Alexander Sawa (1862-1909) was a Spanish writer and journalist, considered one of the main figures in the literary bohemian current of his country. As is often related to this ideology, it ended its days in a tragic and dark way.
Sawa was the quintessential icon of the lifestyle of the artist who voluntarily chooses to live outside the system. In addition, he sought to intermingle in a single life the sublime of the intellectual world with the thick mud of hunger and misery..
In a dark suit, Alexander wandered the nightclubs of Paris and met with other intellectual colleagues. In this way he honored the world of ideas to the detriment of the banalities of the material sphere..
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Alejandro Sawa was born on March 15, 1862. He was baptized under the name of Alejandro María de los Dolores de Gracia Esperanza del Gran Poder Antonio José Longinos del Corazón de Jesús de la Santísima Trinidad Sawa Martinez.
Sawa grew up in a family with Greek descent and dedicated to the food trade. He was the first of five children, two of whom, in addition to him, showed an affinity for the literary world.
In his younger years he studied at the Seminary of Malaga. From this institution, contrary to what was expected, he left with an anti-clerical ideology by interrupting his studies. He studied law for a year, but did not finish his training in this area.
At approximately 23 years of age, he moved to the Spanish capital. In Madrid, he dedicated himself to writing his first book and during his stay he collaborated with the newspaper “el Motín” as part of the writing team..
Also, in that city, he wrote five novels. In 1890 he went to Paris, where he immersed himself in the bohemian scene. He resided in the artistic Latin Quarter.
Living in Paris he met Jeanne Poirier. He married her and together they had a single daughter, whom they named Elena Rosa. Those years in Paris were considered by the artist as the best of all his times..
He worked for Garnier, a famous publisher of the time that was in the process of writing an encyclopedic dictionary. During that time, he was in contact with writers from the burgeoning literary movements..
In 1896 he returned to his native country as the father of the family. After some economic hardships, he got a job in the journalistic field with the support of his brother Miguel.
At the beginning of the new century, a hemiplegia seriously affected his mother. The disease limited his mobility and his father died shortly after. Even Sawa's own health and financial situation were deteriorating as well..
At age 44, he lost his vision, which made his situation even worse. Three years later, in 1909, he also lost his sanity. Finally, he died on March 3, 1909. His remains received a humble burial in the Amudena Cemetery, Madrid..
At age 16, Alejandro Sawa wrote a brochure titled The pontificate and Pius IX. This was inspired by the bishop of the seminary he attended in Malaga. Seven years after this initial foray into the world of letters, he published his first novel The woman of the whole world.
His first work was a critique of the double standards of high society. It had a positive reception among the dissident circles of Spanish literature of the time..
A year later, it came to light Legal crime. In this work Sawa raised the controversies between science and religion. This combination of themes was in vogue in the late 19th century when numerous scientific discoveries were made..
In 1887 he wrote Declaration of an expired. The protagonist of his work was a man who traveled from the interior of the country to the capital. On this journey, the character discovers the murky side of Madrid society.
The following year, he published Night Y Nursery of priests, where he again showed his opposition to the institutional structure of the church. His last novel published in life was The Iguzquiza chasm, story set in the third of the Carlist wars.
In 1910, a year after Sawa's death, it was published Illuminations in the shadow. There, the author related his thoughts, opinions and memories. Of this book, his friend, the Nicaraguan writer Rubén Darío, was in charge of writing the prologue.
Alejandro Sawa never received the recognition he deserved, despite being one of the main writers of the Bohemian movement in Spanish literature. He came to end his days in poverty, sickness and madness.
The main tribute paid to him came from his friend Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, a writer and playwright whom he met in Madrid's literary gatherings. This friend was inspired by Sawa to write the leading character in one of his most outstanding works: Bohemian lights, published in the late 1920s.
In this work, Valle-Inclán showed the last moments of Max Estrella. This character was a writer who enjoyed fame in distant times and who at the end of his life lost his sight and reason. These traits, along with the character's personality, refer to Sawa's hapless ending..
The success of Max Estrella attracted attention to Sawa, who little by little became more recognized.
Another author who included it in his writings was Eduardo Zamacois. Also Pío Baroja in The science tree and Antonio Machado, who wrote him an emotional poem upon learning of his death.
In 2008, university professor Amelina Correa Ramón unveiled her exhaustive research on Sawa's life. This was published under the name Alejandro Sawa. Bohemian lights and awarded that same year with the special prize for biographies Antonio Domínguez Ortiz.
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