''María'' is a novel written by
Colombian writer
Jorge Isaacs between 1864 and 1867. It is a
costumbrist novel representative of the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
Romantic movement. It may be considered a precursor of the
criollist novels of the 1920s and 1930s in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
.
Despite being Isaacs' only novel, ''María'' is considered one of the most important works of 19th-century Spanish American literature. Alfonso M. Escudero characterized it as the greatest Spanish-language romantic novel.
[Alfonso M. Escudero]
Costumbrismo Il. Literatura Hispanoamericana
, Ediciones Rialp S.A. Gran Enciclopedia Rialp, 1991. Accessed online 2010-01-21. The Romantic style of the novel has been compared to the one of
Chateaubriand's ''
Atala''. Notable is the description of the landscape and the artistic style of the prose.
The novel has several
autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
elements, such as both main characters being natives of
Valle del Cauca, or Efraín's departure to
Bogotá to pursue his studies. It has been claimed that María herself is based, at least in part, upon a cousin of the author. The
hacienda "''El Paraíso''", owned by Isaacs' family, also figures as an important location throughout the novel; it is currently preserved as a museum.
The story narrates the idyllic and tragic love between María and her cousin Efraín, both natives of
Valle del Cauca. In the middle of a romantic and bucolic landscape, the young characters fall in love with each other but circumstances prevent the full realization of their love. The first hurdle is Efraín's departure for six years to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, to pursue his high school education. After Efraín returns to
Valle del Cauca the couple can live together, albeit for only three months before he is forced to travel to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
to study medicine. Two years later Efraín returns to Colombia to find that María has died of illness. Heart-broken, Efraín decides to leave Cauca definitely, this time without a fixed destination.
Notes
See also
*
Jorge Isaacs
*
Colombian literature
Colombian literature, as an expression of the culture of Colombia, is heterogeneous due to the coexistence of Spanish, African and Native American heritages in an extremely diverse geography. Five distinct historical and cultural traditions can ...
External links
''El Paraíso'' Museum photo gallery Online text in Feedbooks
Colombian novels
Novels set in Colombia
1867 novels
Colombian novels adapted into films
{{1860s-novel-stub