Gabbing About Gabo

Artists should be judged primarily for their work. Once you star poking around their personal lives, you're bound to be disappointed or dismayed. Unless they get preachy -- which many of them do -- it's really unfair to put them under too strict a scrutiny. Talent does not make a person better; only better-known. We should never idolize anybody just for being talented.

This comes to mind with regards to García Márquez and his relationship to Colombia and his hometown of Aracataca. It seems that the much-admired writer was not much-loved by some of his countrymen and fellow townspeople, who feel that he did not do enough for them, given his fame and good fortune. There are conflicting views on the matter, but, as I said, all that is beside the point.

After all, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, not for Peace or Good Will.

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