Since its publication in 1981, Cronica de una muerte anunciada, has been in general interpreted in terms of tragedy. The death of Santiago Nasar, which is due to the rigid observance of a code of honour concerning women's virginity before marriage, appears to be absurd. Nonetheless, in my opinion, the death of Santiago Nasar acquires meaning the moment the victim is symbolically reborn in the love that eventually will join the disgraced couple. My interpretation, which relies on both historiography and narrative, is supported by an evaluation of the narrator's role in this fictional world. Significantly enough, the narrator is none other than Gabriel Garcia Marquez who, through a self-splitting fictionalisation, appears as one more among the many characters. Thus, Garcia Marquez as the narrator and a character, relates the events and organizes them into a chronicle. In this sense, he assumes the role of "chronicler-narrator." Yet, he also assumes the role of "oracle-narrator," in the sense that he imbues Santiago Nasar's crime with a mythical dimension which reveals the message of love suggested in the novel. Another hermeneutic resource applied to my analysis is the analogy I draw between the novel and the Gospel, and my view of Santiago Nasar as a sort of Christ. In my opinion, the character's death is not meaningless because it appeals to give life to the love of a couple and to open the possibility of love for the other characters.

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