colonel trains to take part in a cockfight.