The Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, is suffering from senile dementia, his brother says.
The 85-year-old author's brother Jaime told El Universal newspaper in Mexico that he speaks to the 1982 Nobel winner nearly every day from their native Colombia, hoping to help keep some of his memories alive.
"What he has are some memory issues; in our family, we all end up with senile dementia. I am starting to get some of the onset complications and he already is in the throes of it," he said.
He added that it had been a very slow decline for his author brother, who has had some symptoms of the condition since 1999, when he was treated for lymphatic cancer - a condition that nearly killed him. He then underwent chemotherapy, which sped up the pace of memory loss, his brother said.
Garcia Marquez, who is also known for Love in the Time of Cholera, lives in Mexico City with his wife Mercedes. He was born on March 6, 1927 in the Colombian Caribbean town of Aracataca but has lived in Mexico for several decades.
Weakened by his struggle with cancer, he did not resume writing after his latest novel, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, in 2004, and has abandoned his memoirs.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of his Nobel award. One Hundred Years of Solitude has sold 30 million copies worldwide. * AFP
