Until August Controversy: Should Márquez's Sons Have Published It?
A critical look at García Márquez's Until August – how critics and readers reacted to its male-gazed heroine, its unfinished feel, and the decade-long debate over publishing a dead author's final, incomplete manuscript.
It's been two years since Márquez's last work was, some would say, unjustly published. We think there's no better time to revisit his last work than August itself.
Until August: Critical Reception and Reviews
Looking at the critics from 2024, when the book was published, one can recognize a pattern. A large number of reviews, approaching it from an ethical angle, agreed that the book shouldn't have been published; they agreed that his sons betrayed their father's wish to burn the manuscript. The Guardian wrote: "they've chosen [the sons] either way to ignore their father's wishes and prioritise 'readers' pleasure.'" Even some readers thought the same, dismissing the "readers' pleasure."
The Indiependent examined, on the one hand, Márquez's portrait of Ana Magdalena Bach, stating, "His portrayal of Ana Magdalena, his first female protagonist, is equally unambiguously and jarringly male." In other words, the protagonist is portrayed through the male gaze. This claim is further reinforced by the fact that Márquez made Ana Magdalena a virgin with no previous relationships when she married the husband with whom she spent 27 years. This reflects a patriarchal desire and view of how a woman should be: a virgin with no previous relationships.
Joining The Indiependent, The Guardian and Literary Review also analysed the male-gazed portrayal of Ana Magdalena, with Literary Review stating: "By page eighteen, she is having a bit of a ride with a man she's picked up in her hotel… On the surface, this seems like the cheesiest form of male wish-fulfilment."
On the other hand, The Indiependent's review says, "Ana Magdalena's story is one of female empowerment." The protagonist, according to this review, is a woman who lives by men's expectations (she dropped out of her studies to marry a man); however, once she crosses to the island, she becomes a woman who explores her sexuality, enjoying the pleasures of casual sexual relationships. Although the protagonist is presented as a symbol of female empowerment, she is poorly depicted as such.
Read next: Gabriel García Márquez: A Magician of Magical Realism
Until August: What Readers Are Saying on Goodreads
Readers on Goodreads agreed that Until August resembles a draft or novella rather than a finished work. The plot is seen as vague, incomplete, and thin, and the dialogue and syntax are sometimes experienced as banal. Like some critics, some readers also view the publication of the book as a betrayal by Márquez's sons, or as commercial exploitation. However, some defend Márquez's family, stating that it would have been a shame not to publish a Nobel laureate's final work – a shame to the literary world.
Moreover, readers welcomed the idea of a female protagonist – though not as much her portrayal – a middle-aged woman who explores her sexuality. It was viewed as a refreshing change from Márquez's usual male protagonists. Although there is a consensus that Ana Magdalena is portrayed through men's idea of what a woman is, we could agree that Márquez gave us something that, had he lived long enough, could have been marvellous – judging by his previous work.
Verdict on García Márquez's Unfinished Novel
The sultry air, the heat, August downpours, and storms fill the lines of the novel's draft. A happy marriage, filled with spontaneity and interrupted by routine, seems not to be enough for Ana Magdalena – otherwise, why the extramarital relationships? Musical motifs and dialogues about them, along with the highlighted titles of the novels the protagonist reads, fill the draft, leaving readers curious about what role or significance they would have held had the novel been finished. Since it is incomplete, one feels that something is missing between the chapters in the plot; each chapter feels self-contained, there is an inconsistency in the narrative, and the glue that would bind the plot and make the novel whole is missing.
It's hard to review the protagonist when she is unpolished. We still don't know her motives for the one-day affairs on the island where her mother was buried on August 16th. We still don't know the whole background with her husband. However, the portrait of Ana Magdalena seems crude, and her sexuality feels male-gazed. Women tend to link libido with emotions and closeness – Ana Magdalena didn't accomplish this with any of the men she slept with. A woman's desire rarely arises spontaneously on its own; it is often preceded by relaxation, a sense of security, and mental presence – which we don't have with Ana Magdalena. Also, foreplay, kisses, touches, and emotional closeness are often just as important and satisfying for women as the orgasm itself; therefore, it can't be rushed, nor can it be aroused just by looking at someone desirable, as was the case with Ana Magdalena. What Márquez described is how men experience and feel their sexuality, not women. Nevertheless, I wonder what her complete characterisation would have looked like had the book been finished.
Despite this, he successfully evokes the naivety, shyness, and excitement that come with each new experience. He describes everyday life with such poetry, making it so rich in description that it feels tremendous. The literary descriptions are what make the draft high-quality.
So, should Márquez's sons have published the manuscript? Yes, but they should have waited more than a decade. It should have been discovered 50 to 100 years from now, the way scientists discovered Mozart's lost compositions.
This article explores topics related to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Until August and review.
Sources:
Gabriel García Márquez, Vidimo se u kolovozu, Zagreb: vbz, 2024 (translated from Spanish by Gordana Tintor)
Elkyn Ernst, “Book Review: Until August // Gabriel García Márquez. A Lost Novel – And Its Lost Worth,” The Indiependent, March 23, 2024 https://www.indiependent.co.uk/book-review-until-august-gabriel-garcia-marquez/
Anthony Cummins, “Until August by Gabriel García Márquez review – his abandoned last novel,” The Guardian, Sun 10 Mar 2024 06.30 CET https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/10/until-august-by-gabriel-garcia-marquez-review-a-gently-diverting-posthumous-novel-in-a-minor-key
Emil Siekkinen, “Until August,” Rain Taxi Review https://raintaxi.com/until-august/
“Until August. Gabriel García Márquez, trans. by Anne McLean. What The Reviewers Say”, THE BOOKMARKS BULLETIN, Literary Hub https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/until-august/
James Womack, “Save the Last Dance,” Literary Review, April 2024 Issue 528 https://literaryreview.co.uk/save-the-last-dance
Leah Rachel von Essen, “Laying the Bones Bare: Honesty and Death in Gabriel García Márquez’s “Until August.”,” Chicago Review of Books, March 13, 2024 https://chireviewofbooks.com/2024/03/13/laying-the-bones-bare-honesty-and-death-in-gabriel-garcia-marquezs-until-august/
Sam Sacks, “Fiction: Gabriel García Márquez’s Final Novel, ‘Until August’,” The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2024 10:57 am ET
Waterstones Says, Waterstones https://www.waterstones.com/book/until-august/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/9781405964272
Kartik Chauhan, “Until August review: In Márquez's lost novel, anatomy of a failing marriage,” The Federal, 17 March 2024 3:00 AM (Updated:2 Apr 2024 12:46 PM)
Gea Vlahović, “Pročitali smo zadnji roman slavnog kolumbijskog nobelovca. García Márquez poslao nam je neočekivani poklon onkraj groba,” Telegram, 15. 03. 2024. https://www.telegram.hr/kultura/procitali-smo-posljednji-roman-slavnog-kolumbijskog-nobelovca-garcia-marquez-poslao-nam-je-neocekivani-poklon-onkraj-groba/
Tena Razumović Žmara, “Povratak u čudesni svijet Gabriela Garcíe Márqueza kroz knjigu iznenađenja,” Vogue Adria,15 ožujka, 2024. https://vogueadria.com/hr/gabriela-garcia-marquez-vidimo-se-u-kolovozu-roman/
