Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Márquez, Gabriel García (Vol. 170) - Tony Gould (review date 22 July 1995)

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Tony Gould (review date 22 July 1995)

SOURCE: Gould, Tony. “Superstition Sets the Whole World in Flames.” Spectator 275, no. 8715 (22 July 1995): 29.

[In the following review, Gould offers a positive assessment of Of Love and Other Demons.]

A novel by Márquez is generally a rich confection, and this one is no exception [Of Love and Other Demons]. The ‘magical’ elements, whether real or not, are all there: a dead girl's hair measuring over 22 metres in length and a horse living to be 100 years old, to cite but two. The language is sometimes close to self-parody, as in the following passage, selected almost at random:

She left without saying goodbye. The marquis never knew, and no one else ever knew, just when Dulce Olivia had stopped being herself and become no more than a nocturnal apparition in the house.

But it works. Like all the best historical novels, this tale (set in...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Mabel Moraña (essay date winter 1990)
   2. David Buehrer (essay date fall 1990)
   3. Robert M. Adams (review date 11 October 1990)
   4. Selden Rodman (review date 15 October 1990)
   5. John Bierman (review date 22 October 1990)
   6. Lee Siegel (review date 9 November 1990)
   7. Michael Palencia-Roth (essay date winter 1991)
   8. William L. Siemens (review date winter 1991)
   9. Edwin Williamson (review date 18 January 1991)
   10. Susan de Carvalho (essay date summer 1991)
   11. Michael Wood (review date 27 September 1991)
   12. Iddo Landau (essay date 1992)
   13. Adelaida López Mejía (essay date March 1992)
   14. Thomas E. Kooreman (essay date spring 1993)
   15. John S. Christie (essay date June 1993)
   16. M. Keith Booker (essay date summer 1993)
   17. John Sturrock (review date 17 September 1993)
   18. Amanda Hopkinson (review date 24 September 1993)
   19. Edward Waters Hood (review date autumn 1993)
   20. Carlos Rincón (essay date fall 1993)
   21. Ken Sonenclar (review date 15 November 1993)
   22. John Bayley (review date 17 February 1994)
   23. Alexander Theroux (review date spring 1994)
   24. Anny Brooksbank Jones (essay date July 1994)
   25. John R. Clark (essay date 1995)
   26. Edward Waters Hood (review date spring 1995)
   27. Arnold M. Penuel (essay date summer 1995)
   28. Michael Kerrigan (review date 7 July 1995)
   29. Tony Gould (review date 22 July 1995)
   30. John Bemrose (review date 24 July 1995)
   31. Rosemary Dinnage (review date 11 January 1996)
   32. John Butt (review date 4 October 1996)
   33. Michael Massing (review date 1 June 1997)
   34. Philip Hensher (review date 28 June 1997)
   35. John Butt (review date 11 July 1997)
   36. Kate Saunders (review date 1 August 1997)
   37. Jonathan Levi (review date 10 August 1997)
   38. Charles Lane (review date 25 August 1997)
   39. John Bemrose (review date 1 September 1997)
   40. Joseph A. Page (review date 26 September 1997)
   41. Alastair Reid (review date 9 October 1997)
   42. Malcolm Deas (review date 30 October 1997)
   43. Dean J. Irvine (essay date October 1998)
   44. Deborah Cohn (essay date spring 1999)
   45. Elizabeth A. Spiller (essay date summer 1999)
   46. Nicole C. Matos (essay date fall 2000)
   47. Gioconda Belli (review date 16 February 2003)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright