Episode 7: The Solitude of Ursula

The devastation of Macondo by the flood is deepened in Chapter 17 of One Hundred Years of Solitude with the death of Úrsula. “The Solitude of Úrsula” is a tribute to the invisible heroines of the novel and the real women whose personalities and stories inspired them. In this unique episode, Nadia Celis speaks with María Margarita Mockler, a niece of Gabriel García Márquez, about the role of memory within the family that nurtured “Gabito’s” stories. Together, they also explore the lives of her aunts —the real women who inspired the Buendía women— whose legacy has defied the tragic fate of the novel’s female characters.