If not for her, the world would hardly have seen "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (10 photos)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez met Mercedes when she was only 13 years old. The fateful meeting took place in the town of Sucre (Colombia), dancing. Marquez immediately realized that he was standing in front of him. future wife.





The writer not only decided this for himself, but also voiced his matrimonial plans for a young girl in the same place, on the dance floor. Mercedes immediately appreciated the young man: appearance, serious plans and decisiveness played in his favor and the girl agreed. Only clarified that she, for starters, should finish school.

From the moment of acquaintance to the altar, as many as 13 years have passed.



Marquez as a child

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born on March 6, 1927 in the city Aracataca. The father of the future writer was a telegraph operator, who constantly took several shifts in a row to feed his family. The boy is not mother's love was enough, and he was very attached to her, but where was she to be in time when the family had 11 children. A big role in the upbringing of Marquez played by his grandparents, which seriously affected his spiritual formation. More than once his strict grandmother will be the heroine of novels, together with his grandfather, a colonel who went through the entire Civil War.





In young age

Gabriel always wanted to follow the legal path and After graduating from the boarding school, he entered the University of Bogotá in 1946. Wherein, he began to write from a very young age and his studies did not hindered the novice creator. His poems inspired everyone who read them, and this, in turn, could not but inspire Marquez.



Mercedes in youth

It is noteworthy that in the novels of the writer it is often possible meet the reflection of his love for Mercedes: love for a girl that is not yet reached marriageable age.

Mercedes was born in the village of Maganga on November 6, 1932. She she was modest, beautiful, studied well and always distinguished herself by adults, not by years, thinking and judgments. Since childhood, she dreamed of becoming a biologist. When the always responsible and logical daughter told her parents that plans to get married, they thought it was an original manifestation teenage rebellion. Few could believe that this is the story of a real love.



Years passed, and Marquez still did not come to the official meeting the girl's parents. Mercedes shrugged it off fans, passed gossip about his novels and her absolutely frightened by the prospect of old girlhood - she was waiting for him. Even the obvious romance Gabriel with the Spanish actress was not shaken by the confidence of Mercedes: he continued to write to her, answered her letters, and everything else was it doesn't matter at all. They sent each other several letters a week, and Her photograph always hung over the writer's bed.

The engagement was long - 13 years. And only when Marquez was 31 years old, they went to the wedding.



Their family life went on as usual. Mercedes (Sword) always and supported Gabriel in everything, and he always knew that only he could entrust your biggest secrets. They practically did not swear and through twenty years of marriage, Marquez said: "Family life is devilishly difficult work that you start over every day. And so all my life. Do you live in constant tension, and sometimes it is so tiring ... but, nevertheless, it's worth it!"

At that moment, Gabriel worked in the newspaper El Espectador, the young lived in a small rented two-room apartment. The sword was not the best hostess, which Gabriel treated calmly and often he himself took up the cleaning of the apartment. But she was good at saving and coped well with inexpensive purchases, knowing how to cook delicious and a hearty dinner with a minimum of products.



With sons

The couple had two sons, life went on as usual, sometimes I had to get by with just a few pennies, but Mercedes never blamed her husband for this. She was just there, supporting him, carefully adding up all his manuscripts, and when Marquez began the novel "One Hundred Years loneliness", then took over the provision of the family. Nothing could shake her confidence in the genius of her husband. Marquez sold the car and for a whole year and a halfyes, I just locked myself in the garage, not communicating with family. They owed the landlord eight months' rent, which Mercedes honestly warned him in advance. Surprisingly, he believed them on the word and Meche and Gabriel paid him within the agreed time.



The novel has been written. Six months have passed, but Marquez could not send it to the editor - 160 pesos were missing. Sword calmly sold last: mixer and hair dryer. And now, very soon, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" brought its author the Nobel Prize, worldwide recognition and, of course, or huge fees. Mercedes copper pipes passed as well as life on the threshold of poverty - with dignity, always being close to her beloved husband. Neither scandals, nor attention, nor constant paparazzi shook her - she did not communicate with the press and generally tried to avoid increased attention. She gave interviews only once.

Gabriel always remembered how much he owed his wife and at the beginning novel "Love during the plague" is a dedication to her: "Dedicated, of course well, Mercedes. These villages have already found their crowned goddess."



With a family

In 1999, Marquez was again diagnosed with oncology. For ten years before that he won the battle with lung cancer, and now it was cancer lymphatic system. Mercedes' perseverance and care helped him beat cancer this time too. And after leaving the hospital, the writer said in interview that ends his career: "Now I'm only the husband of Mercedes ... I I belong to her completely."

The writer has repeatedly said that it was love that became the meaning of his life, and every year he repeated this more and more confidently.



With your sword

"For me, undoubtedly: the meaning of life is love ... And to write it is only about love, because everything else is from the evil one. My the next novel will, of course, be about love, about passionate, crazy, hopeless, eternal love of a man and a woman ... "

When Gabriel became very old he was struck by Alzheimer's. IN aggravation, he did not recognize anyone except his beloved Mercedes. Is it true sometimes it seemed to Gabriel that in front of him was the same thirteen-year-old A sword that he would certainly marry someday.