Can Anyone Provide Some Insight Regarding "The Ghosts of August" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

Question

Before I begin, I'd like to say that I am not one of these kids who simply posts the prompt from their homework assignment and asks other people to answer it. I ask this question simply for my own satisfaction and appreciation of Marquez's prose. I've been thinking along the lines of the connection between the narrator's supernatural awakening and the estrangement felt by both Marquez and Miguel Otero Silva as Latin-Americans in exile. Also, I've connected the smell of strawberries with religious symbolism for the Virgin Mary, reinforced by the author's mention of a Franchescan church. What do you think of this analysis? Can you add anything. Thanks a million.

Sorry for the confusion - this short story is included in the "Strange Pilgrims" collection.

Answer 1

I can't seem to find that title among his works:

What follows is a (more or less) complete bibliography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Some of his works have been noded already, but many have not. I have placed a little * next to those works that have not been touched as of yet, so if you write one up, please /msg me:
Translated works:

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor. Published 1970, translated 1989. ISBN 0-679-72205-X
Leaf Storm*. Published 1955, translated in Collected Novellas.
No One Writes to the Colonel. Published 1961, translated in Collected Novellas.
Los funerales de la Mamá Grande*. Published 1962, translated in Collected Stories.
In Evil Hour*. Published 1962, translated 1991. ISBN 0-06-091964-7
One Hundred Years of Solitude. Published 1967, translated 1970, 1995, 1998. ISBN 0-06-011418-5
The Autumn of the Patriarch*. Published 1975, translated 1999. ISBN 0-06-093267-8
Collected Stories. Published 1999. ISBN 0-06-093268-6
Chronicle of a Death Foretold*. Published 1981, translated 1983, 1984. ISBN 0-394-53074-8
Collected Novellas. Published 1999. ISBN 0-06-93266-X
Love in the Time of Cholera. Published 1985, translated 1988, 1994. ISBN 0-394-56161-9
The General in his Labyrinth*. Published 1989, translated 1990. ISBN 0-394-58258-6
Strange Pilgrims*. Published 1992, translated 1994. ISBN 0-14-023940-5
Of Love and Other Demons*. Published 1994, translated 1995. ISBN 0-679-43853-X
News of a Kidnapping* (non-fiction). Published 1996, translated 1997, 1998. ISBN 0-37-540051-6
For the Sake of a Country Within Reach of the Children* (non-fiction). Published 1998, translated 1998. ISBN 0-958-939328-4
Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín*. Published 1986, translated 1999. ISBN 0-840-142752-5
Untranslated works:
Todos los cuentos (1947-1972)*. Published 1975.
Aventura de Miguel Littín clandestino en Chile*. Published 1987, translated 1999 (out of print). ISBN 0-840-142752-5
Diatriba de amor contra un hombre sentado*. Published 1995. ISBN 0-842-532757-1
Olor de la guayaba*. Published 1995. ISBN 0-968-132546-X
Clave diccionario de uso del Espanol actual * (non-fiction). Published 1996. ISBN 0-843-485193-8
Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories*. Published 1978. Out of print.

Fiction:
Leaf Storm
No One Writes to the Colonel
In Evil Hour
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Innocent Eréndira
Collected Stories
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Collected Novellas
Love in the Time of Cholera
The General in his Labyrinth
Strange Pilgrims
Love and Other Demons
Memoria de mis putas tristes

Nonfiction
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín
News of a Kidnapping
For the Sake of a Country within Reach of the Children
Living to Tell the Tale

Spanish
Todos los cuentos (1947-1972)
Diatriba de amor contra un hombre sentado
Olor de la guayaba
Clave diccionario de uso del Espanol actual

Aha. I found it. It's a short story in "Strange Pilgrims."

Unfortunately, I haven't read that, so I'm afraid I can't be of any help. Sorry..
But the last link does provide a NY Times review of the book.