The Picture on the Cover

So far, I’ve written mostly about books that were special to me from my first sight of them. Notice that I said “mostly.” Some obviously I did not like. And I forgot to tell you something a few days ago. The reason I purchased Living to Tell the Tale by Márquez, was the author’s photograph as a baby on the front cover. I wish I could reproduce it here, but I don’t have permission to do so, nor would I know how. The child is seated, dressed in oversized feminine attire, tied-on to fit, and holds a cookie in one hand, as if perhaps for a bribe to pose. It does not appear that he has bitten into the cookie yet, for perhaps the huge eyes indicate the photographer and his camera hold his attention. He is only a few months old, for his chin and jaw are not yet fully developed. But what sold me were the eyes. They seem to hold great sorrow, an adult’s worth, and they won’t miss a thing, even at that age. That could have been true. In the many biographies of writers I’ve read over the years, authors’ photos as children showed huge eyes that looked sorrowful, constantly observing, even as if challenging the camera to do a worse job than not. It would be a real treat if you ran across this book’s front cover in a large bookstore. Take a look at that baby and those eyes.

That day in 1982 when Márquez received the Nobel Prize, I heard about it over the radio. Two facts given: he was from Columbia and he was a Communist. In the book, he says he was never a party member. In spite of his political leaning, this one book of his is beautifully written, with many passages worth noting down on paper, if you like doing that sort of thing. The book jacket states he lives in Mexico City.