Vagueness of Setting in Marquez Works

In our discussion about 100 Years of Solitude, we talked about the setting of the work, particularly how Marquez is intentionally ambiguous about the town of Macondo and the country the novel takes place in. We mentioned how this ambiguity allows the story to transcend its setting while also using the implicit historical and cultural context of Colombia and Latin America to comment on themes specific to these regions.

Over the summer I read another Marquez work, Love in the Time of Cholera, (would highly recommend it by the way) and I think Marquez uses a vague setting in a similar manner. Love in the Time of Cholera takes place in an unnamed port city in an unnamed Caribbean country, which one can figure out is probably Colombia, during an unspecified time period around the turn of the century. The novel discusses the lifelong love affair between two people in the town, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, and takes place over decades. Just as in Macondo, the unnamed city changes and develops as time passes. As in 100 Years of Solitude, the effect of this vague setting is an applicability of the love story to a broad context. In both works though, cultural context is important, as parts of the town culture and social structures in Love in the Time of Cholera play important roles in the story.

Generally speaking, however, I would say the setting of Macondo is more vague and even mystical than that of the town in Love in the Time of Cholera. Interestingly because we never learn the name of the town, the book describes in more concrete detail parts of the town in Love in the Time of Cholera, with specific neighborhoods and areas discussed, whereas Macondo is ever changing and specific parts aren't usually thoroughly described. This sort of makes sense to me, as 100 Years of Solitude is more allegorical and takes on broader themes of humanity than Love in the Time of Cholera. This is not to disparage Love in the Time of Cholera, but many parts of the story are related to social class in the town, which presents challenges to Florentino Ariza in his pursuit of Fermina Daza's love. Marquez paints a vivid image of both Macondo and the unnamed town, but describes the latter in a more concrete way and the former more mythically. I thought it was interesting how he uses vague settings in a similar way in both works, but to different effects in order to support the story and themes of each novel.