Gabriel Garcia Marquez' The General in His Labyrinth is a partially historical, partially fictional recounting of Simon Bolivar's (most frequently referred to in the book as either "The General" or The Liberator") last months alive in 1830. The book also details some of his earlier adventures, using the pretext of the General having visited a particular place previously, or meeting with an old ally who shared in that adventure. Marquez did conduct considerable historical research with the aid of several historians and the memoirs of Daniel Florencio O'Leary, Bolivar's aide-de-camp. Even so, Marquez fabricates certain things since, for instance, there are no records of what the General said over his last 14 days.
One of the best things I can say about this book is it makes Bolivar feel like a real person, full of contradictions. I didn't feel there were easy answers to explain his actions. At the start, the General has announced he will not continue in the Presidency. The Admirable Congress goes on to elect Joaquin Mosquera President of Colombia in his place. Bolivar is presented as disappointed that no one voted for him to remain president, even thought he said he no longer wanted to fulfill that role. What to make of it?
It feels to me that Bolivar grows tired of everything being on him, as this isn't the first time he's tried to surrender power*. However, it's also possible that he recognizes a system which must have him in charge to remain stable, is not viable. There are multiple occasions in the book where an old subordinate of his tells the General they have 2,000 men (or however many) ready to follow him if he wishes to overthrow the new government, and for a while Bolivar keeps sending them away, stating he has no power, or is already dead. Maybe he's tired, or maybe he just wants these men to show some initiative, do what they think is right without first getting his approval.
At the same time, he has an ego, which is understandable considering all his victories, and what he tried to accomplish (trying to unify all the lands in Latin America he helped free from Spanish control into one nation). But now the people in Bogota have turned on him, with hurtful slogans scrawled across walls throughout town. The General takes every insult personally, so maybe he just wanted to know the people still wanted him. Or he perhaps, when he agrees to support Urdaneta's assumption of power, he figures this is important enough that if he's the only one who can hold it together that's what he'll do (even then, he refuses to assume command, preferring to lead troops). Or perhaps he was simply having a bad day. The General's mood shifts with his health. He has days where he feels strong and dances, goes on long walks, talks animatedly about politics, and demonstrates a good appetite. There are days he can barely move, when his skin goes from green to yellow, when he sees a woman in the house they're staying in, but no one can find a trace of her**.
The General in the story has been with many women since the death of his rarely mentioned wife, but apparently loved none enough to stay with them. Most seem to understand this, even Manuela Saenz, who saved him from an assassination, and after his departure, wages a battle in Bogota against those who would besmirch the general's name. She cares for him, and he probably cares for her to some extent, but she recognizes he can't be held down, and he won't permit her to travel with him. That's how it goes. The General is always off on another campaign, fighting to free this land, or quell that civil war. The story of his life seemed to be that as soon as he left to calm things in one half of the continent, the other would fall apart again. Which could fuel both the sense he's indispensable, and the sense that something has to happen so the country can survive without him.
Still, the General, even as his health fades, is a charmer. He might not be able to read things given to him because of his farsightedness, or hear speeches directed to him due to a coughing fit, but he still knows just what to say to make people feel he was paying rapt attention, and that he truly cares. Which is interesting, because some of his friends became enemies because of things he said in speeches he had time to prepare. Declaring one person his greatest general, to the exclusion of another, or declaring one place in the country to be where he loved it most, or felt the most support, drawing the ire of another region. All of which brings more people against him, which leaves him feeling hurt by their invective. It's not so different from today, when people aren't happy with their current elected officials, so they get them ousted, but then they aren't happy with the ones who replace them, and there's an air of "What have you done for me lately?" over the whole thing.
What it comes down to is, the General can't find peace for himself, and he can't find peace for the lands he's fought for. One large country won't seem to work, but will multiple small ones, and thus weaker and more vulnerable to Europe and the United States, be any better? The General doesn't want to stay where he feels despised, but he isn't sure he wants to leave when things are unsettled. There is no answer.
I was surprised how quickly the book read***. Things move along, and the flashbacks to The Liberator's earlier years don't feel gratuitous. They add to the picture of who he is, and it isn't some idealized saint, but a man who fund great dreams, then learned what a struggle it can be to make them happen.
* In 1825, the Congress of Peru refused to accept his renunciation, and he ended up accepting the presidency with unlimited powers. He tried to renounce the Presidency of Colombia in 1927, and the Congress of Bogota also refused to accept.
** That's never returned to, so I wonder about it's meaning. Was it a vision of his long deceased wife, the memory of whom Bolivar buries deeply so he can survive without her? Does she represent death, or some ideal Bolivar was never able to achieve, which the others can't even comprehend?
*** The story is about 265 pages, with a bit about Marquez and who helped him research for the book, and a handy timeline of Bolivar's life. I'd suggest reading the timeline first, then referring to it during the reminiscences to keep things clear.
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