JOSÉ MARÍA VARGAS VILA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

José María Vargas Vila (1860-1933) was a Colombian writer, journalist and politician. The life of this intellectual was marked by constant persecutions because of his liberal ideas and his continuous interventions in the political events of his country.

Vargas Vila's literary work was characterized by being between romanticism and modernism. The writer used a cultured language, easy to understand and precise. Although the author developed the poetic genre, his major production was in prose. In his repertoire there were more than twenty novels.

José María Vargas Vila. Source: Delvalle, via Wikimedia Commons

The literary compendium of this Colombian writer was extensive, some of his most outstanding titles being: Aurora or the Violets, The Providentials, Ibis, The Divines and the Humans, Red Laurels, The Way of Triumph and Salomé. Regarding his journalistic work, José María Vargas Vila wrote for various print media and founded several magazines.

Biography

Birth and family

José María de la Concepción Apolinar Vargas Vila Bonilla was born on June 23, 1860 in Bogotá, Colombia, at the time of the Granadina Confederation. The writer came from a cultured family with a good socioeconomic status. His parents were José María Vargas Vila and Elvira Bonilla.

Studies

Vargas Vila spent his childhood years in his native Bogotá. In relation to the educational training of the writer, it is known that he obtained learning by his own means and without attending any particular institution in a formal way. José María cultivated the habit of reading and discovered his talent for writing at an early age.

After his good self-taught preparation, the young Vargas Vila enlisted in the military troops of General Manuel Santos Acosta. This happened when the writer was only sixteen years old.

Teaching work

José María Vargas Vila worked as a teacher in various institutions in his country from 1880 to approximately 1884. At that time the intellectual gave classes in the towns of Ibagué, Guasca and Anolaima.

After that period of teaching, the writer returned to Bogotá and began teaching at the Liceo de la Infancia, but was fired after a dispute with a priest.

During his time as a teacher, Vargas Vila met the writer José Asunción Silva and they struck up a good friendship. At that time José María consolidated and consolidated his liberal ideas.

Military action

The radical and liberal thought of Vargas Vila led him to participate as a soldier in the Civil War of 1884. Said conflict originated from the disagreement of the Liberal Party before the centralization policies implemented by President Rafael Núñez.

The side of the Liberals to which José María belonged was defeated. After that, the writer had to take refuge in Los Llanos to safeguard his life. Finally he had to go into exile in Venezuela because President Núñez ordered him to be arrested for his constant criticism.

Literary beginnings

José María arrived in Venezuela in 1886 and immediately created the Eco Andino magazine in San Cristóbal. The publication was under his direction and had the collaboration of his countrymen Juan de Dios Uribe and Diógenes Arrieta.

After that, the writer moved to Caracas and founded Los Refractarios, in the company of other radical liberals required by Rafael Núñez. At that time Vargas Vila gained some recognition and published his first narrative work Aura o las violetas in 1887.

The author lived in Venezuela for about five years, until he was forced to leave the country in 1891 by President Raimundo Andueza Palacio and moved to the United States.

Time in United States

The Colombian intellectual settled in New York City upon arriving in the United States. There he worked as an editor for the printed medium El Progreso, at the same time that he became friends with the Cuban writer and politician José Martí. Excellent ties and considerable growth in Vila's literary knowledge emerged from that friendship.

At that time, José María Vargas Vila established the publication Revista Ilustrada Hispanoamérica and published the work Los providenciales in 1892. The author did not let any moment pass without producing something or innovating, a quality that made him stand out where he arrived.

Back to venezuela

Vargas Vila returned to Venezuela in 1893, this after the arrival of Joaquín Crespo to power. José María was appointed by President Crespo as his secretary and adviser on political matters. The writer returned to New York in 1894 after the death of the ruler.

Between literature and diplomacy

José María devoted himself to literature during his second stay in New York. While there, the author published the work Flor de mud in 1895. Three years later, the Ecuadorian president Eloy Alfaro appointed the writer as ambassador in Rome.

