*** Welcome to piglix ***

María Josefa García Granados

María Josefa García Granados
Josefagarciagranados.jpg
Born 10 July 1796
Puerto de Santa María, Cadiz, Spain
Died 28 September 1848
Guatemala City
Nickname Juan de las Viñas
Pepita
Occupation poet, political journalist
Website
María Josefa Garcia Granados

María Josefa García Granados y Zavala (10 July 1796 - 28 July 1848) was a Guatemalan intellectual, writer, journalist and poet of Spanish origin, and one of the greatest intellectual exponents of the independence of Guatemala in 1821. She was also a feminist ahead of her time, who with her strong and dominant character prevailed in Guatemalan society. She was the sister of General Miguel García Granados, who was the first liberal president of Guatemala, and Adelaida García Granados, who was tutor of Petrona Álvarez, wife of General Rafael Carrera, lifelong conservative president of Guatemala. As his family was part of the Aycinena clan, they suffered exile and dispossession of their property by Francisco Morazán in 1829.

María Josefa García Granados came from an aristocratic family who had traveled to Spain, but decided to return to Guatemala, after the French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.Her penchant for literature and journalism led her to participate in gatherings, get to know intellectuals and writers and even publish book of different genres. She was the sister of Miguel García Granados and Adelaida García Granados. Best known to her friends and acquaintances as "Pepita", she married Ramón Saborio de la Villa from Nicaragua, with whom she shared marriage until death and bore him six children. She was known for her strong character and authority; because of this, María Josefa had friendships with the most influential men of her time, even before 1821 she was attending famous gatherings at the home of José María Castilla, a priest born in Madrid, Spain.

Her brother was also her son-in-law, for it was customary at that time that among upper-class families, there were intermarriages; her brother Miguel married her eldest daughter, Cristina.

"Woman of independent genius, with a lot of ingenuity and mischief; with a gift to make verses and a lot of funny stories for her satirical pieces; she was what could be call an original entity, and a very dangerous acquaintance. God forbid one was the center of her attacks!"

About her literature, Ana María Urruela de Quezada -member of the Guatemalan Language Academy- said that "her literary body of work is historically significant , because her portraits, satirical pieces, and letters were able to portray, without romanticisms those characters and episodes related to the cultural and political elite of that forgone era". To García Granados, poetry was an instrument that she used to leave behind live testimonials of that turbulent time of bitter rivalry between the liberal criollos led by Francisco Morazán and the peasant revolts led by Rafael Carrera and unwillingly supported by the conservative criollos. Poetry allowed her to talk about love and romantic topics, while at the same time, she was able to talk about certain symbolic elements.


...
Wikipedia

...