Memories of My Melancholy Whores
{{Short description|Novella by Gabriel García Márquez}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = Memories of My Melancholy Whores
| title_orig = Memoria de mis putas tristes
| translator = Edith Grossman
| image = Image:MemoriesOfMyMelancholyWhores.jpg
| border = yes
| caption = First edition (Colombian)
| author = Gabriel García Márquez
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = Colombia
| language = Spanish
| series =
| genre =
| publisher = Editorial Norma (Colombia)
Alfred A. Knopf (US)
| release_date = 2004
| english_release_date = 2005
| media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
| pages = 128
| isbn = 978-1-4000-4460-3
| dewey = 863/.64 22
| congress = PQ8180.17.A73 M4613 2005
| oclc = 58431922
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Memories of My Melancholy Whores ({{langx|es|link=no|Memoria de mis putas tristes}}) is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez. The book was originally published in Spanish in 2004, with an English translation by Edith Grossman published in October 2005.
Plot
An old journalist, who has just celebrated his 90th birthday, seeks sex with a 14-year-old prostitute, who is selling her virginity to help her family. Instead of sex, he discovers love for the first time in his life.
List of characters
- First-person narrator - Unidentified old journalist.
- Rosa Cabarcas - Brothel owner and pimp.
- Delgadita - 14-year-old virgin girl.
- Florina de Dios Cargamantes - Narrator's mother.
- Damiana - Narrator's maid.
- Ximena Ortiz - Narrator's fiancée .
- Jerónimo Ortega - Journal chief censor.
- Editor-in-chief.
- J.M.B.- Famous banker.
- Sacramento Montiel - Brothel owner.
- Casilda Armenta - Former prostitute.
- Castorina - Prostitute with whom the narrator had his sexual debut.
- Narrator's angora cat.
Reception
The book received positive reviews.{{cite journal |last1=Cass |first1=Jeremy L. |title=Why Is No One Talking about Memoria de mis putas tristes? |journal=South Atlantic Review |date=2011 |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=113–128 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41635674 |access-date=30 November 2024 |issn=0277-335X}} John Updike called the novel a "velvety pleasure to read, though somewhat disagreeable to contemplate", and wrote that García Márquez "has composed, with his usual sensual gravity and Olympian humor, a love letter to the dying light."{{cite news |last1=Updike |first1=John |author1-link=John Updike |title=Dying For Love |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/11/07/dying-for-love |access-date=30 November 2024 |work=The New Yorker |date=30 October 2005}} Terrence Rafferty, writing for the New York Times, praised Grossman's translation and García Márquez' narrative.{{cite news |last1=Rafferty |first1=Terrence |title='Memories of My Melancholy Whores': Client of the Year |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/books/review/memories-of-my-melancholy-whores-client-of-the-year.html |access-date=30 November 2024 |work=New York Times |date=6 November 2005}}
Michiko Kakutani, also writing for the New York Times, gave a negative review to the novel, calling it a "halfhearted exercise in storytelling" and criticizing the narrative, protagonist, and ending as banal.{{cite news |last1=Kakutani |first1=Michiko |author1-link=Michiko Kakutani |title=He Wants to Die Alone, but First . . . |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/books/he-wants-to-die-alone-but-first.html |access-date=30 November 2024 |work=New York Times |date=22 November 2005}}
Memories of My Melancholy Whores was banned in Iran after selling 5,000 copies; it had been translated as Memories of my Melancholy Sweethearts.{{cite news |title=Iran ban for Garcia Marquez novel |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7098233.stm |access-date=30 November 2024 |date=16 November 2007 |work=BBC News}}{{cite news |title=A Garcia Marquez Novel is Banned in Iran |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/books/15arts-AGARCAMRQUEZ_BRF.html |access-date=30 November 2024 |work=New York Times |date=15 November 2007}}
Adaptation
In 2012, a joint film production of the novel by Spain, Denmark and Mexico was released by Danish film director, Henning Carlsen, and starring Emilio Echevarría, Olivia Molina, Ángela Molina and Geraldine Chaplin. The film received the Special Young Jury Prize at the Malaga Spanish Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.provincia.com.mx/2012/04/tiene-memoria-de-mis-putas-tristes-buen-recibimiento-en-malaga/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907121459/http://www.provincia.com.mx/2012/04/tiene-memoria-de-mis-putas-tristes-buen-recibimiento-en-malaga/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 September 2012|title=Tiene "Memoria de mis putas tristes" buen recibimiento en Málaga|date=24 April 2012|publisher=Provincia|language=Spanish|accessdate=21 May 2012}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/garciamg/mmwhores.htm Complete Review review]
- [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/gabriel-garcia-marquez/memories-of-my-melancholy-whores.htm Fantastic Fiction page]
- [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2009/10/if-you-look-at-the-culture-pages-in-mexicos-newspapers-these-days--there-is-little-question-about-whats-the-talk-of-th.html Film Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez Book Prompts Protest in Mexico] by The Los Angeles Times
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120318204019/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/the-nonagenarian-and-the-nymphette-on-gabriel-garcia-marquez%e2%80%99s-newest-novel/ 'The Nonagenarian and the Nymphette']}}, review in the Oxonian Review
{{Gabriel García Márquez}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memories Of My Melancholy Whores}}
Category:2004 Colombian novels
Category:Colombian novels adapted into films
Category:Novels by Gabriel García Márquez
Category:Novels about Colombian prostitution
Category:Colombian magic realism novels