Jorge Isaacs facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jorge Isaacs
Miniature portrait of Jorge Isaacs by Víctor Moscoso
Period	1859–1895
Genre	Costumbrismo, poetry
Subject	Novel
Literary movement	Romanticism
Notable works	María

Jorge Isaacs Ferrer (born April 1, 1837 – died April 17, 1895) was an important figure from Colombia. He was a writer, a politician, and a soldier. His most famous work is his only novel, María. This book became one of the most well-known works of the Romantic movement in Spanish-language literature.

Biography of Jorge Isaacs

Early Life and Family Background

Jorge Isaacs's father, George Henry Isaacs, was from Jamaica and had a Jewish background. He first settled in Chocó, Colombia. There, he became wealthy from gold mining and trading with the Caribbean. Later, he moved to Cali. He became a Colombian citizen after getting approval from Simon Bolivar, and he paid for it with cows. There's even a special plaque on a bridge near Bogota to remember this event.

Jorge's father married Manuela Ferrer Scarpetta, whose father was a Spanish Navy officer. He also owned two large farms, called haciendas, near Cali. These were named "La Manuelita" (after his wife) and "El Paraíso". The farm "El Paraíso" later became the main setting for Jorge's famous novel, María. Today, "El Paraíso" is a museum, showing how it relates to the story.

Education and Early Career

Jorge Isaacs was born in Quibdo in 1837. He went to school in Cali, then in Popayán, and finally in Bogotá between 1848 and 1852.

In 1852, Isaacs returned to Cali without finishing his college studies. Two years later, in 1854, he joined the army. He fought for seven months in the Cauca Campaign against the government of General José María Melo. In 1856, Isaacs married Felisa González Umaña, who was fourteen years old. They had many children together.

Challenges and Literary Beginnings

During a time of civil wars, Isaacs's family faced financial difficulties. Isaacs tried to become a merchant, like his father, but he wasn't successful. He then started writing. He wrote his first poems between 1859 and 1860. During this time, he also wrote several plays about historical events.

Isaacs joined the army again in 1860. This time, he fought against General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. He took part in the Battle of Manizales during the Colombian Civil War. In 1861, Isaacs's father passed away. After the war, Isaacs returned to Cali to manage his father's businesses. However, he found them deep in debt. This meant he had to sell two of his father's farms, "La Rita" and "La Manuelita". These were bought by a businessman named Santiago Eder.

Success with María and Political Life

Because of his money problems, Isaacs went back to Bogotá. There, people really liked his writing. A reading club called "El Mosaico" offered to publish his poems after he read them at one of their meetings. This collection of poems was published in 1864 under the title Poesías. That same year, Isaacs got a job supervising the building of a horse-path between Buenaventura and Cali. It was during this time that he started writing his famous novel, María. He also became sick with malaria around this period.

When María was published in 1867, it was an instant hit in Colombia and other Latin American countries. This made Isaacs a very well-known person in Colombia. His new fame helped him start a career as a journalist and a politician. As a journalist, he managed a newspaper called La República, which had moderate conservative views. He also published some of his own articles there.

As a politician, he first joined the Conservative Party. Later, he switched to the Radical Party. In 1870, he was sent to Chile as a consul general. A consul general is like a diplomat who represents their country in another country. When he returned to Colombia, he was very active in the politics of Valle del Cauca. He represented this region in the Colombian Congress. In 1876, he fought in another civil war. However, his political career ended in 1879 after an event where he took a leadership role in Antioquia during a conservative uprising.

Later Years and Legacy

After leaving politics, Isaacs published the first part of a long poem called Saulo in 1881. He was never able to finish it. He also explored the Magdalena Department in northern Colombia. There, he discovered important deposits of coal and oil. Isaacs spent the last years of his life in the city of Ibagué in Tolima. He was planning to write a historical novel there. He died of malaria on April 17, 1895.

Literary Work of Jorge Isaacs

Jorge Isaacs's literary work includes his book of poems from 1864 and his only novel, María (published in 1867). María is considered one of the most important works of Hispanic American literature from the 19th century.

The Story of María

The book María is a romantic story with a sad tone. It tells about the tragic love between Maria and her cousin, Efrain, in Valle del Cauca. Just like the author, Efrain has to leave Valle del Cauca to continue his studies in Bogota. He leaves his cousin Maria behind, whom he is in love with. When he returns six years later, they begin a romance.

Efrain and Maria live together for a few months. Then, Efrain has to travel to London to finish his education. When he comes back, six years later, Maria has sadly passed away. Some people believe that the character Maria was inspired by a real person, Maria Mercedes Cabal. She lived in the area known as "El Paraíso" and later became the wife of President Manuel María Mallarino.

Impact and Style of María

Many people have compared María to the works of other famous writers like François-René de Chateaubriand. It also has a feeling of sadness about life, similar to stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The novel is well-known for how beautifully it describes the landscape. It's also praised for its artistic writing style. Some consider it an early example of "criollist" books, which focused on local customs and landscapes, popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

María was published in 1867 and was an immediate success. It was translated into 31 different languages! Because of this, Jorge Isaacs became a very famous person in Colombia and other Latin American countries. This success helped him start a career as a journalist and a politician. As a journalist, Isaacs managed the newspaper La Republica in 1867. This paper had a moderate conservative viewpoint and published articles about politics.

Tribute

On April 1, 2013, Google celebrated Jorge Isaacs’ 176th Birthday with a special picture on their homepage, called a Google Doodle.

Image gallery

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  Jorge Isaacs's home in Santiago de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

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  Jorge Isaacs's monument, Santiago de Cali, Valle del Cauca.

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  Jorge Isaacs in 1856.

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  Cover of the novel María by Jorge Isaacs published in 1897 by Éditions Mateu. Prologue by José María de Pereda

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  Manuela Ferrer Scarpetta and George Henry Isaacs, the poet's parents, with another of their children.

See also

In Spanish: Jorge Isaacs para niños