Alejandro Sawa
(Seville, 1862-Madrid, 1909) Spanish writer, outstanding figure of the fin de siècular literary bohemia.More than for his literary work (he is the author of various naturalist novels and the journal Iluminaciones en la sombra , published posthumously) he is remembered for the tribute paid to him by Ramón del Valle-Inclán, who was inspired by his eccentric personality to create the character of Max Estrella, protagonist of Luces de Bohemia .
Alejandro Sawa
His mother was from Seville and his father, a natural wine merchant from Carmona (Seville), bequeathed him a surname that reveals the Greek origin of his grandfather.Alejandro was the eldest of five brothers, two of whom (Miguel and Enrique) also dedicated themselves to letters and were equally immersed in the bohemian scene in Madrid.We only know of his youth that he studied at the Malaga seminary (which would explain his solid classical culture), to whose bishop he dedicated a youth brochure entitled The Pontificate and Pius IX: historical notes (1878).Of his time at the university, there is no more information than a free registration obtained at the Faculty of Law of Granada during the academic year 1877-1878.
The exact date of his arrival in Madrid is not known either, which some date back to at least 1881.However, Sawa's presence in the capital is not certain until 1885, the year of the publication of his first novel: The woman of the whole world .Despite its simplicity, its naive naturalism and its evident late-romantic aftertastes (Byron, Musset and especially Victor Hugo were his first literary idols), this work enjoyed an excellent reception in Madrid anarchist circles for its fierce attack on the aristocracy.
The truth is that, during his second stage in Madrid, Alejandro Sawa ended up falling into misery again, despite having resumed literary activity in the form of a book (an adaptation to the Spanish scene of Los Reyes en el exilero , by Alphonse Daudet, in 1899) and having started an intense collaboration with the press: El Globo (1902), Madrid Cómico, ABC, La Correspondencia de España (1903), Alma Española (1903) ) and Spain (1904).With anarchist ideas, his highly original figure (tall, elegant, with a Hellenic profile and romantic hair and beard) could still be seen in Madrid at the beginning of the century presiding over gatherings and making himself heard by a court of young people eager for "fresh air" in the stale literary panorama of that time.
Little by little, however, the one who had been called "The Magnificent" and "The Exalted" was being abandoned by his friends as he plunged into the most agonizing poverty.Sawa's most painful and difficult years came with the death of his father (1905) and, shortly after, with his blindness (around 1906) and final insanity.
Locked up in his home in Madrid, harassed by debts and visited by only a few devotees (among them, the young writer Rafael Cansinos Assens), he ended up dying in dire circumstances, obsessed with the fact that his literary testament: a diary of sensations entitled Iluminaciones en la sombra , published posthumously in 1910 with a foreword by Rubén Darío.Inspired by French models such as Rimbaud's Illuminations or Baudelaire's Intimate Diaries , this bible of Bohemian literature is made up of impressions, ramblings, memories and nostalgia of the author.
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