The Historia Augusta and The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez

Abstract

One of the most important literary works by Gabriel García Márquez is Autumn of the Patriarch. In this piece of work some aspects connected with Suetonius’ The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, with Julius Caesar’s biography as told by Plutarch and with the well-known book by Thornton Wilder, Ides of March, can be identified. These analyses have been already conveniently conducted. It is interesting to establish some connections with the lives of emperors or Caesars included in the Historia Augusta, considering this work as a follow-up to Suetonius’. In these works some specific or anecdotal elements can be found, which contribute to shape some passages in García Márquez’s novels. Mention to the importance of Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian in the updating of the Historia Augusta must also be highlighted.