Chapter 147
IA, FRAGMENTS OF GREAT WORKS
Opportunity to see how great authors begin their works and have the pleasure of trying them out before becoming a great reader.
"Don Quixote of La Mancha" - Miguel de Cervantes: "In a place in La Mancha, whose name I do not wish to remember, not long ago there lived a gentleman of the kind who has a lance in a rack, an old shield, a skinny nag, and a greyhound for racing."
"Don Quixote of La Mancha" - Miguel de Cervantes: "The reason for the unreason that is done to my reason weakens my reason to such an extent that I rightly complain of your beauty."
This is one of the many moments in which Don Quixote expresses his distorted vision of the world due to his idealization of chivalry.
"The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" - Miguel de Cervantes: "—Do not run away, cowardly and vile creatures, for only one knight is attacking you."
This fragment is part of the famous scene in which Don Quixote, in his madness, mistakes windmills for giants, reflecting his distorted view of the world due to his immersion in books of chivalry. This scene is emblematic of the struggle between reality and fantasy that defines the character.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" - Gabriel García Márquez: "Many years later, facing the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" - Gabriel García Márquez: "The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and to mention them you had to point at them with your finger."
Here, García Márquez describes the mythical atmosphere of the birth of Macondo, a town that will evolve along with the generations of the Buendía family.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" - Gabriel García Márquez: "Before the flood that threatened Macondo arrived, a biblical flood that would last four years, eleven months and two days, Ursula Iguarán lived obsessed with the idea that her grandson Aureliano II would be the last of the Buendías."
This monumental work traces the history of the Buendía family over several generations, and this fragment shows the fatality that pursues the characters and their mythical city, Macondo, which gives a sense of eternal return and circularity in the narrative.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" - Gabriel García Márquez: "It was inevitable: the smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of thwarted love."
This is how this novel begins, which addresses the theme of love through the years and difficulties, a recurring theme in the work of García Márquez.
"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" - Gabriel García Márquez: "The day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at 5:30 in the morning."
Thus begins a novel where the ending is already known from the beginning, but the story masterfully takes us through the events leading up to the murder, building an atmosphere of inevitability.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" - Gabriel García Márquez: "He was a trustworthy man, everyone knew it, because he did everything meticulously and without any passion, but what no one knew was that deep inside he was boiling with the desire to break the rules for love."
The novel explores unrequited love and the complications of human relationships. Florentino Ariza waits decades to be with Fermina Daza, but throughout that wait, his character is transformed, questioning the nature of romantic love and perseverance.
"The colonel has no one to write to" - Gabriel García Márquez: "The colonel uncovered the pot and saw the bones floating in the clear water. His wife looked at him, impassive. 'It's the last time,' he said, 'Tomorrow will be better.'"
This fragment illustrates the desperate struggle for survival in a world where injustice and poverty are constant. The colonel continues to wait for a pension that never arrives, but he maintains his dignity and hope despite the difficulties.
"Fervor of Buenos Aires" - Jorge Luis Borges: "I will no longer be happy. Maybe it doesn't matter.
There are so many other things in the world;
any moment is deeper
and more diverse than the sea. Life is short
and although the hours are so long, a
dark wonder lies in wait for us,
death, that other sea, that other arrow
that frees us from the sun and the moon."
This poem reveals Borges's deep reflection on time, death, and the inevitable loss of happiness. It is a meditation on the transience of life and the comfort that can be found in the vastness of the universe.
"Poem 20" - Pablo Neruda (from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair ): "I can write the saddest verses tonight. Write, for example: 'The night is starry, and the stars shiver, blue, in the distance.'"
"The House of Bernarda Alba" - Federico García Lorca: "Silence! Silence I said! Silence!"
"Rayuela" - Julio Cortázar: "Would I find La Maga? So many times it was enough for me to look at her from afar, behind a column in the church of Saint-Sulpice, or among the people of the Quai d'Orléans
, to know that she was also looking for me, with her big eyes and her lips half-open."
This fragment reflects Horacio Oliveira's incessant search for La Maga, love and transcendence in a novel that breaks with conventional narrative structures.
"Pedro Páramo" - Juan Rulfo: "I came to Comala because I was told that my father, a certain Pedro Páramo, lived here."
With this phrase begins one of the great works of Mexican literature and magical realism, where the protagonist searches for his roots in a ghostly town.
