María (1867) is a novel by Jorge Isaacs. Partly inspired by his own life, María is a moving story of romance, hope, and tragedy by a leading author of the Spanish Romantic movement. The novel was Isaacs’ debut work of fiction and seemed to promise him a lengthy career in Colombian literature. As he dedicated himself to politics, however, he largely abandoned his youthful commitment to writing in favor of a more conventional career. Raised in the idyllic countryside of Valle del Cauca, María and Efraín develop a love for one another that refuses to die. Forced apart by familial expectations, Efraín leaves his lover to study in Bogotá, and remains in the Colombian capital for six years. Desperate to return, he leaves the city and reunites with María, who waited patiently the whole time he was away. As the two begin preparing for a life together in their beautiful homeland, Efraín learns that his family has other plans for him. In a few months’ time, he is expected to travel to London and enroll in medical school, guaranteeing years away from his home and his young, faithful love. As the day of his departure approaches, Efraín and María attempt to recapture the simplistic joy of their youth but find themselves drifting further into doubt than ever before. María is a masterpiece of Romantic literature from a talented writer who blossomed early and never managed to live up to his astounding promise.
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Jorge Isaacs (1837-1895) was a Colombian writer, soldier, and politician. Born into wealth, Isaacs was raised by an English Jewish father and a mother with Spanish heritage. He was educated from a young age, attending school in Bogotá without completing his degree. In 1854, he entered the fight against the military dictatorship of General José María Melo and married Felisa González Umaña in 1856. For the next several years, he struggled to establish himself as a merchant, eventually turning to literature. In 1860, he joined the Colombian Civil War and fought until the conflict came to an end in 1862. Soon after the war, he began building his reputation as a writer, finding publication for his poems and working on a draft of his first novel. When María appeared in 1867, Isaacs was praised for his emotional power and became recognized as a central figure of Colombian literature. Despite his success, he never managed to recapture the vision that inspired his early works, dedicating himself to a life in politics instead. María remains an essential work of Spanish-language Romanticism and has earned Isaacs comparison to such literary greats as Chateaubriand and Edgar Allan Poe.
