An ambiguous sentence by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez (1927 to 2014) is that he has a public life, a private life and a secret life. Now his eldest son, Rodrigo García Barcha, has written “Gabo y Mercedes: Una despedida” (Gabo and Mercedes: A Farewell), a moving reminder of his father's last years, which has just been published in Spanish and in July also in English Original comes out. The focus is on dementia and the last illness of the 1982 Nobel Prize winner for literature, but also the dominant role of Mercedes Barcha, "La Gaba", who for more than half a century has been the author's wife, his first reader, muse and the undisputed authority in the house was. Only after the death of his mother in August 2020, according to Rodrigo García,he dared to publish the report on the writer's end.

Paul Ingendaay

Europe correspondent for the feature pages in Berlin.

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    One rarely reads a work in which the fame of a single member, which devours all family members, is depicted with so much sensitivity as here. The pop star-like popularity of "Gabos", as the author was called in Spanish, is difficult to understand anyway. Two presidents of state, Colombia and Mexico, spoke at his funeral service. Thousands came to give his final escort to him, who had never attended a funeral himself. This magic, on the other hand, meant that the immediate family not only benefited from the fame of the father, but was also the subject of incessant gossip, rumors and intense media siege, all the more so,After the demented writer had to be taken to hospital for examinations for years and returned home shortly afterwards as inoperable: Now, in the main residence of the couple, who had been married in Mexico City since 1958, the weeks of waiting for his death began, just as García Márquez himself did The death of his characters had repeatedly described as the downfall of a universe made up of a will to power, passions and longing.

    The family's strategy in relation to the sick person, who can hardly express his own will, is based on

    common sense

    : bring the man home, spare him unnecessary pain and otherwise maintain as much normality as possible.

    Mercedes Barcha accepts the death sentence without pronouncing it;

    For many decades she has exuded authority through attitude and does so now.

    But more often than usual she takes up the cigarette again.

    A hospital bed is delivered, and as soon as the company understands who the famous sick person is, a letter follows from the management stating that the bed does not have to be paid for, that it is an honor to do this service.

    The dead bird on the sofa

    Nurses are on duty around the clock. The writer no longer recognizes his sons Rodrigo and Gonzalo, who were both in their fifties at the time, and asks a long-time domestic worker: “Who are these people in the next room?” When he is informed, García Márquez says: “Seriously? These men? Madness. It's unbelievable. ”Years earlier, when he noticed that he was losing his memory, it was harder for him. “I work with my memory. Memory is my tool, my raw material. Help me, I can't work without memories. ”It was the months when he reread his own novels for the first time and was surprised to find his own photo on the cover flap.