Fray Mocho
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Fray Mocho ( Gualeguaychú, 26 August 1858 –
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, 23 August 1903) was the
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
for the Argentine writer and journalist José Ciriaco Alvarez (also known as José Sixto Alvarez). He moved to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
first in 1876 and then again to stay in 1879 at the age of 21. He was known to his friends as "Mocho" (blunt) and later added the title "Fray" (brother, as in a
Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...
in the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
). He wrote for several newspapers including ''El Nacional'', ''La Pampa'', ''La Patria Argentina'', and '' La Razón''. He also wrote for magazines such as the short-lived ''Fray Gerundio'', ''El Ateneo'' and ''La Colmena Artística''. He wrote essays about life in Buenos Aires in the latter part of the 19th century, including ''Esmeraldas'' (polished), ''Cuentos Mundanos'' (Ordinary Stories), ''La vida de los ladrones célebres de Buenos Aires y sus maneras de robar'' ("The life of celebrated robbers of Buenos Aires and their manner of robbing") and ''Memorias de un Vigilante'' (Memoirs of a policeman). In 1898 he wrote the book ''En el Mar Austral'' ("In the Southern Sea").


Biography

The period in which he flourished was a heady time in Buenos Aires. The nation of Argentina had finally come together with the uniting of the city of Buenos Aires with the rest of the country,
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the '' Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19th-century Argent ...
and
Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of Argentine Civil Wars#National unification, unified Argentina. Mitre i ...
were still alive, and Buenos Aires was striving to become the "Queen City" of South America. He was the founder and first editor of the Argentine Magazine ''
Caras y Caretas The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular songs ...
'' ("Faces and Masks"). The magazine featured a mixture of cartoons and illustrations along with national and foreign subjects taken from social news, notes of general interest and fashion. The magazine also published literary and rural literature. Its contributors include some of the leading lights of Argentine letters: Roberto Payró,
Horacio Quiroga Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza (31 December 1878 – 19 February 1937) was a Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. The jungle settings of his stories emphasized the conflict between humans and nature. His portrayals of mental ...
, and
José Ingenieros José Ingenieros (born Giuseppe Ingegnieri, April 24, 1877October 31, 1925) was an Argentine physician, pharmacist, positivist philosopher and essayist. He was born in Palermo (Italy), and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School ...
, among others. He was the first professional writer of Argentina. In his descriptions of regional customs, the narrator is a watching observer. He wrote at times in the different modes of Buenos Aires speech including the "
lunfardo Lunfardo (; from the Italian ) is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in the Río de la Plata region (encompassing the port cities of Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay) ...
" (the argot or slang of Buenos Aires which still exists). His writing was part of a movement of
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
which was a reaction against the prevailing
romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
and the rigidity of the Castilian
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
and literature before his time, and which had a counterpart in the
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
of the same period. One of his most praised works was the book ''En El Mar Austral'' (On the Southern Sea), a tale of a year spent traveling on a whaling boat around the southern tip of
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
and Argentina (
Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...
) beginning in the town of
Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...
in Chile. It describes in detail the scenery and life in the southernmost tip of South America. It does not appear that Mocho ever got within 500 miles of Tierra del Fuego and yet his descriptions are extremely accurate, and the source of his information is still not known. Mocho died on 23 August 1903, just three days short of his 45th birthday; an illness that had troubled him for years eventually causing his death. It is said that "he feared no one and nothing because he had damaged no one and had a pure heart" (as is stated in an edition of ''En El Mar Austral'' published in 1960 by The
University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...
). His last words were "I die fighting" ("muero luchando" in Spanish). His magazine lived on until 1941.


Bibliography

* 1887: ''Galería de ladrones de la capital'' * 1897: ''Memorias de un vigilante''"Memorias de un vigilante"
by Fray Mocho on Gutenberg.org website * 1897: ''Viaje al país de los matreros'' * 1898: ''En el mar austral'' * 1899: ''
Caras y Caretas The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular songs ...
'' * 1906: ''Cuentos de Fray Mocho'' (posthumous)


Further reading

''En el Mar Austral'', ''The Series of One and a Half Centuries'' (La Serie del Siglo y Medio), Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, May, 1960


References


External links

* * * *
Caras y caretas magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mocho, Fray 1858 births 1903 deaths Argentine journalists Argentine male journalists Argentine male novelists Mocho Fray Writers from Buenos Aires 19th-century Argentine novelists 19th-century Argentine male writers Argentine magazine founders