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Article: Colombian Town's Literary Link; Garcia Marquez Birthplace to Vote on New, Hyphenated Name
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 29, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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"Welcome to the magical world of Macondo," reads a giant billboard
outside Aracataca, the down-on-its-heels town surrounded by banana
plantations where Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born.
Macondo, as the Nobel laureate's fans well know, is the fictitious
tropical hamlet made famous in his masterwork, "One Hundred Years of
Solitude."
Now Macondo and the author's birthplace near Colombia's Caribbean
coast may become forever joined. To reverse a half-century of
economic decline, town leaders hope to cash in on their favorite
son's international fame by changing the town's name to Aracataca-
Macondo.
"We want to exploit Garcia Marquez's legacy in the best sense of
the word," said Mayor Pedro ...