Tomás Carrasquilla
Encyclopedia
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo (1858 – 1940) was a Colombia
n 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 of 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 68 years old, when he was awarded with the National Prize of Literature, that Carrasquilla got a national recognition.
The Colombian civil wars
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
s—social gatherings to read books and discuss them—in his Medellín
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 America
n literature: Costumbrismo and Romanticism
, that had representatives like José Asunción Silva
in Colombia, and the coming of Modernism
as a reaction against Costumbrismo. As many classify the work of Carrasquilla as Costumbrist, so De Onís classifies him.
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
(1863–1886), a time when the Paisa Region
saw the colonization of the current coffee areas. He also saw the Colombian industrial revolution
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.
, an Andean town north-east of Medellín
, 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.
In 1896, Carrasquilla traveled to Bogotá
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
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
, 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.
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."
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
.
At the end of the 19th century, Modernism
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:
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:
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
and Miguel de Unamuno
.
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
made some observers suggest that he was a journalist, but his contributions to that field were rather limited.
was a strategic town among the gold mines of Antioquia.
. 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.
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n 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 of 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 68 years old, when he was awarded with the National Prize of Literature, that Carrasquilla got a national recognition.
The Colombian civil wars
History of Colombia
This article deals with the history of Colombia, a country in South America.-Pre-Colombian period:Approximately 10,000 years BC hunter-gatherer societies existed near present-day Bogotá , and they traded with one another and with cultures living in the Magdalena River valley...
of the second part of the 19th century prevented young Carrasquilla from continuing his studies at the University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
. A committed intellectual, Carrasquilla organized tertulia
Tertulia
A tertulia is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberia or Latin America. The word is originally Spanish, and has only moderate currency in English, in describing Latin cultural contexts....
s—social gatherings to read books and discuss them—in his Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
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
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...
.
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 America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n literature: Costumbrismo and Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, that had representatives like José Asunción Silva
José Asunción Silva
José Asunción Silva was a Colombian poet. He is considered one of the founders of Spanish-American Modernism.-Life:...
in Colombia, and the coming of Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
as a reaction against Costumbrismo. As many classify the work of Carrasquilla as Costumbrist, so De Onís classifies him.
Context
History of Colombia
This article deals with the history of Colombia, a country in South America.-Pre-Colombian period:Approximately 10,000 years BC hunter-gatherer societies existed near present-day Bogotá , and they traded with one another and with cultures living in the Magdalena River valley...
. When he was born in 1858, the country was called the Republic of New Granada, newly independent of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. 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
United States of Colombia
The United States of Colombia was the name adopted in 1861 through the Rionegro Constitution for the nation which had been known as the Republic of New Granada since the dissolution of the federation of Gran Colombia in 1830-1831....
(1863–1886), a time when the Paisa Region
Paisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
saw the colonization of the current coffee areas. He also saw the Colombian industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
at the beginning of the 20th century, the Thousand Days War
Thousand Days War
The Thousand Days' War , was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections...
, 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
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at the University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
.
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
Cauca Department
Cauca is a Department of Colombia. Located in the south-western part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila Department to the east and the Nariño Department to the south, covering a total area of...
and Tolima
Tolima
Tolima may refer to:* Nevado del Tolima, a volcano in Colombia* Tolima Department of Colombia* Deportes Tolima, a football team in the First Division...
against the Liberal government of president Aquileo Parra
Aquileo Parra
José Bonifacio Aquileo Elias Parra Gómez was a Colombian soldier, businessman and political figure. He was the president of Colombia between 1876 and 1878.- Biographic data :Aquileo Parra was born in Barichara, Santander, on May 12, 1825...
, who intended to secularize the education. The story develops in the town of Cañasgordas
Cañasgordas
Cañasgordas is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia....
, 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.
First years
Carrasquilla was born in Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, Antioquia
Santo Domingo is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. Part of the subregion of Northeastern Antioquia....
, an Andean town north-east of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, 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
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
; 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
Victor Gaviria
Victor Gaviria is a film director best known for his treatment of street life in his native Medellín.- Feature-length films :*Rodrigo D: No Future, 1990...
in 1993.
Writer
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
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
José Asunción Silva
José Asunción Silva was a Colombian poet. He is considered one of the founders of Spanish-American Modernism.-Life:...
, 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
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"-...
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
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...
, 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
El Espectador is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá...
, 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.
Last 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
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
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
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
.
At the end of the 19th century, Modernism
Modernismo
Modernismo is Spanish for modernism, however the term Modernism also indicates a more specific art movement:* Modernismo refers to a Spanish-American literary movement, best exemplified by Rubén Darío...
started to appear in Latin America and Spain. In Colombia, Modernism had authors, journalists, artists, and photographers like González
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...
, Greiff
León de Greiff
Francisco de Asís León Bogislao de Greiff Haeusler , was a Colombian poet of the 20th century he is notable for his stylistic innovations and eclectic deliberate use of obscure lexicon. Best known simply as León de Greiff, he often used different pen names of which the most popular were Leo le Gris...
, 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
Fernando González (writer)
Fernando González Ochoa , was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" . He wrote about sociology, history, art, moral, economy, epistemology and theology in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature...
, 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 RegionPaisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
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
Mariano Latorre
Mariano Lautaro Latorre Court was a Chilean writer of Basque descent. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1944.-Works:Notable works:* Cuentos del Maule * Cuna de Cóndores * Zurzulita * Ully...
. He kept up a good friendship, by correspondence, with writers like José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
and Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
.
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
El Espectador is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá...
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 Marquess of Yolombó
La Marqueza de Yolombó (1926), 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, YolombóYolombo
Yolombo is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. It is part of the subregion of Northeastern Antioquia....
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 mestizajeMestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
. 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.
External links
- Banco de la República, Colombia Biblioteca Virtual —"Virtual Library" containing works by, and about, Carrasquilla