Absurdity and the Sisyphean Cycle in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/lark.5813Keywords:
One Hundred years of solitude, The Myth of Sisyphus, philosophical suicide, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, CamusAbstract
This study examines the manifestations of Sisyphean absurdity in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970), drawing on Albert Camus's philosophy in his book The Myth of Sisyphus (1942/1979). The study shows how the novel embodies Camus's core concepts: the confrontation between humanity and the universe, philosophical and physical suicide, and absurd rebellion. Through analysis of the central characters, the study demonstrates that repetition in the novel is not merely a narrative device but a philosophical vision of existence—the Buendía family's life becomes an endless cycle of recurring names and tragedies, embodying the myth of Sisyphus. The study concludes that Márquez offers a profound vision: humans are condemned to repeat their actions, but freedom lies in how they confront this fate; awareness of absurdity is itself a form of rebellion, and happiness is possible despite, and indeed because of, this awareness.
References
Berthold, D. (2013). Kierkegaard and Camus: either/or?. International journal for philosophy of religion, 73(2), 137-150. doi.org/10.1007/s11153-013-9400-y
Camus, A. (1942/1979). The myth of Sisyphus (J. O'Brien, Trans.). Penguin Books.
Chang, E. C. (2025). On the absurd, the “ultimate question,” and Camus’ expansion of Nietzsche’s concept of amor fati in The Myth of Sisyphus: Some philosophical and scientific considerations. The Humanistic Psychologist, 53(3), 365–376. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000367
Ciplijauskaite, B. (1973). Foreshadowing as Technique and Theme in" One Hundred Years of Solitude". Books Abroad, 47(3), 479-484. https://doi.org/10.2307/40127321
Conniff, B. (1990). The Dark Side of Magical Realism: Science, Oppression, and Apocalypse in One Hundred Years of Solitude. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 36(2), 167-179. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mfs.0.0821.
Corwin, J. (2011). " One Hundred Years of Solitude", Indigenous Myth, and Meaning. Confluencia, 61-71. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41351016
Flynn, T. (2006) Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.
Hamad, A. L. A. S., & Merwah, A. L. A. A. (2025). Embracing Chaos: An Absurdist Interpretation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Journal of Education College Wasit University, 60(2), 649-656. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.Vol60.Iss2.4523
Hipkiss, R. A. (1984). The American Absurd: Pynchon, Vonnegut, and Barth.
Marquez, G. G. (1970). One hundred years of solitude. Penguin Books.
Santana-Acuña, A. How a literary work becomes a classic: The case of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Am J Cult Sociol 2, 97–149 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/ajcs.2013.16
Webber, J. (2018). Rethinking existentialism. Oxford University Press.
Whistler, G. (2018). 'Saints without God': Camus's poetics of secular faith. Nordisk Judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies, 29(1), 49-61. https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.68791
Zaretsky, R. D. (2011). Albert Camus: Elements of a life. Cornell University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 م.م. علي كريم حسين
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
