Why the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez will never write again

THE BROTHER of Gabriel Garcia Marquez has confirmed that the Colombian author is suffering from dementia. It is the first time Marquez's family have admitted that the Nobel laureate is suffering memory problems and other lapses.
 
Still best known for his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, which has sold more than 30m copies worldwide since its publication in 1967, Marquez is one of the pioneers of the magic realist school of literature.
 
His many admirers have been anxious for several years to know if he will write another novel. The author himself said two years ago that he did not intend to as his "heart" had gone out of writing.
 
Now his younger brother Jaime has confirmed that the 84-year-old has stopped writing. Marquez's last novel, Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores, was published to mixed reviews in 2007.
 
Jaime told students at a lecture in Cartagena, Colombia, that he had kept his brother's ill-health a secret because "it's his life and he's always tried to protect it", reports The Daily Telegraph.
 
He said his brother phoned him often to ask simple questions, explaining: "He is doing well physically, but he has been suffering from dementia for a long time. He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I'm losing him."

Marquez was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1999 and was successfully treated in Los Angeles. Jaime Marquez attributed his brother's dementia to that earlier physical illness.

He claimed: "Chemotherapy saved his life, but it also destroyed many neurons, many defences and cells and accelerated the process. Dementia runs in our family and he's now suffering the ravages prematurely due to the cancer that put him almost on the verge of death.

"But he still has the humour, joy and enthusiasm that he has always had." ·