"From one of the titans of twentieth-century literature, collected here for the first time: a selection of his journalism from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s--work that he considered even more important to his legacy than his universally acclaimed works of fiction"-- Provided by publisher.

"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf." Translation of: El escndalo del siglo : textos en prensa y revistas (1950-1984).

The presidential barber --Topic for a topical piece -- An understandable mistake -- The lonely hearts killer -- Death is an unpunctual lady -- The strange idolatry of la Sierpe -- A man arrives in the rain -- The house of the Buendías (notes for a novel) -- Literaturism -- The precursors -- The postman rings a thousand times -- The Aracataca tiger -- H.H. goes on vacation (fragment) -- The scandal of the century -- The disappearing women of Paris: are they in Caracas? -- "I visited Hungary" (fragment) -- The world's most famous year -- Only twelve hours to save him -- June 6, 1958: Caracas without water -- Misadventures of a writer of books -- I can't think of any title -- The Sandinista heist : chronicle of the assault on the "hog house" -- The Cubans face the blockade -- The specter of the Nobel Prize -- Telepathy without strings -- The new oldest profession -- Yes, nostalgia is the same as it ever was -- Horror story for new year's eve -- Magic Caribbean -- Poetry, in children's reach -- The river of life -- María of my heart -- Like souls in purgatory -- Something else on literature and reality -- My personal Hemingway -- Ghosts of the road -- Bogotá 1947 -- Tales of the road -- My other me -- Poor good translators -- Sleeping beauty on the airplane -- Writer wanted -- Obregón or the boundless vocation -- Literature without pain -- From Paris, with love -- Return to Mexico -- Okay, we'll talk about literature -- That news board -- Return to the seed -- How do you write a novel?.