María (Annotated) - A South American Romance

María is a novel written by Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs between 1864 and 1867. It is a costumbrist novel representative of the Spanish romantic movement. It may be considered a precursor of the criollist novel of the 1920s and 1930s in Latin America. Despite being Isaacs' only novel, María is considered one of the most important works of 19th century Spanish American literature. Alfonso M. Escudero characterized it as the greatest Spanish-language romantic novel.[1] The romantic style of the novel has been compared to the one of Chateaubriand's Atala. Notable are the description of the landscape and the artistic style of the prose. The novel has several autobiographical elements, such as both main characters being natives of Valle del Cauca, or Efraín's departure to Bogotá to pursue his studies. It has been claimed that Maria herself is based, at least in part, upon a cousin of the author.