George Santayana

George Santayana never married. If he had any romantic life, it had remained well-concealed. However, a few of his remarks in late years and his friendship with men, who were openly homosexual, have led many to believe that he might have been homosexual himself; if not, at least bisexual.

Santayana was in Rome when the Second World War broke out. A Spanish citizen, his funds came mainly from England and USA. He therefore, tried to cross into Switzerland, but was stopped due to lack of proper documents, forcing him to return to Rome.

On 14 October 1941, Santayana entered the Clinica della Piccola Compagna di Maria, a hospital-clinic run by a Catholic nuns. Here he lived until his death eleven years later.

George Santayana was born as Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás on December 16, 1863, in Madrid, Spain. His father, Agustín Ruiz de Santayana, was trained in law; but not having an aptitude for legal profession, he joined colonial service, trying his hand at portrait painting and writing.

George’s mother, Josefina nee Borrás Sturgis, was the daughter of a Spanish diplomat in Philippines. She was first married to Russell Sturgis, noted Bostonian merchant, having five children with him, out of which three survived infancy. After his death, she moved to Madrid, where she married Agustín Santayana.

George was his parents’ only child. By the time he was born, his father was fifty-one and his mother thirty-seven. His half siblings, Susana Sturgis, Josephina Sturgis and Robert Shaw Sturgis, were also much older to him. Susana, at that time 12 years old, acted as his godmother.

As there was nothing common between them, his parents were not happy in their marriage. Moreover, compared to the Sturgis, Agustin was neither wealthy nor sophisticated, a fact Josefina could never forget.

The situation became worse, when Agustin moved the family to Avila sometime before 1866. Not having any Spanish roots, it became harder for Josefina to adjust in the small medieval town.

In the fall of 1889, George Santayana began his career as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. Very soon, he became popular both as a teacher and a philosopher, being considered at par with his doctoral guide William James and idealist Josiah Royce.

Among his students were T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Gertrude Stein, Horace Kallen, Walter Lippmann, and W. E. B. Du Bois. However, in spite of his success as an academic, his attachment to Europe remained as strong as before. Every summer he visited his father in Italy.

Santayana had entered academic life because he thought it would provide enough free time to pursue his intellectual ambitions. But before long, he found the corporate environment of the universities ill suited for intellectual development. The faculty meetings and university committees also appeared to him as infringement on his time.

By 1893, disillusioned with academic life, he started planning for an early retirement. By the following year, he had his first book, ‘Sonnets and Other Verses’ published. Other than sonnets and odes, it also contained number of miscellaneous poetries. The book has been digitalized by Google in December 2007.

In 1896, he spent his sabbatical leave in England, studying for one year at King’s College, University of Cambridge. In the same year, the lectures on aesthetics he gave at the Harvard University from 1892 to 1895 were published as ‘The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outline of Aesthetic Theory’.

In May 1911, George Santayana announced his retirement from Harvard. It took his colleagues by surprise. By then, he was highly recognized as an established philosopher, successful poet, critic and teacher. Very popular with students, his books were also selling well and the publishers were asking for more.

While Harvard tried to retain him with lucrative offers, he left for Europe in January 1912. While there, he received news that his mother had died, leaving him an inheritance of $10,000. By then, both his half-sisters were in Italy and therefore he had no obligation to return.

In 1912, he sent his resignation letter to Harvard. At last free, he started moving around, visiting his childhood town Avila, finally choosing Paris as his residence. Meanwhile in 1913, he had his eighth work, ‘Winds of Doctrine: Studies in Contemporary Opinion’ published

In 1914, while he was in England, the World War I broke out. Unable to return to the mainland, he settled down at Oxford. In the following year, he had ‘Egotism in German Philosophy’, published.

After the war, he returned to the continent, moving around, publishing works like ‘Character and Opinion in the United States: With Reminiscences of William James and Josiah Royce and Academic Life in America’ and ‘Little Essays, Drawn From the Writings of George Santayana’ in 1920