Below, read the foreword included in the Buybook edition of the novel See You in August , signed by the sons of GG Márquez.
The memory loss that our father suffered from in the last years of his life, as you can easily guess, was hard on everyone. But especially the way in which that loss reduced his ability to continue writing with his usual zeal was a source of desperate frustration for him. He once told us, with the clarity and eloquence of a great writer: "Memory is both my basic raw material and my tool. Without it, there is nothing."
See you in August was the result of his last effort to continue creating, despite all the storms. The process was a race between the artist's perfectionism and his fading mental faculties. The protracted creation and rejection of numerous versions of the text is described in detail, much better than we could, by our friend Cristóbal Pera in his note for this edition. At the time, we only knew Gab's final conclusion: "This book is no good. It should be destroyed."
We didn't destroy it, but we put it aside, hoping that time would decide what to do with it. Reading it again, almost ten years after his death, we found that the text contains many outstanding values. Indeed, it is not as polished as his greatest books. There are a few flaws and minor contradictions, but nothing that prevents you from enjoying the most outstanding aspects of Gab's work: his imagination, poetic language, captivating storytelling, his understanding of human nature and his sympathy for our experiences and misfortunes, especially in love. Love, probably the main theme of his entire creativity.
Judging that the book is much better than we remember it opens up another possibility: the lack of ability that prevented Gab from completing the book also prevented him from realizing how good it was, despite its imperfections. In an act of betrayal, we decided to put the enjoyment of its readers before all other considerations. If they are satisfied, it is possible that Gabo will forgive us. This is what we believe.
Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha