Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most influential writers of our time, with a unique literary creativity rooted in the history of his native Colombia. This revised and expanded edition of a classic work is the first book of criticism to consider in detail the totality of García Márquez's magnificent oeuvre. In a beautifully written examination, Gene Bell-Villada traces the major forces that have shaped the novelist and describes his life, his personality, and his politics. For this edition, Bell-Villada adds new chapters to cover all of García Márquez's fiction since 1988, from The General in His Labyrinth through Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and includes sections on his memoir, Living to Tell the Tale, and his journalistic account, News of a Kidnapping. Moreover, new information about García Márquez's biography and artistic development make this the most comprehensive account of his life and work available.