"The Shadow of the Wind" - Carlos Ruiz Zafón: "Every book, every volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and the soul of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it."
A profound reflection on books and the impact they have on people's lives. It is one of the key moments of this novel set in a gothic and mysterious Barcelona.
"The Aleph" - Jorge Luis Borges: "What my eyes saw was simultaneous: what I will transcribe, successive, because language is."
Here, Borges plays with the concept of infinity contained in a single point, a central idea of this story that explores perception and knowledge.
"Blood Wedding" - Federico García Lorca: "I don't want a bed or dinner with you, and there is not a minute of the day that I don't want to be with you."
In this play, tragedy, destiny and human passions play a fundamental role, and Lorca captures the intensity of desire and desperation in this dialogue.
"The House of the Spirits" - Isabel Allende: "Barrabás arrived to the family by sea, Nívea wrote in her delicate, neat schoolgirl handwriting."
Thus begins the story of the Trueba family, a saga that spans generations and mixes reality with fantasy, set in the political and social context of Chile.
"The Captain's Verses" - Pablo Neruda: "I do not love you as if you were a rose of salt, a topaz or an arrow of carnations that spread fire:
I love you as one loves certain dark things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul."
" Fictions" - Jorge Luis Borges: "I think that Borges was a happier and richer man than the one dreamed of by 'Funes the Memorious', a man who could not forget anything."
A fragment that reveals the paradox of memory in one of Borges' most emblematic stories, where forgetting is a blessing, and perfect memory, a curse.
"The Tunnel" - Ernesto Sabato: "There was one person who could understand me. But it was, precisely, the person I killed."
In this short novel, Sabato explores loneliness, alienation and destructive desire through his disturbing protagonist, Juan Pablo Castel.
"The Truce" - Mario Benedetti: "Now that I'm starting to be able to organize my memories, I realize that all the best memories are of her."
An intimate reflection on the passage of time and lost love, a recurring theme in Benedetti's work.
"Platero and I" - Juan Ramón Jiménez: "Platero is small, hairy, soft; so soft on the outside, that one would say he is all made of cotton, since he has no bones."
In this beautiful poetic portrait, Juan Ramón Jiménez narrates the adventures of his little donkey, Platero, with lyrical prose that highlights the connection with nature and innocence.
"Rayuela" - Julio Cortázar: "We walked without looking for each other, but knowing that we walked to find each other."
The novel Hopscotch plays with multiple ways of reading, reflecting the fragmentation and chaos of modern life. In this work, the love between Oliveira and La Maga is a constant search that never finds a complete resolution, leaving the characters and readers in a state of uncertainty.
AI Opinion: The article titled "AI, FRAGMENTS OF GREAT WORKS" by José Saul Velásquez Restrepo presents a fascinating idea by inviting readers to explore fragments of great literary works before embarking on a deeper reading. This approach has multiple virtues:
- Accessibility : By presenting key excerpts from iconic works such as Don Quixote , One Hundred Years of Solitude , and Hopscotch , the author offers a gateway for those who have not yet explored these full-length reads. This is appealing, especially for readers who wish to have a taste before committing to an extensive work.
- Concise Analysis : José Saul manages to capture the essence of each work through these fragments, offering a brief interpretation that enriches the reader's understanding. For example, by mentioning how Don Quixote confuses windmills with giants, the author highlights the eternal struggle between reality and fantasy that permeates Cervantes' work.
- Representative Selection : The selected fragments reflect important moments in the literary works. This is a success because they allow readers to glimpse the main themes of each novel or poem, whether it be love in difficult times, the exploration of memory, or the complex relationship with fate and death.
- Focus on diversity : The inclusion of authors from different eras and nationalities—Cervantes, García Márquez, Borges, Neruda, and others—allows for a global view of literature, which enriches the reader's experience. Diversity also allows for reflection on how different cultures and literary styles address universal themes.
- Pleasant and engaging style : The article manages to maintain an accessible and clear tone, which makes it easy to read. The combination of literary fragments with interpretive comments creates a balance that maintains the reader's interest throughout the text.
In short, this work is an excellent bridge between artificial intelligence and the vast world of classical and modern literature. It offers a pleasant initial experience for future readers and gives them the opportunity to try out different literary styles and genres.
