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Fernando González (writer)
Encyclopedia
Fernando González Ochoa was a Colombia
n writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" (The Philosopher from somewhere else). He wrote about sociology
, history
, art
, moral
, economy
, epistemology and theology
in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature. González is considered one of the most original writers of Colombia during the 20th century. His ideas were controversial and had a great influence in the Colombian society at his time and today. The González work was the inspiration of Nadaism, a literary movement founded by one of his disciple, Gonzalo Arango
. The Otraparte Villa, his house in Envigado
, is today a museum and the headquarters of the cultural foundation to preserve and promote his legacy. The place was declared a National Patrimony of Colombia in 2006.
González lived during the beginning of the 20th century (1895–1964), a time of change, political turbulence and revolutions in industry. He was born seven years after the new political agreement of a more conservative constitution (1888) that gave great influence to the Catholic Church in Colombian society, especially in the education of future generations. Four years after, when he was 4 years old, the nation fell in a bloody civil war
, the 1899 - 1902 Thousand Days War
. The other important event that happened during his life was in 1903 when Colombia lost Panama
. In 1926 the Banana massacre gave evidence of the labor problems of the different growing Colombian industries. He lived also in one of the first industrialist trade centers of the country, the Metropolitan Area of Medellín
and the first to start an industrial revolution
in Colombia during the 1930s. González was also a witness of the emerging of Fascism
in Italy
when he was consul of Colombia in that country. In 1948 the killing of the presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
opened the doors of a new political instability with El Bogotazo. All these events are reflected in the works and thoughts of Fernando González Ochoa.
, a city in the Aburrá Valley
(Antioquia State). He was the second of seven children. His parents were Daniel González and Pastora Ochoa. His father was a school teacher, the inspiration of one of his books (El Maestro de Escuela). He was expelled from the school of the Presentation Sisters
of Envigado because he insulted a sister after being punished.
Something similar would happen soon after he joined the Jesuit College of Medellín
, but this time because he was caught reading Nietzsche. The young González faced his teacher of philosophy, Rev. Quiroz, saying that nothing can be and can not be at the same time. He was a sophomore in high school when the Jesuits asked him to leave the school.
In 1915 he became a member of Los Panidas, a group of sceptics, with León de Greiff
, Ricardo Rendón, Félix Mejía Arango, Libardo Parra Toro, José Manuel Mora Vásquez and Eduardo Vasco, among other young intellectuals. In 1916 González published his first book, Pensamientos de un viejo (Thoughts of an Oldman), which presentation was written by Fidel Cano, the founder of El Espectador
newspaper. In 1919 González got his diploma in law by University of Antioquia
, however his thesis, "El derecho a no obedecer" (The Right Not To Obey) was not welcome by the Academic Council of the University. González had to do some modifications to the text and published it under the title of "Una tesis" (A Thesis).
In 1921 he became Judge of the Superior Tribunal of Manizales
. In 1922 he married in Medellín Margartia Restrepo Gaviria, the daughter of former president Carlos E. Restrepo. In 1928 he is nominated Second Judge of the Medellín Tribunals where he knew Benjamín Correa who was to be one of his best friends. With Correa he visited several towns in the states of Antioquia, Caldas and Valle del Cauca. From those visits he got the inspiration to one of his most popular books, Viaje a pie (Journey on Foot), published in 1929, but forbidden by the Archbishop
of Medellín under the penalty of mortal sin.
González went to Venezuela
in 1931 to know dictator Juan Vicente Gómez
. He considered Gómez a sprout of Libertador Simón Bolívar
and they became friends. The dictator was the godfather of one of the sons of González and this one dedicated a work to him, "Mi compadre".
a consul of Colombia in Genoa
, Italy
in 1932. He went with his family to the European country and that same year Le Libre Libre, a publishing house of Paris
, published his book Don Mirocletes. About that work Manuel Ugarte
wrote a letter to him from Niza
saying:
From Spain
he received two letters of José Vasconcelos
on December 14 and 30, 1932. Vasconcelos wrote:
He received other letter of the Colombian writer José María Vargas Vila
, who was exiled in Madrid
. Vargas wrote to him:
In 1933 the Italian police found a book notes with critics to the regimen of Benito Mussolini
and the Fascism
. He was transferred to Marsella
due to a petition of the Italian government. That book notes were the origin of his work El hermafrodita dormido (The Asleep Hermaphrodite), a book with his experiences in the classic art museums of Italy. The book was published in Spain
in 1934.
published his "El Remordimiento" (The Remorse), an essay in theology written in Marsella (France
) and Letters to Estanislao Zuleta
.
