Editing No One Writes to the Colonel

{{Short description|1961 novella by Gabriel García Márquez}}
{{About|the 1961 novella|the 1999 film|No One Writes to the Colonel (film)}}

{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = No One Writes to the Colonel
| title_orig   = El coronel no tiene quien le escriba
| orig_lang_code = es
| translator   = [[J. S. Bernstein]]
| image        = File:El coronel no tiene quien le escriba.jpg
| caption      = First edition
| author       = [[Gabriel García Márquez]]
| cover_artist = 
| country      = [[Colombia]]
| language     = Spanish
| series       = 
| genre        = 
| publisher    = Aguirre Editor, Medellin
| release_date = 1961
| english_pub_date = 1 Sep 1968
| media_type   = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages        = 
| isbn = 0-06-011417-7
| isbn_note = (hardback first Eng. edition)
| oclc= 234241843
| preceded_by  = 
| followed_by  = 
}}

'''''No One Writes to the Colonel''''' ({{langx|es|El coronel no tiene quien le escriba|links=no}}) is a [[novella]] written by the [[Colombia]]n writer [[Gabriel García Márquez]]. It also gives its name to a short story collection. García Márquez considered it his best book, saying that he had to write ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'' so that people would read ''No One Writes to the Colonel''.<ref>"Yo creo que es mi mejor libro, sin lugar a dudas. Además, y esto no es una boutade, tuve que escribir ''Cien años de soledad'' para que
leyeran ''El coronel no tiene quien le escriba''." in Rentería Mantilla, Alfonso, ed. ''García Márquez habla de García Márquez''. Bogotá: Rentería Editores, 1979.</ref>

The novella was written between 1956 and 1957 while the author was living in Paris in the [[Hotel des Trois Colleges]]<ref>Martin, Gerald (2008) : ''Gabriel García Márquez: A Life'', Penguin. {{ISBN|978-0143171829}}</ref> and was first published in 1958, in Mito Revista Bimestral de Cultura v. IV no. 19 (May-June 1958), with first separate publication in 1961.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_timeline.html |title=Garcia Marquez - Timeline |publisher=Themodernword.com |access-date=2012-05-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321031345/http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_timeline.html |archive-date=2012-03-21 }}</ref>

==Plot summary==
The novella is the story of an impoverished retired [[colonel]], a veteran of the [[Thousand Days' War]], who still hopes to receive the [[pension]] he was promised some fifteen years earlier. The colonel lives with his asthmatic wife in a small village under martial law. The action opens with the colonel preparing to go to the funeral of a town musician whose death is notable because he was the first to die from natural causes in many years. The novel is set during the years of "[[La Violencia]]" in Colombia, when [[martial law]] and censorship prevail.

[[File:GabrielGarciaMarquez NoOneWritesToTheColonel.jpg|thumb|left|200px|First English edition<br>(publ. [[Harper & Row]])]]

==Literary significance and criticism==

Unlike many other García Márquez works, the novel mostly does not fall within the [[magic realism]] genre, as it includes only one magical event.

The main characters of the novel are not named, adding to the feeling of insignificance of an individual living in Colombia. The colonel and his wife, who have lost their son to political repression, are struggling with poverty and financial instability. The corruption of the local and national officials is evident and this is a topic which García Márquez explores throughout the novel, by using references to censorship and the impact of government on society.  The colonel desperately tries to sell their inheritance from their only son who is now dead and eventually the only reminder of his existence is a rooster that the colonel trains to take part in a cockfight.

In his memoir ''Vivir para contarla'' (''[[Living to Tell the Tale]]'', 2002), García Márquez explained that the novel was inspired by his grandfather, who was also a colonel and who never received the pension he was promised.  However, there is also speculation that García Márquez took inspiration from his experience of unemployment in 1956 after the newspaper he had been working for shut down. The daily lives he witnessed during this time are said to be one of his inspirations for this novel.

==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations==
A [[No One Writes to the Colonel (film)|motion picture based on the novella]] was made in 1999. Directed by [[Arturo Ripstein]], it stars [[Fernando Luján]] as the colonel.
A feature film based on the novella and titled ''Only Death Comes for Sure'' was released in 1993. The film was directed by [[Marina Tsurtsumiya]].

==Cultural references==
* The [[Riga]] restaurant/club [http://www.pulkvedis.lv/ Pulkvedim Neviens Neraksta] is named after the Latvian title of the story, which also spawned a bar of the same name in Toronto.
* The Russian rock band [[Bi-2]] had written the song ''Полковнику никто не пишет'' (Russian translation for ''No One Writes to the Colonel'') that was included in the soundtrack of the Russian film ''[[Brother 2]]''.

==Release details==
*1958, "El coronel no tiene quien le escriba," in ''Mito Revista Bimestral de Cultura'' v. IV no. 19 (May-June 1958)
*1961, El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (novella), Aguirre Editor (Medellin, Colombia)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/90/Gabriel-Garcia-Marquez.html |title=Gabriel Garcia Marquez Biography (1928-) |publisher=Filmreference.com |access-date=2012-05-01}}</ref>
*1968, USA, Harper & Row {{ISBN|0-06-011417-7}}, Pub date 1 September 1968, hardback (Eng. trans 1st edition)
*1996, UK, Penguin Books {{ISBN|0-14-015749-2}}, Pub date 29 February 1996, paperback (as ''No One Writes to the Colonel'')
*1976, USA, HarperPerennial {{ISBN|0-06-090700-2}}, Pub date ? August 1979, paperback (as ''No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories'')

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Gabriel García Márquez}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:No One Writes To The Colonel}}
[[Category:1968 short story collections]]
[[Category:Colombian novellas]]
[[Category:Harper & Row books]]
[[Category:Novels by Gabriel García Márquez]]
[[Category:Novels set in Colombia]]
[[Category:Short story collections by Gabriel García Márquez]]