SOURCE: Osiek, Betty Tyree. “De Sobremesa: Silva's Modernist Novel.” In José Asunción Silva, pp. 94-139. Boston: Twayne, 1978.

In the following essay, Osiek provides a complete plot summary and textual history of Silva's only novel and discusses its autobiographical elements and prominent themes.

I the Editions

The single novel written by José Asunción Silva … was lost in the sinking of the ship L'Amerique, on his return from Caracas. But when his friend Hernando Villa, who feared Silva was going to commit suicide, asked him to rewrite one of the lost manuscripts, Silva allowed his friend to choose the one he preferred. Villa chose the novel, De Sobremesa (After-Dinner Chat), which Silva duly rewrote in his distinctive handwriting, before his suicide.¹ However, the manuscript was not published until 1925, when the first edition was produced by Cromos of Bogotá.² It was a small edition, and a second edition came...