Ricardo Güiraldes was born on February 13, 1886, and died on October 8, 1927. He was an Argentine novelist and poet, and one of the most important Argentine writers of his time. He is famous for his 1926 novel, Don Segundo Sombra, which takes place among the gauchos.

Life

Ricardo Güiraldes was born in Buenos Aires, the second son of a wealthy family from the old landowning aristocracy. His mother was Dolores Goñi, a descendant of Ruiz de Arellano, who founded the village of San Antonio de Areco in 1730. His father, Manuel Güiraldes, later became the mayor of Buenos Aires, a government-appointed position. He was a cultured and educated man who loved art. Ricardo inherited this interest; as a young man, he sketched rural scenes and painted with oils.

When Güiraldes was one year old, he traveled with his family to Europe and lived in Paris near the Rue Saint-Claude for four years. By the time he was six, he could speak Spanish, French, and German. French was his first language, and French literature greatly influenced his writing style and interests.

Güiraldes spent his childhood and youth between the family ranch, La Porteña in San Antonio de Areco, and Buenos Aires. In San Antonio, he met gauchos, which inspired his novels Raucho and Don Segundo Sombra. There, he also met Segundo Ramírez, who inspired the main character of Don Segundo Sombra. He loved country life but had asthma that sometimes limited his physical activity, though he often appeared strong and energetic.

He was educated by several female teachers and later by a Mexican engineer named Lorenzo Ceballos, who supported his writing goals. He studied at various schools and earned his high school diploma at age 16. Güiraldes was not an outstanding student; he attended schools like Colegio Lacordaire, the Vertiz Institute, and the Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza. He studied architecture and law but never practiced either. He tried several business ventures, all of which failed. In 1910, he traveled to Europe with a friend, Roberto Leviller, and later with another friend, Adán Deihl, visiting Italy, Greece, Constantinople, Egypt, Japan, China, Russia, India, Ceylon, and Germany before settling in Paris. After his father grew tired of funding his travels, he stayed with a sculptor named Alberto Lagos and decided to become a writer.

Despite this decision, Güiraldes focused on Paris’s social life and nearly gave up writing. However, he began writing stories about rural Argentina, which later became his book Cuentos de muerte y de sangre ("Stories of Death and Blood"). Friends encouraged him to publish these stories, which already showed a unique style.

In 1912, he returned to Buenos Aires and joined a group of writers led by Alejandro Bustillo. On October 13, 1913, he married Adelina del Carril, a woman from a prominent family he had met in 1905. Between 1913 and 1914, he published stories in the magazine Caras y Caretas. In 1915, these stories and others were published as Cuentos de muerte y de sangre, and he also released a poetry book, El cencerro de cristal. His wife and Leopoldo Lugones supported his writing, but when his early works were not well received, he removed them from sale and threw the unsold copies into a well. His wife saved some, and these damaged copies are now valuable to collectors.

At the end of 1916, Güiraldes and his wife traveled to the Pacific Ocean, Cuba, and Jamaica, where he wrote a play called El reloj ("The Clock"), which was never published. These travels inspired his 1923 novel Xaimaca. In 1917, he published his first novel, Raucho, and in 1918, a short story titled Un idilio de estación, which was later revised and published as Rosaura in 1922.

In 1919, Güiraldes and his wife traveled to Europe again. In Paris, he connected with French writers and began working on Don Segundo Sombra. Some say his friend Valery Larbaud influenced him, but his translator, Harriet de Onís, believes this influence was overstated. He returned to Argentina and later went back to Europe in 1922, spending time in Port de Pollença, Mallorca.

During this time, Güiraldes became interested in theosophy and Eastern philosophy, seeking spiritual peace. This influenced his later poetry. In Buenos Aires, he supported new writers and was a mentor to the Florida group. In 1924, he co-founded the short-lived magazine Proa with Alfredo Brandán Caraffa, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Rojas Paz. He also co-founded the Frente Único, a group opposing pompous writing styles, and worked on the magazine Martín Fierro.

After Proa closed, Güiraldes focused on finishing Don Segundo Sombra, which he completed in March 1926. In 1927, he planned to return to India due to his growing interest in Hinduism but fell ill with Hodgkin’s disease in France. He was taken to Paris by ambulance, met by his wife, and died in the home of his friend, painter Alfredo González Garaño. His body was brought back to Buenos Aires and buried in San Antonio de Areco.

His nephew, Juan José Güiraldes, later became the president of Aerolíneas Argentinas.

Works

Each year is linked to its corresponding "[year] in literature" or "[year] in poetry" article:

• 1915: El cencerro de cristal (poetry)
• 1915: Cuentos de muerte y sangre (short stories)
• Aventuras grotescas (short stories)
• Trilogía cristiana (short stories)
• 1917: Raucho (novel)
• 1917: Un idilio de estación, later revised in 1922 as Rosaura, published in Rosaura y siete cuentos (short novel)
• 1923: Xaimaca (fictionalized travel story)
• 1926: Don Segundo Sombra (novel)
• 1928: Poemas místicos (published after the author's death, poems)
• 1928: Poemas solitarios (published after the author's death, poems)
• 1929: Seis relatos (published after the author's death, short stories)
• 1932: El sendero (published after the author's death)
• 1936: El libro bravo (published after the author's death, poems)
• 1954: Pampa (published after the author's death)
• 1952: El pájaro blanco (poem)