José Asunción Silva
José Asunción Silva is recognized as Colombia's foremost poet, celebrated for his profound contributions to literature during a tumultuous life marked by personal and financial struggles. Born into an affluent family in Bogotá, Silva exhibited extraordinary intellectual abilities from a young age, mastering multiple languages and composing poetry by the age of ten. His early works, such as "Primeria comunión" and "La crisálida," foreshadowed his literary talent, although many of his writings remained unpublished during his lifetime due to various responsibilities, including managing his family's business.
Silva's literary journey was profoundly influenced by his travels to Europe, where he engaged with notable figures like Guy de Maupassant and Charles Baudelaire. Despite his artistic aspirations, he faced the dual pressures of economic hardship and personal loss, including the death of his father and sister, which deeply impacted his work, particularly his most famous poem, "Nocturno." His financial difficulties culminated in bankruptcy, prompting a series of failed business ventures. Tragically, his life ended in 1896 when he took his own life after a public reading, leaving behind a legacy that has continued to resonate in Colombia and beyond, prompting ongoing discussions about his life, relationships, and the themes of his poetry.
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José Asunción Silva
Poet
- Born: November 27, 1865
- Birthplace: Bogotá, Colombia
- Died: May 23, 1896
- Place of death: Bogotá, Colombia
Biography
José Asunción Silva, Colombia’s foremost poet, was the first child of Ricardo Silva Frude and Vicenta Goméz Diago, an upper-class Colombian couple. Silva’s father imported luxury items and owned a ranch, Hatogrande. Silva was a child prodigy who wrote and read Spanish when he was two years old and who learned English and French by the time he was four. (He later learned Italian and German). Because of his family’s wealth and social position, he grew up in an intellectual and cultural environment.
When Silva was ten, he wrote “Primeria comunión” (first communion). “La crisálida” (the chrysalis), his second poem, written when he was thirteen, was later anthologized. When he was fifteen, he finished his formal education, and because of his father’s poor health he stayed at home to help at the family business. That same year he began work on Intimidades (intimate thoughts), which included some original poems as well as some translations from French and Italian; the volume was completed in 1884 but not published until 1971.
In 1883 his father, still in poor health, made him a partner in the business, Ricardo Silva and Son. Silva’s business responsibilities and his literary aspirations were at war throughout his life. Nevertheless, he did travel to Paris in 1884 to visit his great-uncle and there met several literary giants, among them Guy de Maupassant and Charles Baudelaire. During 1884 and 1885, he visited Spain, returned to Paris to study the tie between medicine and psychology, traveled to London, and visited Switzerland and a few other countries before returning to Colombia.
In his absence the family business had been robbed and his father had gone to Europe to replenish livestock, so Silva had to assume control of the company. Despite business pressures, he had eight of his poems included in La lira nueva (the new lyre). It was the largest sample of his poems published in one place during his lifetime. Although Silva wrote a great deal, some of it under assumed names, very little of his work appeared while he was alive. In the late 1880’s, he wrote poems and essays about current literary controversies and also painted—his interest in painting is reflected in his poetry.
Silva’s father died in 1887 and his beloved sister Elvira passed away in 1891, resulting in his best-known work, “Nocturno,” a poem which has prompted critics to question the relationship between the two siblings. His lack of interest in the opposite sex had earlier caused some of his colleagues to question his masculinity. Also in 1891, the family business finally failed, requiring him to declare bankruptcy and begin a two-year effort, including the sale of his own library, to repay the debts. His financial situation improved when he was appointed secretary to the Colombian delegation to Caracas, Venezuela. He had time to work on his poetry and a novel, but while on a voyage in 1895 his ship, Amérique, was shipwrecked; and while he survived, his manuscripts were lost. Another business venture, a tile factory, also failed. On May 23, 1896, after what was his last public reading, he shot himself fatally in the chest.