The former president of Ecuador
, José María Velasco Ibarra
, who was exiled in Colombia, visited González in Bucarest Villa in 1936 and they became very good friends. To Velasco he dedicated some chapters of Los negroides (The Negroid People) where González called Velasco the first "Politician-Thinker" of the Americas. By his part, Velasco called González in his work Conciencia o Barbarie: Exégesis de la Conciencia Política Americana (Conscience or Barbarism: Exegesis of the American Political Conscience), published first by the Atlántida Printing Press of Medellín, "the most original and deep of the South American sociologists".
In that year died in Madrid
the Venezuela
n novelist Teresa de la Parra
with whom González had a good friendship since 1930 when she visited him in Envigado. It was also the year of Los negroides publication, a essay on New Granada
(Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador), saying that it is the only American region where the merger of races will create an original culture for a man unified. Such merger is a principle of promises and appalling realities at the same time.
would make him to change the name for Otraparte (Other Place). The villa was designed with architect Carlos Obregón, engineer Félix Mejía Arango and painter Pedro Nel Gómez
. That year he published "Santander", an essay about General Francisco de Paula Santander
. The writer Tomás Carrasquilla
, his friend and the most admired by him Colombian novelist, died.
In Otraparte he received the American playwright Thornton Wilder
to whom he dedicated his work El maestro de escuela (The School Teacher). Wilder was in Colombia as a cultural ambassador of his country in South America and wrote about the Garden of the German: "It is more delightful than all Chapinero".
On April 9, 1949, Colombia shuddered with the killing of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
in Bogotá
. González dedicated to him some thoughts in 1936 in Los negroides:
In June 1949 of that year, after El Bogotazo, González wrote in the edition of his Antioquia Magazine:
In 1953 he was nominated consul of Colombia in Europe, but he stayed most of the time in Bilbao
where he studied Simon Bolívar
and Ignatius of Loyola
. His friend Thornton Wilder and Jean-Paul Sartre
asked to include his name in the list of candidates to the Nobel Prize in Literature
of 1955 and for two times he was in nominated. The writers Gabriela Mistral
, Jacinto Benavente
and Miguel de Unamuno
admired his work.
In September 1957 González returned to Colombia, to his Otraparte villa, until his death in 1964. In 2006 President Álvaro Uribe
approved Law 1068 to exalt the memory, life and work of the Antioquean philosopher Fernando González and declared Otraparte Home Museum in Envigado as a national patrimony.
He thought about the Colombian man and, thus, the Latin America
n, their personality, fights and expressions. He called himself the "Philosopher of the Personality of South America
". He wrote that the Latin American man might develop the individuality to arise from their anonymity. He criticized what he called the Latin American vanity that was without substance and invited to express the personality with energy, giving to life the highest value.
González thought his time as the decadence of the principle of freedom and individualism for an action of flocks following calves to worship (Adolf Hitler
, Benito Mussolini
). He missed the man of the ancient Egypt
, Greece
and the Renaissance man
.
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n writer and existentialist philosopher known as "el filósofo de Otraparte" (The Philosopher from somewhere else). He wrote about sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, moral
Moral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
, economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, epistemology and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in a magisterial and creative way, using different genres of literature. González is considered one of the most original writers of Colombia during the 20th century. His ideas were controversial and had a great influence in the Colombian society at his time and today. The González work was the inspiration of Nadaism, a literary movement founded by one of his disciple, Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango
Gonzalo Arango Arias was a Colombian poet, journalist and philosopher. He was famous in his country for being the founder of a literature and philosophy movement called "Nadaísmo" with other young Colombian thinkers of his generation and that was inspired by the Colombian philosopher Fernando...
. The Otraparte Villa, his house in Envigado
Envigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
, is today a museum and the headquarters of the cultural foundation to preserve and promote his legacy. The place was declared a National Patrimony of Colombia in 2006.
Context
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
, the 1899 - 1902 Thousand Days War
Thousand Days War
The Thousand Days' War , was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections...
. The other important event that happened during his life was in 1903 when Colombia lost Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. In 1926 the Banana massacre gave evidence of the labor problems of the different growing Colombian industries. He lived also in one of the first industrialist trade centers of the country, the Metropolitan Area of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
and the first to start an industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
in Colombia during the 1930s. González was also a witness of the emerging of Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
when he was consul of Colombia in that country. In 1948 the killing of the presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister and Labor Minister , mayor of Bogotá and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off...
opened the doors of a new political instability with El Bogotazo. All these events are reflected in the works and thoughts of Fernando González Ochoa.
Early life
Fernando González Ochoa was born in EnvigadoEnvigado
Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...
, a city in the Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley , is the natural basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 3 million inhabitants. The valley is located on the Central Range, over the Antioquian Mountain just between the Magdalean and Cauca valleys from east to west...
