Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1967 literary masterpiece 100 Years of Solitude has sold over a million copies in China since it was translated into Mandarin last May.
In just six months, Marquez’s first novel to be legally published in China topped the best-seller charts 44 years after its initial publication in Spanish.
“We have not made money, but we haven’t lost any. He [Marquez] is a great writer and we will continue to publish his books,” said Chen Mingjun, whose media company published the work in May.
Several prominent Chinese academics have all recognized that Marquez’s has been so influential that many Chinese writers have plagiarized his famous novel.
“Garcia Marquez is not one of the greatest, he is the greatest living writer who I wish will live many years in order that [I can] continue reading him,” said Chinese author Murong Xuecun, who also pointed out that Marquez’s work was notable for its critical political stance on Western democracies and North American imperialism.
Reading 100 Years of Solitude allows the reader to explore the possibility of other worlds which give strength and endurance where reality does not permit it, according to another Chinese author.
The novel’s themes of politics, revolution, love and adventure have captivated Chinese readers just as they have with literary lovers the world over.
Due to Marquez’s popularity, two other works by the Colombian author are scheduled to be translated into Mandarin in 2012 — Love in the Time of Cholera and The General in his Labyrinth.
One Hundred Years of Solitude has been criticized by the Russian Orthodox Church for idolizing “depraved passions that make people miserable” and encouraging pedophilia.