Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Gabriel García Márquez
Based on a true story that happened in Márquez’s hometown, Chronicle of a Death Foretold tells the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by Pedro and Pablo Vicario in retribution of his—allegedly—taking their sister’s virginity.
Major themes: memory, collective responsibility, habits and rituals, honor and purity.
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IB Literature and IB Language and Literature Connections
Author’s Country: Colombia
Language: Spanish
Era: 20th Century
Genre: Fiction
Author: Hispanic, male
Readers, writers and texts | Time and space | Intertextuality: Connecting texts
Identity | Culture | Creativity | Communication
Perspective | Transformation | Representation
Full text, basic summaries, and overviews
Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada | Gabriel García Márquez | Full text in Spanish and English
This site provides the novel in two columns—Spanish and English. Links at the top for chapters do not work; scroll to read entire novel.
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Spark Notes
This site includes full plot and chapter summaries, character overviews, literary devices, quizzes, suggested essay topics and more.
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Wikipedia
This page includes plot, inspiration, key themes, adaptations, and reviews.
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Murder Most Foul and Comic | The New York Times | Book Review | Leonard Michaels | March 27, 1983
This review was written soon after the novel’s first publication in English. It provides a solid overview of the text and identification of some of the literary features of Márquez’s writing style that are worth paying attention to in the classroom.
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Analysis of Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Literariness.org | Nasrullah Mambrol | September 26, 2020
This essay is a lengthy analysis of the text which includes background, analysis of plot development, genre and narrative structure, character development, thematic issues, social and historical context, and a bibliography. It’s important to note that this is a personal analysis of the text; the author draws conclusions that other readers may or may not agree with.
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold Timeline | Sutori.com | Grace Tacchetti
This timeline spans from August, when Bayardo San Roman first arrives in town to 17 years later when Bayardo and Angela reunite.
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold Vocabulary | Vocabulary.com
Use of the flashcards is locked behind a paywall, but if you scroll down, there are five lists of vocabulary words—one for each chapter.
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About the author
Gabriel García Márquez: The Making of a Global Writer | Harry Ransom Center
This page accompanies the exhibition on Márquez at the Harry Ransom Center museum. It includes a biography and photographs. The video at the top of the page is good, but in Spanish.
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Gabriel García Márquez Biographical | The Nobel Prize
This page includes a bibliography, a biography, and Márquez’s Nobel lecture.
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The Yellow Trolley Car in Barcelona, and Other Visions | The Atlantic | William Kennedy | January 1973
Part biography and part interview with Márquez. This article is very readable and engaging and gives insight into Márquez’s personality.
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Gabriel García Márquez: The Art of Fiction No. 69 | The Paris Review | Peter Stone | Winter 1981
This interview spans many topics, including Márquez’s early influences as a writer as well as the influence of journalism, politics, and daily life on his writing.
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The legacy of Gabriel García Márquez | YouTube | CNN | 2:55
”CNN’s Rafael Romo looks back at the life of Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez”
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Gabriel García Márquez: What to Know About The Master Of Magical REalism & Nobel Prize Winner | TIME | YouTube | 1:42
”On what would have been his 91st birthday, Google Doodle is celebrating Gabriel García Márquez, or “Gabo,” as the man once called “the greatest Colombian who ever lived” was affectionately known.
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Obituary: Gabriel García Márquez - BBC News | YouTube | 2:07
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Remembering the literary magic of Gabriel García Márquez | PBS NewsHour | 6:19
PBS obituary for Márquez
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Gabriel García Márquez | Wikipedia Article
This in-depth page includes a detailed biography, overview of Márquez’s style, themes, and legacy.
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Gregory Rabassa | Britannica.com
This page is a simple biography for Márquez’s translator, Gregory Rabassa
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Gregory Rabassa, a Premier Translator of Spanish and Portuguese Fiction, Dies at 94 | The New York Times | Margalit Fox | June 15, 2016
This obituary for Rabassa includes an early biography, his work as a translator, and honors received for his work.
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Gregory Rabassa Interview | Center for Translation Studies | YouTube | 7:20
”An interview with Gregory Rabassa conducted by Elizabeth Lowe in 2007 at the annual conference American Literary Translators Association”
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Articles, essays, and videos about Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Outlaw Knot-Makers: Context, Culture, and Magic Realism | Edward A Shannon | PhD Dissertation | 1995
PDF pages (not actual page numbers) 19-30 (chapter 1) and 40-61 (chapter 2) contain the most relevant information for this text.
