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Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo (1858 – 1940) was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker at the Ministry of Public Works. He was an avid reader, and one of the most original Colombian literary writers, greatly influencing the younger generation of his time and later generations. Carrasquilla was little known in his time, according to Federico de Onís, a scholar of Carrasquilla's works. It was only after 1936, when he was already 78 years old, when he was awarded with the National Prize of Literature, that Carrasquilla got a national recognition. Tomás Carrasquilla Library Park is named in his honor. The
Colombian civil wars There have been several civil wars in Colombian history: *New Granada Civil War (1812–1814) *War of the Supremes (1839–1841) *Colombian Civil War of 1851 *Colombian Civil War of 1854 *Colombian Civil War (1860–1862) *Colombian Civil War of 187 ...
of the second part of the 19th century prevented young Carrasquilla from continuing his studies at the University of Antioquia. A committed intellectual, Carrasquilla organized
tertulia A ''tertulia'' (, ; ; ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affairs, arts, etc. The word ...
s—social gatherings to read books and discuss them—in his
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
house. Many young writers and intellectuals of his time joined those tertulias; from that time he was called "''Maestro Tomás Carrasquilla''." Among Carrasquilla's admirers was Colombian philosopher Fernando González Ochoa. De Onís argues that Carrasquilla's work passed unknown in Colombia and abroad at the time because he lived during two different periods of Latin American literature: Costumbrismo and
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
, that had representatives like José Asunción Silva in Colombia, and the coming of
Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
as a reaction against Costumbrismo. As many classify the work of Carrasquilla as Costumbrist, so De Onís classifies him.


Context

Carrasquilla's life straddled two centuries, becoming a link between two epochs in Colombia's history. When he was born in 1858, the country was called the Republic of New Granada, newly independent of Spain. In his work ''La Marqueza de Yolombó'', Carrasquilla described how the most simple people of the end of the 18th century saw the events that broke the Colombia's political dependence on Spain. He was also a citizen of the once-called
United States of Colombia The United States of Colombia () was the name adopted in 1863 by the for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nat ...
(1863–1886), a time when the
Paisa Region A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia, including part of the West and Central ''cordilleras'' of the Andes in Colombia. The Paisa region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. ...
saw the colonization of the current coffee areas. He also saw the Colombian
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
at the beginning of the 20th century, the Thousand Days War, and many other changes in his country. The Colombian civil wars of the 19th century were the reason why Carrasquilla could not finish his studies of Law at the University of Antioquia. One of those civil wars was reflected in his works ''Luterito'' and ''El Padre Casafús'' (in English, "''The Reverend Casafús''"). Those books were set in the context of the civil war of 1876, started by the Conservative partisans of Antioquia, Cauca and Tolima against the Liberal government of president Aquileo Parra, who intended to secularize the education. The story develops in the town of Cañasgordas, where a group of fighters prepare themselves to "defend the Faith." In this case, Carrasquilla's work is an approach to the deepest feelings of people during historical events.


Life


Early years

Carrasquilla was born in
Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
, an Andean town north-east of
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
, on the Antioquean Mountain. He was the son of Isaza Carrasquilla and Ecilda Naranjo Moreno. His family owned some gold mines, and this allowed him to live well enough and dedicate himself to writing. One of his friends, also born in Santo Domingo, was the writer Francisco de Paula Rendón. At the age of 15, he moved to Medellín to finish his secondary education at the University of Antioquia; he continued his study of law there. He had to abandon his law studies in 1877 because of the start of the civil war. He returned to Santo Domingo, where he worked as a tailor and did some jobs in the municipality. Carlos Eugenio Restrepo invited him to the ''Café Literario'' ("literary café"), where he had to write a story in order to be admitted. He wrote ''Simón el Mago'' ("''Simon the Mage''"), one of his most popular stories. ''Simón'' was published in 1890, and brought to the cinema by Colombian director Víctor Gaviria in 1993.


Writer

In 1896, Carrasquilla traveled to
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
for the publication of his first novel, ''Frutos de Mi Tierra'' ("''Fruits of my Land''"), written to demonstrate that any subject can be the matter of a story, which was very well received by critics. On that trip, he came to know José Asunción Silva, to whom he would some years later dedicate the essay "For the Poet." He returned to Antioquia and had an accident, falling from a horse, which made him stay in Medellín for a time. When he returned to Santo Domingo, he dedicated himself to writing, until 1904, when he lost his fortune due to the Banco Popular bankruptcy. He then gained work as a storekeeper in a
Sonsón Sonsón is a municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Sonsón is located in Eastern Antioquia. It is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sonsón–Rionegro. Sonsón celebrates "Las Fiestas Del Maíz"- ('Festival of ...
gold mine until 1909. After Carrasquilla returned to Medellín, he had a very lively social and cultural life, associating with young intellectuals like Fernando González Ochoa, who became one of his best friend for the rest of his life. González was one of Carrasquilla's biggest admirers. Carrasquilla also knew also the cartoonist Ricardo Rendón, and the skeptic group '' Los Panidas'' (whom he supported, but never joined). In 1914, Carrasquilla did some work for Colombia's oldest newspaper,
El Espectador ''El Espectador'' () is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each, but some years later became ...
, when that publication was edited in Medellín. But soon thereafter, he moved to Bogotá, where he worked for the Ministry of Public Works until 1919. Returning to Medellín, he continued studying literature, and in 1928 published ''La Marqueza de Yolombó'' ("''The Marchioness of Yolombó"''), one of the best-known works of Colombian literature.''La Marqueza de Yolombó'' was made into a television series in the 1980s.


