Here are a few past questions to sample (mostly from very old papers - make your own list of more recent questions):
1. Discuss García Márquez's combination and manipulation of literary codes and conventions in his work.
2. Examine the function of memory in García Márquez's fiction.
3. "It is hard to reconcile the fatalistic depiction of Latin American history in García Márquez's fiction with his declared political radicalism." Discuss.
4. "The novelist does not reflect reality, he creates it." Discuss with reference to Cien años de soledad.
5. "La novelística de García Márquez representa un apasionado juego - a veces lucha - con el tiempo." Discuss.
6. Discuss the rôle of the family in Cien años de soledad.
7. "'Cien años de soledad', dice García Márquez, 'es tal vez el menos misterioso de todos mis libros, porque el autor trata de llevar al lector de la mano para que no se pierda en ningún momento ni que quede ningún punto oscuro'." Discuss.
8. "Cien años de soledad is certainly a novel about the failure of Latin American history, just as it is a novel about reality and a novel about writing." Discuss. (Please be careful with that word 'reality'!)
9. "In the works of García Márquez, the world is redeemed, or damned, by imagination." Discuss.
10. "In Cien años de soledad the mix of real and fantasy elements is both perfectly fused and, analytically, perfectly separable." Discuss.
11. Discuss the literary treatment of time in Cien años de soledad.
12. Discuss the treatment of solitude and incest in Cien años de soledad.
It is useful to make lists of issues you see as coming up regularly in question titles. On a sheet of A4, write a paragraph or two of notes under each heading and select one or two concise, memorable quotations to illustrate each point. Use this as a revision sheet. Here are my headings, but you'll want to make a list of your own probably with more detailed headings than these:
(Information produced by Geoffrey Kantaris)