(Antioquia State). He was the second of seven children. His parents were Daniel González and Pastora Ochoa. His father was a school teacher, the inspiration of one of his books (El Maestro de Escuela). He was expelled from the school of the Presentation Sisters
Presentation Sisters
The Presentation Sisters, also known as the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary are an order of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland by Nano Nagle in 1775....
of Envigado because he insulted a sister after being punished.
Something similar would happen soon after he joined the Jesuit College of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, but this time because he was caught reading Nietzsche. The young González faced his teacher of philosophy, Rev. Quiroz, saying that nothing can be and can not be at the same time. He was a sophomore in high school when the Jesuits asked him to leave the school.
Formation
León de Greiff
Francisco de Asís León Bogislao de Greiff Haeusler , was a Colombian poet of the 20th century he is notable for his stylistic innovations and eclectic deliberate use of obscure lexicon. Best known simply as León de Greiff, he often used different pen names of which the most popular were Leo le Gris...
, Ricardo Rendón, Félix Mejía Arango, Libardo Parra Toro, José Manuel Mora Vásquez and Eduardo Vasco, among other young intellectuals. In 1916 González published his first book, Pensamientos de un viejo (Thoughts of an Oldman), which presentation was written by Fidel Cano, the founder of El Espectador
El Espectador
El Espectador is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá...
newspaper. In 1919 González got his diploma in law by University of Antioquia
University of Antioquia
The University of Antioquia , also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquía, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the northwest of the country, and the second in...
, however his thesis, "El derecho a no obedecer" (The Right Not To Obey) was not welcome by the Academic Council of the University. González had to do some modifications to the text and published it under the title of "Una tesis" (A Thesis).
Judge
Manizales
Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....
. In 1922 he married in Medellín Margartia Restrepo Gaviria, the daughter of former president Carlos E. Restrepo. In 1928 he is nominated Second Judge of the Medellín Tribunals where he knew Benjamín Correa who was to be one of his best friends. With Correa he visited several towns in the states of Antioquia, Caldas and Valle del Cauca. From those visits he got the inspiration to one of his most popular books, Viaje a pie (Journey on Foot), published in 1929, but forbidden by the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Medellín under the penalty of mortal sin.
González went to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
in 1931 to know dictator Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón was a military general and de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, and ruled as an unelected military strongman for the rest of the era.-Early years:Gómez was a barely literate cattle herder and...
. He considered Gómez a sprout of Libertador Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
and they became friends. The dictator was the godfather of one of the sons of González and this one dedicated a work to him, "Mi compadre".
Consul in Italy
González was nominated by President Enrique Olaya HerreraEnrique Olaya Herrera
Enrique Alfredo Olaya Herrera was a Colombian journalist and politician, President of Colombia from August 7, 1930 until August 7, 1934 representing the Colombian Liberal Party.- Early years :...
a consul of Colombia in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1932. He went with his family to the European country and that same year Le Libre Libre, a publishing house of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, published his book Don Mirocletes. About that work Manuel Ugarte
Manuel Ugarte
Manuel Ugarte was an Argentine author, writer and member of the Socialist Party.-Biography:Manuel Baldomero Ugarte was born in San José de Flores, now part of the City of Buenos Aires, on 27 February 1875. His father was Floro Ugarte and his mother Sabina Rivero...
wrote a letter to him from Niza
Niza
Niza is:*Spanish for the city of Nice, France*Niiza, Saitama, Japan*Marcos de Niza, a 16th century Franciscan friar...
saying:
From Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
he received two letters of José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos Calderón was a Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities in the development of modern Mexico. His philosophy of "indigenismo" affected all aspects of Mexican sociocultural, political, and economic...
on December 14 and 30, 1932. Vasconcelos wrote:
He received other letter of the Colombian writer José María Vargas Vila
José María Vargas Vila
José María Vargas Vila Bonilla . Colombian writer.He was one of the most controversial writers in the beginning of 20th century in the American continent, Jose Maria Vargas Vila characterized by its radical liberal ideals and the consequent critic against the clergy, the conservative ideas and the...
, who was exiled in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. Vargas wrote to him:
In 1933 the Italian police found a book notes with critics to the regimen of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and the Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. He was transferred to Marsella
Marsella
Marsella is a town and municipality in the Department of Risaralda, Colombia....
due to a petition of the Italian government. That book notes were the origin of his work El hermafrodita dormido (The Asleep Hermaphrodite), a book with his experiences in the classic art museums of Italy. The book was published in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1934.
