Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

An analysis of the title:

•Chronicle: related to past or record of past

•Foretell: predict the future or a future event; oriented to future.

•Therefore , the two words pull into different directions and destabilize the meaning.

•The title also for the same reason creates suspense – how is the death foretold and how is it chronicled?

•If the death is foretold , is the chronicle going to be predictive as the title suggests or retrospective.

What is a chronicle?

A chronicle (Latin: chronica, from Greek χρονικά chroniká, from χρόνος, chrónos – "time") is a historical account of facts and events arranged in chronological order, as in a time line. 

•According to the Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, a  ‘chronicle’ is a ‘register of events in order of time, often composed contemporaneously with the events it records’(Cuddon. 124).

Typically,

•equal weight is given for historically important events and local events,

•the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the chronicler.

Characteristics: 

•This is in contrast to a narrative or history, which sets selected events in a meaningful interpretive context and excludes those the author does not see as important.

Live chronicles

•Usually, a ‘live chronicle’ is a chronicle is recorded as the events happen.

•This chronicle, is however, a narrative of events that took place twenty-seven years earlier.

•At the same time, the chronicle mentions the very feelings and words that the characters uttered around the focal event.

Reliability of Chronicles:  The information sources vary; some chronicles are written from first-hand knowledge, some are from witnesses or participants in events, still others are accounts passed mouth to mouth prior to being written down.

•Some used written material: Charters, letters, or the works of earlier chroniclers.

•Still others are tales of such unknown origins so as to hold mythical status.

•The reliability of a particular chronicle is an important determination for modern historians.

Connection to text:

  In Marquez’s Chronicle  eye-witness accounts as well as versions collected from different participants feature.