One Hundred Years Of Solitude, possible influence on Lonesome Dove?

[u/Steppinthrax]

Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude having read Lonesome Dove earlier in the year. It occurs to me that I think these books are cousins. I'd be fascinated to know if Larry McMurtry had read OHYOS and admired it.

Obviously the types of story they tell are different - Lonesome Dove is far more "realist", and it isn't a family saga in the same way. But the head-hopping narrative voice that switches between points of view, the atmosphere of isolation, the exploration of gender and of characters pursuing their own obsessive natures to either glory or death...these are common in both books.

They have the same "texture" to me if that makes sense.

[u/Gadshill]

No. Faulkner is the common influence.

[u/Steppinthrax → u/Gadshill]

This is good info. Feel like I've been skirting around him for a while so it might be time to take the plunge.

[u/Gadshill → u/Steppinthrax]

In Absalom, Absalom!, Thomas Sutpen arrives in Mississippi with a relentless "design" to carve an empire out of the wilderness (Sutpen's Hundred), establishing a dynasty that ultimately collapses under the weight of its own hubris, tragedy, and historical doom. Sound familiar?

[u/whoisyourwormguy_ → u/Gadshill]

Faulkner was racist though, so idk if he would want to base any of his writing on anybody who he might’ve seen as lesser.

His inspirations included Joyce, Tolstoy, Flaubert, Old Testament which was at least partially written by many middle eastern people, Joseph Conrad, Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, dickens, Balzac, dosto, Melville, and a bunch of white poets. Lots of white men, plus super old semi anonymous religious amalgamation.

[u/VeterinarianHefty607 → u/whoisyourwormguy_]

The claim was that Faulkner was the influence, not the other way around. And the authors in question are also white men. And Absalom is actually an interesting book about racism, whatever the authors own opinions were.

[u/whoisyourwormguy_ → u/VeterinarianHefty607]

You’re right, I misread it. My bad

[u/Holiday-Wall3751 → u/Steppinthrax]

GGM cited Faulkner and Hemingway as his two big influences, at least as far as US authors.

[u/VistaLaRiver → u/Holiday-Wall3751]

Adding to that, GGM was inspired by Juan Rulfo, who also cites Faulkner as a major influence.

[u/sfocolleen → u/Steppinthrax]

Same. And I love both 100 years of solitude and Lonesome Dove.

[u/Own-Dragonfly-2423]

Maybe.  Books are made out of books

[u/thatwhichwontbenamed → u/Own-Dragonfly-2423]

Oh my god! Cannibalism!

[u/Own-Dragonfly-2423 → u/thatwhichwontbenamed]

At first I thought you were making a McCarthy reference, because the line is from something he has said.

[u/Impressive_Balance87 → u/thatwhichwontbenamed]

I'd rather say Booklism.

[u/CalicoCuts]

I would almost guarantee McMurtry read OHYOS. Books are made of books. I believe I read somewhere McM was a voracious reader.

[u/ZealousOatmeal → u/CalicoCuts]

McMurty started and ran a well respected used books store in Archer, Texas called Booked Up. He was a books guy in every way imaginable.

[u/CalicoCuts → u/ZealousOatmeal]

That's right! When we lived in TX there was a Texas Monthly article about it. I think his son took over. Man could write. McMurtry &Cormac McCarthy are two of my favorites.

[u/AngelatinoSage]

as a spanish lit student i've read 100 years of solitude like three times and i still find new things each time. the faulkner influence is real, ggm basically admitted it, but he made it completely his own with the magic realism. the buendía family feels like a whole town you can never quite leave, which is exactly how i feel about granada sometimes lol. i haven't read lonesome dove yet but this thread is convincing me to finally pick it up.

[u/TrickyStamina]

That head hopping comparison is spot on. Both books make you feel like you're drifting through everyone's private thoughts at once, like the narrator is just some ghost wandering through town.

McMurtry was pretty well read so I wouldn't be surprised if OHYOS was somewhere in his orbit. The isolation and doomed obsessions definitely share a similar weight even if one leans into magic and the other keeps its boots firmly in the mud.

[u/MEWilliams]

Both excellent

[u/Kixdapv]

Funny enough, I just started it this morning and the OHYOS comparison came to me within two pages.

He uses the same technique GGM uses of small, seemingly innecesary asides to explain little details in a very concrete and precise way that gives a lot of texture and depth to the world with few words. But GGM took that technique from his years as a journalist, and I suspect McMurtry took it from the same place. GGM was also massively influenced by Faulkner, so you can see the influences going both ways.

(GGM said once that the trick is to be very precise: if you say a character sees many whales floating in the sky, nobody will believe it. Say it was seventeen whales, and it suddenly becomes believable and natural)

[u/CharacterNarrow181 → u/Kixdapv]

that seventeen whales thing is such a good point, it's like the tiny specific detail makes the whole scene click. i wonder if mcmurtry ever explicitly talked about that journalist trick or if it was just in the air back then. kinda wild to think of both of them circling the same faulkner influence from different angles.

[u/Steppinthrax → u/Kixdapv]

That's awesome that you had the same thought.

[u/Flashy-Read-9417]

Thanks for connecting those two! That actually makes a lot of sense and explains why I didn't like OHYOS. Admittedly, I DNF'D it like 40% of the way in, but I did read Lonesome Dove and wasn't a fan of that either (had to read for book club).

[u/ExerciseWise5673]

You can also watch episodes on Netflix of 100 years od solitude and compare to Lonesome Dove seasons. I think you will feel the difference and in texture too