Bucarest Villa
In 1934 González returned to Colombia establishing in his town, Envigado, to live in a finca he called "Bucarest Villa". There he started to publish the Antioquia Magazine until 1945. In 1935 the Arturo Zapata Printing Press of ManizalesManizales
Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....
published his "El Remordimiento" (The Remorse), an essay in theology written in Marsella (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) and Letters to Estanislao Zuleta
Estanislao Zuleta
Estanislao Zuleta was a Latin American philosopher, writer and professor from Colombia. He was known especially for his works on the universities being a professor for all his life...
.
The former president of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, José María Velasco Ibarra
José María Velasco Ibarra
José María Velasco Ibarra was an Ecuadorian political figure. He served as the president of Ecuador from 1934–1935, 1944–1947, 1952–1956, 1960–1961, and 1968-1972. He only served one of those terms without being ousted by the army, from 1952-1956.-Early life and career:Velasco Ibarra was born on...
, who was exiled in Colombia, visited González in Bucarest Villa in 1936 and they became very good friends. To Velasco he dedicated some chapters of Los negroides (The Negroid People) where González called Velasco the first "Politician-Thinker" of the Americas. By his part, Velasco called González in his work Conciencia o Barbarie: Exégesis de la Conciencia Política Americana (Conscience or Barbarism: Exegesis of the American Political Conscience), published first by the Atlántida Printing Press of Medellín, "the most original and deep of the South American sociologists".
In that year died in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
the Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n novelist Teresa de la Parra
Teresa de la Parra
-Life:She was born Ana Teresa Parra Sanojo in Paris, the daughter of Rafael Parra Hernáiz, Venezuelan Ambassador in Berlin, and Isabel Sanojo de Parra.As a member of a wealthy family, Ana Teresa spent part of her childhood at her father's hacienda, Tazón...
with whom González had a good friendship since 1930 when she visited him in Envigado. It was also the year of Los negroides publication, a essay on New Granada
New Granada
New Granada may refer to various former national denominations for the present-day country of Colombia.*New Kingdom of Granada, from 1538 to 1717*Viceroyalty of New Granada, from 1717 to 1810, re-established from 1816 to 1819...
(Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador), saying that it is the only American region where the merger of races will create an original culture for a man unified. Such merger is a principle of promises and appalling realities at the same time.
Otraparte Villa
He started in 1940 the construction of his villa in Envigado that at that time he called La Huerta del Alemán (The Garden of the German), but the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
would make him to change the name for Otraparte (Other Place). The villa was designed with architect Carlos Obregón, engineer Félix Mejía Arango and painter Pedro Nel Gómez
Pedro Nel Gómez
Pedro Nel Gómez was a Colombian engineer, architect, painter, and sculptor. He started the Colombian Muralist Movement with Santiago Martinez Delgado, strongly influenced by the Mexican movement. With the fresco mural technique, Pedro Nel Gómez created 2,200 square meters of murals in public...
. That year he published "Santander", an essay about General Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña , was a Colombian military and political leader during the 1810–1819 independence war of the United Provinces of New Granada...
. The writer Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker of the Ministry of Public Works...
, his friend and the most admired by him Colombian novelist, died.
In Otraparte he received the American playwright Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
to whom he dedicated his work El maestro de escuela (The School Teacher). Wilder was in Colombia as a cultural ambassador of his country in South America and wrote about the Garden of the German: "It is more delightful than all Chapinero".
On April 9, 1949, Colombia shuddered with the killing of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister and Labor Minister , mayor of Bogotá and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off...
in Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
. González dedicated to him some thoughts in 1936 in Los negroides:
In June 1949 of that year, after El Bogotazo, González wrote in the edition of his Antioquia Magazine:
In 1953 he was nominated consul of Colombia in Europe, but he stayed most of the time in Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
where he studied Simon Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
and Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...
. His friend Thornton Wilder and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
asked to include his name in the list of candidates to the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
of 1955 and for two times he was in nominated. The writers Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, Jacinto Benavente
Jacinto Benavente
Jacinto Benavente y Martínez was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922....
and Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
admired his work.
In September 1957 González returned to Colombia, to his Otraparte villa, until his death in 1964. In 2006 President Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
approved Law 1068 to exalt the memory, life and work of the Antioquean philosopher Fernando González and declared Otraparte Home Museum in Envigado as a national patrimony.
Thought
Fernando González is called the "Philosopher of Authenticity" and his thought is related to the experience of his life as a man. He used to say that we must live in the simple but bringing awareness of the essentials.He thought about the Colombian man and, thus, the Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n, their personality, fights and expressions. He called himself the "Philosopher of the Personality of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
". He wrote that the Latin American man might develop the individuality to arise from their anonymity. He criticized what he called the Latin American vanity that was without substance and invited to express the personality with energy, giving to life the highest value.
González thought his time as the decadence of the principle of freedom and individualism for an action of flocks following calves to worship (Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
). He missed the man of the ancient Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and the Renaissance man
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
.