''Don Segundo Sombra'' is a

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

novel by

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

rancher Ricardo Güiraldes. Like José Hernández's poem of the 1870s, '' Martín Fierro'', its protagonist is a

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...

. However, unlike Hernandez's poem, ''Don Segundo Sombra'' does not romanticize the figure of the gaucho, but simply examines the character as a shadow (''sombra'') cast across Argentine history. Unlike the purely fictional character of Martin Fierro, the figure of Don Segundo Sombra was loosely based on and inspired by the real life of Segundo Ramírez, a native of the town of

San Antonio de Areco San Antonio de Areco is a city in northern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and administrative seat of the Partidos of Buenos Aires, partido of San Antonio de Areco Partido, San Antonio de Areco. It is located on the Areco River away from Bueno ...

in Buenos Aires Province. The novel was adapted into the 1969 Argentine film of the same name, directed by Manuel Antín. Ricardo Güiraldes, who was a friend and literary partner of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

–they both founded the legendary magazine ''Proa'' –, managed to develop a simple and modern language for the novel: a mixture of literacy and colourful local expressions that earned him a major standing among the best representatives of "

criollismo ''Criollismo'' () is a literary movement that was active from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century throughout Hispanic America. It is considered the Hispanic counterpart to American literary regionalism. Using a realis ...

". Even though it may be considered as having a continuity of sorts with '"Martin Fierro"', the protagonist is more than an extinguished gaucho elegy (like José Hernández's character is); instead, Güiraldes designed ''Don Segundo Sombra'' to present (or propose) a series of new ethical examples to a youth that Güiraldes considered disoriented and restless during his time.

References

External links

* * 1926 Argentine novels Argentine novels adapted into films Sombra Sombra Novels set in Argentina {{1920s-novel-stub