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Repetitions and Reflections in Chronicle of a Death Foretold | California Institute of Technology | Mary G Berg | 1984
This is a lengthy, but good analysis of repetition in Chronicle, written in sections that would be easy to separate out. Berg’s analysis includes a focus on first sentences, the limitations of reflections, dreams, repetitions and contradictions, sensory images and repetition, memory, the fallibility of history, repetitive patterns, and more.
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The Reader’s Struggle with the Multi-faceted Metaphor of the Labyrinth in Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Faith Mishina | University of Hawai’i | 2010
This essay analyzes “the architecture of the labyrinth and its metaphor structure” on the reading experience of Chronicle.
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Knowledge and Time in García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Valley Humanities Review | Spring 2013 | Jacqueline Weaver
From the introduction: “Through the chronicle’s limited ability to account for the impositions of past and future, time emerges as an entity that resists and calls into question this linear segmentation constructed by human beings. However, where some critics might interpret this imposition of the past and future to be an indication of predetermination, García Márquez’s Chronicle maintains the notion of personal agency through its depiction of Angela’s letter-writing, which affirms the authority of the present and reassigns meaning to the past and future in the same non-linear fashion.”
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On Authority | Chunyang Ding | AP/IB English HL Essay
From the introduction: “Marquez manipulates the idea of role models, such as the government, the honor in masochism, and the church, in order to bring attention to the absurdity at which the community would follow these groups, which reveals key aspects of his contemporary social issues.”
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Nobel author Gabriel García Márquez wins 17-year legal fight over murder classic | The Guardian | Tom Phillips | November 30, 2011
”Columbian court rules against man who claimed author used his life story for main character in Chronicle of a Death Foretold”
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The Magic Realism of Rob Gonsalves | YouTube | Mario Gómez Mayorga | 3:04
This three-minute video is a slideshow of Gonsalves’s magic realism paintings
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An Introduction to Magical Realism | Dallas Baptist University
This site includes a definition of magical realism and the primary and secondary traits of magical realism.
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Magical Realism: Definitions | Alberto Ríos
This site provides 25+ definitions for magical realism, all cited.
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Magical Realism | Lindsay Moore | Fall 1998, updated October 2017 | Emory University
This article about magical realism includes background, characteristics of magical realism, themes, magical realist authors, and examples.
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Hello? This is Colombia’s Antimachismo Hotline. | The New York Times | Julie Turkewitz | October 18, 2021
”A new hotline in Bogotá takes calls from men struggling with jealousy, control and fear—and challenges long-held assumptions about masculinity.”
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Where Machismo is Entrenched, Focus Moves to the Trenches | The New York Times | Paulina Villegas | April 23, 2017
”Mexico City—Machismo has long been widespread in Mexican society. Male entitlement…has been tolerated, even celebrated. But times are changing for the Mexican macho man, or ‘machista.’”
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Lesson plans and other teaching resources
Novel Units Comprehensive Curriculum Based Lesson Plans | Teacher’s Guide 9-12 | Chronicle of a Death Foretold
This is a PDF preview of the full teacher’s guide which can be purchased. The sample includes: summary, list of primary and secondary characters, some information about Márquez, a story map, discussion questions for pages 3-15 of the text, and two supplementary activities.
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Latin and Central American Literature: Gabriel García Márquez | Lesson Plan | D. Martell | February 10, 2011
While the formatting leaves something to be desired, there is good information on this site. Academic standards are provided, as well as Common Core standards, vocabulary, and objectives. Eight essential questions are identified, and the lesson plan includes suggested instructional strategies, instructional procedures, embedded links to outside resources, formative assessment and rubrics.
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Cloze Review Sheet: Chronicle of a Death Foretold: Márquez | FREE Teachers Pay Teachers resource | Lynnie Lane
This two-page worksheet summarizes the text but includes blanks for students to fill in with key details.
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Mr. Hoye’s IB English Website | Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Teacher Website
Mr. Hoye has background information, chapter notes, and two critical articles posted for his unit on Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
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Shopping List
Texts and other resources you may find helpful.
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez(English translation)
Paperback on Amazon.com
Mass Market Paperback on Amazon.com
Crónica de una muerte anunciada
by Gabriel García Márquez
(Spanish Edition)
Paperback on Amazon.com
Gabriel García Márquez: The Last Interview and Other Conversations
Paperback on Amazon.com
Living to Tell the Tale
Autobiography by Gabriel García Márquez
Paperback on Amazon.comBack to Browse by Title | Browse by Author
