José María Vergara y Vergara
| José María Vergara y Vergara | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of José María Vergara y Vergara from the Colombian newspaper Papel Periódico Ilustrado (1881-1887) | |
| Born |
19 March 1831 Bogotá, Colombia |
| Died | 9 March 1872 (aged 40) |
| Occupation | Writer, journalist, diplomat, politician, literary critic, historian |
| Language | Spanish |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Notable works | Historia de la literatura en Nueva Granada (1867) |
José María Vergara y Vergara (March 19, 1831 – March 9, 1872) was a Colombian diplomat, journalist, politician, and writer. Vergara y Vergara is known for writing the first literary history of Colombia, a detailed chronological compilation of authors, works, and literary movements between 1538 and 1820.
Works
Vergara y Vergara admired and read assiduously the works of Fernán Caballero, Antonio Trueba, François René de Chateaubriand and Miguel de Cervantes. He published the Historia de la literatura en Nueva Granada (1867), the anthologies Parnaso colombiano and La lira granadina, and the biography Vida y escritos del general Nariño. He also wrote lyric poetry (Versos en borrador, 1869), costumbrismo portraits, emulating Fernán Caballero, (Las tres tazas y otros cuentos, 1863), and novels (Olivas y aceitunas, todas son unas, 1868).
According to his autobiography, he left some unedited manuscripts: the novel Mercedes; Cuadros Políticos o Días Históricos (starting from 1849); an incomplete dictionary of geography; a dictionary of biographies; and two incomplete novels, Un chismoso and Un odio a muerte.
Newspapers Founded and/or Edited by Vergara y Vergara
La Siesta (Bogotá, 1852), with Rafael Pombo.
La Matricaria: Periódico de La Juventud. Colección de Artículos de Costumbres, Revistas y Literatura (Popayán, 1854)
El Mosaico: Miscelánea de Literatura, Ciencias y Música (Bogotá, 1858), with Ricardo Carrasquilla and José Manuel Marroquín.
El Heraldo: Órgano Del Partido Conservador (Bogotá, 1860).
El Cundinamarqués: Periódico Oficial y Órgano de los Intereses del Estado (Bogotá, 1861).