Vargas Vila at the end of the 19th century. Source: Culture Bank of the Republic of Colombia, via Wikimedia Commons

It was from that time that his phrase "I do not bend the knee to any mortal" emerged after refusing to kneel before Pope Leo XIII. These attitudes led Vila to earn the discontent of the Catholic Church.

The writer continued his literary development alongside his work as an ambassador. In 1900 Vargas Vila unveiled Ibis, one of his most important works. For the content of the text the writer was sanctioned by the Holy See. On that same date, he also published The Roses of the Evening.

Always controversial

José María returned to New York after being excommunicated from the papal see in Rome. In the Big Apple, the writer resumed his journalistic activity and founded Nemesis, a magazine with a liberal ideology and political content from where he attacked the oppressive governments of America.

The polemical spirit of Vargas Vila was incessant. In addition to his sharp criticism of the dictatorships in Latin America, the writer attacked the policies of the United States government with the publication of Ante los barbaros in the pages of Nemesis in 1902. The text produced his departure from North America.

Stay in europe

José María Vargas Vila lived in Europe since 1904. On that date, the intellectual was appointed representative of Nicaragua in Spain by President José Santos Zelaya. The Colombian shared diplomatic tasks with the writer and poet Rubén Darío.

One of his main tasks as ambassador was to intervene in the Border Commission with Honduras before the Spanish monarch. After his diplomatic offices, Vargas Vila continued with the development of his literary production. The author published the works Red Laurels and The Seed.

Last years and death

José María lived in Madrid until 1912 and then settled in Barcelona. The author moved away from politics and devoted himself fully to writing. Some of his most notorious works from the last decades of his life were: Red Lily, White Lily, Black Lily and Serene Afternoons.

Vargas Vila died on May 23, 1933 in Barcelona, ​​Spain, due to a health condition that afflicted him for a time. Almost fifty years after his death, the writer's remains were repatriated on May 24, 1981 and currently deposited in the Central Cemetery of Bogotá.

Style

The literary style of José María Vargas Vila moved through the romantic and modernist currents. The writer used a cultured, precise and almost always critical language. His novels were characterized by not following the academic and literary patterns of the time.

Caricature of Vila, made by Manuel Tovar in Flirt (1922). Source: Manuel Tovar Siles, via Wikimedia Commons

This Colombian writer was controversial regarding the content of his narrative and journalistic work. Vargas Vila's favorite subjects were those of political context and in opposition to the Catholic Church. He also wrote about love, women, existence and homosexuality.

Plays

1987 to 1900

Brief description of some of his works

Ibis

It was one of the best known novels by José María Vargas Vila, which generated controversy due to its content of hatred towards women. It was a story of love, disappointment, jealousy, revenge and murder. Its protagonist was Teodoro, a passionate lover who avenged the betrayal of his beloved.

The work was rejected by the church due to the cruelty of its subject matter and the way in which the author referred to the Catholic clergy. In addition to that, José María touched on aspects forbidden for the time, such as sex, atheism and hedonism.

Fragment

Fragment of

Phrases

- “Only in love is man great on his knees; because love is the only slavery that does not dishonor ”.

- “Every work of art is personal. The artist lives in it, after she lived in it for a long time ”.

- “All men are apt to perpetuate the species; nature forms and chooses those who are worthy of perpetuating the idea ”.

- "I have not seen a more persistent dreamer, than that old outlaw, who seemed not to realize that he was walking on the ashes of the dead."

- “Only a great soldier loved that idea (Latin American unity), only he would have been worthy of carrying it out, and that great man is today a dead man: Eloy Alfaro… Only he had in his hands the fragment of the broken sword of Bolívar ”.

- “Only in the regions of fantasy is it possible to create; creating is the mission of genius ”.

- "The corruption of the soul is more shameful than that of the body."

References

1. José María Vargas Vila. (2017). Colombia: Banrepcultural. Recovered from: encyclopedia.banrepcultural.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2019). José María Vargas Vila. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. José María Vargas Vila. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
4. José María Vargas Vila. (S. f.). Cuba: EcuRed. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
5. Moreno, V. (2019). José María Vargas Vila. (N / a): Search Biographies. Recovered from: Buscabiografias.com.