Chronicle of a Death Foretold: a Crime Novel?
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DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this is my own and personal work, except where the work(s) or publications of others have been acknowledged by means of reference techniques. I have read and understood Tutorial Letter CMNALLE/301/2011 regarding technical and presentation requirements, referencing techniques and plagiarism. EA Swanepoel 48170399 26 March 2012
Elaine Swanepoel Student Number: 48170399 WLL2602 Assignment 02 Unique Number: 756601
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CONTENTS Essay SOURCES CONSULTED
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Elaine Swanepoel Student Number: 48170399 WLL2602 Assignment 02 Unique Number: 756601
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a narration spoken from the different viewpoints of the residents of a river town in Colombia. The novel embarks on an exploration into an unsettling crime to arrive at a solution in order to explain a murder. Many years after the death of protagonist, Santiago Nasar, his close friend returns “twentyseven years later” (Marquez 1981:1) to question the residents present on the day of the murder. Through analysing into the past, the story turns investigative and portrays elements of a detective novel. A typical crime novel usually portrays the author opening the story with a problem (Sansalvador, G. 2010. Film, Literature and Society. Only study guide for WLL2602. Pretoria: University of South Africa), such as the need to solve a crime and discover the perpetrators, the victim or motives behind the crime. The reader is not kept in suspense to be headed to the crime, but is instead made aware of the crime from the beginning. The rest of the novel usually details the crime, obtains clues and solves the problem. The problem is known to the reader beforehand; it is the development of the problem that the reader is oblivious to therefore, the solving plays a crucial part in a detective novel. Such can be found in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, when the first paragraph sets the crime for the reader. The
DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this is my own and personal work, except where the work(s) or publications of others have been acknowledged by means of reference techniques. I have read and understood Tutorial Letter CMNALLE/301/2011 regarding technical and presentation requirements, referencing techniques and plagiarism. EA Swanepoel 48170399 26 March 2012
Elaine Swanepoel Student Number: 48170399 WLL2602 Assignment 02 Unique Number: 756601
2
CONTENTS Essay SOURCES CONSULTED
PAGE 3 8
Elaine Swanepoel Student Number: 48170399 WLL2602 Assignment 02 Unique Number: 756601
3
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a narration spoken from the different viewpoints of the residents of a river town in Colombia. The novel embarks on an exploration into an unsettling crime to arrive at a solution in order to explain a murder. Many years after the death of protagonist, Santiago Nasar, his close friend returns “twentyseven years later” (Marquez 1981:1) to question the residents present on the day of the murder. Through analysing into the past, the story turns investigative and portrays elements of a detective novel. A typical crime novel usually portrays the author opening the story with a problem (Sansalvador, G. 2010. Film, Literature and Society. Only study guide for WLL2602. Pretoria: University of South Africa), such as the need to solve a crime and discover the perpetrators, the victim or motives behind the crime. The reader is not kept in suspense to be headed to the crime, but is instead made aware of the crime from the beginning. The rest of the novel usually details the crime, obtains clues and solves the problem. The problem is known to the reader beforehand; it is the development of the problem that the reader is oblivious to therefore, the solving plays a crucial part in a detective novel. Such can be found in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, when the first paragraph sets the crime for the reader. The