OCR Text |
Show J KNOW y0y, o- X u NEIGHBOf -1 MARIA-THE GREAT,1"- ' That Colombia, iand V' and writers whose canit-u called "the Athens ot T f whose Spanish is SUppo" L the purest on the ConS " have produced the most " ing novel of Latin Arneri V surprising. Jorge lsaacs J the author of "Maria"' son of an English Jew come over from Jamais ; mainland, married a Crf tna girl and settled on an hacv Mr the province of Cauca Y' nej there that Jorge Was raised; it was there that? Sal the action of his partly-b' 10. cal novel: "Maria." thi Hailed as a mastery after its appearance, "Mar;- Af( passed the test of time and"'- ni considered today Latin Air-- -greatest tale of love. The i self is simple enough. Efts be his cousin Maria grow up to- pr in an old family hacienda I ws Cauct. "While still a m E af 's sent away to school in j. si( where he remains six years r to: ie- returns he has reached M nanhood and Maria is in bloom of early youth." Tfc en ;n love against a backdrop 0- ious landscapes and tropical- si uriant vegetation, in the idy b mosphere of the old Creole". C tation. Efrain's parents vi however, that he go to Lor L complete his education before'-- w get married. When he P Maria has died, affected bp reditary disease and there is- ti ing left to him but the see;' rr their love. Such is the basic plot C has caught its mood in a t colored net of picturesque toms, of unforgettable chaa- 1 who lead a quiet, romantic c C the Cauca valley where bls- J landowners smiled under : 1 woven straw hats at the sks the negroes working on fe v 1 where the breeze weaved t L out of the bamboo clumps. r: Maria picked white lilies . . i: 1 the girl herself we knowver;. r tie. The author describes he 1 vaguely, suggesting rather 1 portrayi"g her, an ethereal f;. with long mahogany-colorec L and beautiful hands. Who - she ? Did she really eci : Maria who gave her namerd: story to the greatest tale o: . , of Latin America? Some t. that the girl was no other i ; Jorge Isaacs's cousin who: : , loved and wanted to marry, i. ers believed that he never ss: . and knew her only from pier: and family letters. Whoever: were, Efrain and Maria haw ':-compared ':-compared to Paul and indi that thev stand, a young- cd 1 man tic pair, against a typda American background whii marvelously described by Is-who Is-who paints the Colombian lr scape with sure strokes ar.d " colors, reproducing its atnsp so admii-jbly that many a re:: traveling through the Csua ley for the first time has &? in sudd.-:i recognition. The !x-da !x-da where the author set the C of the novel still stands, ar.d ing across the Cauca valley"' it "upon the western n-.o-r'J-clear and blue, lay the churches of Lali, and at the : of the slopes the villages of bo and Vijes white, like ! flocks of sheep." Jorge Isaacs' life was successful as could have be"' siimed from the almost iiwtf popularity of "Maria." Aitf-loss Aitf-loss of !,is family's fortune. ' still quite young, lie struck years in a vain effort to frit. fr-it. Ho w.-is inspector of the f on the road to Buenaventurs-at Buenaventurs-at the a.se of thirty, in a K down little shack by the rive-' gua, he started to write Despite the success of b':i -"one piece of ill luck after s-" or bet'oli him. Ke became in civil suits, know every financial misfortune. leJ. about on-y. hatred, lonelin tug- when only fifty-oi.cW. i . talgio and dissatisfied glory of "Maria." howwr. ' keep his name alivo, ''''"' other works lie forgWten. For today "Maria". in ;;'.: its slow tempo, of so"'0 l' parts and of a romsntiois; seoins almost excessive to i readers, has kept its V1 the classics of the wovM- ; stylo it has never been si'r!v' ami noshes being the mo' i-ead fiction work of I"'1"1'.. tea. it Ins deserved to K' l' "tho (j'-vatcst I .at in A"'ru' el of the li'tti ooutiity j. Kivatost poem, tv." , hand, Efrain and J,t' walked Into the land thai ' tmmovtal fi;iuvs of fll',;i tivad. . . |