As part of their A Level course in Spanish, pupils study aspects of Hispanic culture which is covered in the taught language component but also aspects of literature and film. The latter often also include social, political and historical commentaries.

At present, Year 12 are reading 'El coronel no tiene quien les escriba' by Gabriel García Márquez, a Colombian novelist and short story writer who is considered one of the most significant authors of the twentieth century.  In 1982 he was awarded the Novel Prize in Literature "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts", and when he died in 2014 Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Colombia, called him "the greatest Colombian who ever lived".

One of our Year 12 linguists, Phoebe, has read perhaps his most famous book, 'Cien años de soledad', in her own time to widen her appreciation and understanding of this novelist and has subsequently written a review of this book for anyone who may be interested in knowing more. I hope you enjoy her interpretation of it!

Phoebe's Review