Marķa, A South American Romance by Jorge Isaacs (March 2-10, 2005)
Although this is one of the famous Latin American books, it took me a full month to track down an English translation of it. Luckily, through interlibrary loan, I checked out a translation of Jorge Isaacs's story by Rollo Ogden, which was published in New York by Harper & Brothers in 1890. Since the Columbian story was highly recommended to me by a friend in Guatemala, I was excited to be able to read it.
The story is told by Efraín, who is reminiscing about his youth. The story begins in earnest with his return home from college to his family. He is in love with the young Marķa, a girl raised by his family. Efraín wants to declare his love to her, but his parents forbid this until he completes his medical education in Europe. Meanwhile, Marķa is suffering from a rare form of epilepsy that killed her mother. Efraín's parents and Marķa's doctors feel that a declaration from Efraín would result in a severe attack and have dangerous consequences to her health, so this plays into his parents' reasoning. In the meantime, their flirtations and misunderstandings grow, where social factors and obedience to their elders prevent them from speaking honestly to one another about their feelings.
As Efraín and Marķa suffer in silence, their elders respect them more. They are young, but they pride their honesty and promises highly. The motivations are clear, but the order of how they must act is exact. All of this feels so special and different from the present day where it feels like we act on whims with so little thought involved.
My favorite part was when an immature Efraín threw away flowers he intended to give Marķa because she had not arranged flowers for him in his room. I liked the way something so small affected them both so much because it meant so much to both of them. They had to truly speak to one another following that misunderstanding to resolve their ill feelings and insecurities. Efraín was very sweet when he and María were shyly flirting. I liked how they both thought that their romance was a secret, while it was clear that the whole family knew what was going on.
As I read the novel, I felt it would end tragically. Efraín was reminiscing
only about a short time, it seemed to me, all through the story. His voice
sounded
so
old and
melancholy, as if that period was the time of his greatest joy. If was as
if he had gone over that stretch of time so many times that he remembered
every
detail
down to María's dresses and her scarf and the food they ate. I felt
that if Efraín and
María had been happy for 30 years and he was writing, he would
not place such weight on those small details.
In the end, my feelings were correct.
I was very sad at the tragic conclusion, especially since they did not have
a finally meeting, but since I expected María to die, it was not a
shock to me. I found everything about the tale
so sad, and I wonder how old Efrain was when
he was telling it and if he found happiness in life. Overall, it was a
very sweet and romantic story that captures young love, tragedy, and family
dynamics. It is a shame that this book is not currently available as in English.