Final years

The writer stayed in Medellín when his health began to decay and he started to go blind. In 1934, surgery gave him back limited vision; his blindness was not an obstacle to his writing, however, as he began to dictate his works. In 1935, Carrasquilla was decorated with the Cross of Boyacá, an award that gives the recipient the same privileges as the president or ex-president of Colombia. He wrote ''Hace Tiempos'' ("''Long Time Ago''") by dictation between 1936 and 1937; that work won him the José María Vergara y Vergara National Prize of Literature and Science from the Colombian Academy of Language. This recognition gave him national fame, and attracted international critics, who admired his work and rescued his name from near-anonymity. In December 1940, Tomás Carrasquilla died among a large group of friends and admirers, who called him "''Don'' Tomás" or "''Maestro'' Tomás Carrasquilla."


Between Costumbrism and Modernism

Carrasquilla is usually seen as a Costumbrist author, due to the cultural context of his world. The traditional details of the simple folk and the descriptions of scenery in his work are characteristic of Costumbrismo, which was developed in Spain and Latin America during the 19th century. The objective of the Costumbrist author is the description of the frame of the traditions of a people without any further comment to the respect and as a consequence of
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
. At the end of the 19th century,
Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
started to appear in Latin America and Spain. In Colombia, Modernism had authors, journalists, artists, and photographers like González, Greiff, Rendón, and Matiz. Modernism developed as a counter against Costumbrismo. According to Federico de Onís, Carrasquilla knew, and even shared, the new tendencies of Modernism; for example, he gave support to ''Los Panidas'', but kept his own style and originality. In this sense, the classification of Carrasquilla as a Costumbrista is not exact. According to De Onís, Carrasquilla's work departs from the static Costumbrismo of the 19th century, that described through description of detail : For Colombian journalist Carlos Uribe de los Ríos, Carrasquilla's classification as a Costumbrist author caused him a long marginalization within Colombian literature:


Fernando González

If there is one thing that proves that Carrasquilla was more than a Costumbrist, and that he used elements of realistic modernism in his work, it is his intellectual relationship and great friendship with the Fernando González Ochoa, the ''filósofo de Otraparte'' ("Philosopher from somewhere else"). 39 years apart in age, González knew Carrasquilla at the time he was founding ''Los Panidas'' with Rendón and De Greiff in Medellín . González, another master of Colombian writing, said in one of his essays about the author in ''Hace Tiempos de Carrasquilla'':


Works

Although Carrasquilla's works were only widely available in the
Paisa Region A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia, including part of the West and Central ''cordilleras'' of the Andes in Colombia. The Paisa region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. ...
during his life, it does not mean that he was completely ignored elsewhere in Colombia and abroad. Especially since 1936, with the recognition of the National Prize of Literature and Science, his work attracted the attention of foreign literary critics, like the Chileans Arturo Torres Rioseco and Mariano Latorre. He kept up a good friendship, by correspondence, with writers like
José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...
and
Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...
. Carrasquilla's works are divided into novels, stories, essays, articles, and letters. In 1906, he confessed in a letter to a friend that he was writing because of his economic problems, being in bankruptcy, although all his life he enjoyed a well-off lifestyle and he never married. Some of the articles he wrote in ''
El Espectador ''El Espectador'' () is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each, but some years later became ...
'' made some observers suggest that he was a journalist, but his contributions to that field were rather limited.


Novels

* (1896) ''Frutos de mi tierra'' * (1897) ''En la diestra de Dios padre'' * (1897) ''Dimitas Arias'' * (1903) ''Salve, Regina'' * (1906) ''Entrañas de niño'' * (1910) ''Grandeza'' * (1920) ''Ligia Cruz'' * (1920) ''El Padre Casafus'' * (1920) ''Superhombre'' * (1925) ''El Zarco'' * (1928) ''La Marquesa de Yolombó'' * (1935–1936) ''Hace tiempos'' * ''Ligia Cruz'' * (1864–1866) ''Los malos hábitos'' * ''El Rifle''


Stories

* (1890) ''Simón El Mago'' * (1890) ''Palonegro'' * (1897) ''Blanca'' (short story) * (1898) ''El ánima sola'' * (1899) ''San Antoñito'' * (1926) ''Rogelio''


Collections

Carrasquilla's articles and stories that appeared in different publications from Medellín at the beginning of the 20th century were gathered in two collections: * (1914) ''Homilías'' * (1934) ''Dominicales''


The Marquesa of Yolombó

''La Marquesa de Yolombó'' (1928), a historical novel, is one of Carrasquilla's most popular novels. It describes the reconstruction of a Colombian town at the end of the 18th century, at the height of the movement for independence from Spain. The novel describes the social classes of the time, with the Spaniards and Spaniard Americans at the top, and the low social classes being blacks and mestizos. At the time, Yolombó was a strategic town among the gold mines of Antioquia.


Simón the Magician

''Simón El Mago'' was a story written in 1890 in which Carrasquilla ridiculed witchcraft. It also shows the relation between whites and blacks in Colombia at the end of the 19th century, and the mixture of beliefs among the
mestizaje ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...
. In the story, Toñito, the youngest child at home, is cared by his ''nana'', Frutus, who used to talk to him about the art of witchcraft—something that made a great impression on the boy. The boy decided to have his own adventures using his ''nanas informal lessons, and wound up in terrible trouble that his father arranged with a strong punishment.


Further reading

* * *


Notes


References


External links


Banco de la República, Colombia ''Biblioteca Virtual''
—"Virtual Library" containing works by, and about, Carrasquilla * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrasquilla, Tomas 1858 births 1940 deaths People from Antioquia Department University of Antioquia alumni 19th-century Colombian male writers 20th-century Colombian male writers