María Josefa Acevedo Sánchez Explained

María Josefa Acevedo Sánchez de Gómez
Othername:Josefa Acevedo
Birth Date:23 January 1803
Birth Place:Bogotá, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Death Date:19 January 1861
Burial Place:Pasca
Nationality:Colombian
Occupation:biographer, poet
Spouse:Diego Fernándo Gómez

María Josefa Acevedo Sánchez de Gómez (1803–1861), generally published under the name Josefa Acevedo[1] or Josefa Acevedo de Gómez,[2] was a Colombian poet and prose writer.

Biography

Early life

Acevedo was born in Bogotá on 23 January 1803, to José Acevedo y Gómez and Catalina Sánchez de Tejada. She had two older siblings, José Pedro and Liboria, and six younger siblings, Eusebia, José Prudencio, Juan Miguel, Alfonso, Catarina, and Concepción.[2]

Career

Acevedo wrote formal verse, essays, and biographies of famous contemporaries and notable members of her family by blood or by marriage that were published and widely circulated during her lifetime.[2]

The first of Acevedo's books to be published was a cross between a long-form essay and instruction manual on married life titled Ensayo sobre los deberes de los casados. Due to Acevedo's misgivings about the quality of her writing and her resulting fear that the book would be harshly judged, the earliest editions of the work were published anonymously. The book proved very popular, however, and years later, a fifth edition was released with authorial attribution.[2]

Cuadros de la vida privada de algunos granadinos, a book collecting short stories by Acevedo with plots drawn from the author's own life and notorious contemporary events, was published posthumously.[2] [3]

Acevedo also wrote a stage play in two acts titled La coqueta burlada,[3] a novel, an autobiography, and other papers that were never published, some of which were purportedly lost to fire.[2]

Marriage and children

Acevedo was married to lawyer and politician Diego Fernándo Gómez.[3] Together, they had two daughters, Amalia and Rosa. Acevedo also adopted a son, Joaquín.[2] Her children married and had children of their own, among them Colombian politician and poet Adolfo León Gómez.

Death

In the final years of her life, Acevedo resided in her daughter Rosa's home in the countryside.[2] She died there on 19 January 1861, and was buried in nearby Pasca, Cundinamarca.[3]

Published works[2] [3]

Essays

Tratado sobre economía doméstica para el uso de las madres de familia i de las amas de casa (1848, José A. Cualla)

Ensayo sobre los deberes de los casados (1857, F. Torres Amaya); earlier editions published anonymously[2] [3]

Biographies

Biografía del General José Acevedo Tejada, with Alfonso Acevedo (1850, León Echeverría)

Biografía del doctor Diego Fernando Gómez (1854, F. Torres Amaya)

Recuerdos nacionales: José Acevedo y Gómez (1860, Pizano y Pérez)

Biografía de Vicente Azuero (n.d.)

Biografía de Luis Vargas Tejada (n.d.)

Poetry collections

Oráculo de las flores y las frutas, acomodado a su lenguaje i con doce respuestas en verso (1856, F. Torres Amaya)

Poesías de una Granadina (1854, Anselmo León)

Short stories

Cuadros de la vida privada de algunos granadinos (1861, El Mosaico)

Recognition

Poems by Acevedo were included in Poetisas americanas, an 1896 anthology of verse by noted female poets of the Americas.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Poetisas Americanas: Ramillete Poético del Bello Sexo Hispano-Americano. 1896. Domingo Cortés. José. Paris. 309–311. Spanish.
  2. Martínez Carreño. Aída. 2007. Líneas para una biografía de Josefa Acevedo de Gómez. Revista S. 1. 1 . 116–132.
  3. Book: Laverde Amaya, Isidoro. Bibliografía colombiana. Medardo Rivas. 1895. 1. Bogotá. 5–6. Spanish. Josefa Acevedo de Gómez.