Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959), one of Mexico's most distinguished men of letters, was especially well known as an essayist.

Alfonso Reyes was born on May 17, 1889, in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He attended the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria (National Preparatory School) and the Facultad de Derecho (Law School) in Mexico City. In 1909 he was one of the founders of the Ateneo de la Juventud (Athenaeum for Young People). He served as secretary of the Faculty for Advanced Studies, where he also taught the course on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish literature. His first book, Cuestiones estéticas (Esthetic Questions), appeared in 1911.

Reyes received his law degree in 1913, and that year he was appointed second secretary of the Mexican legation in France. In 1914 he went to Spain, where he devoted himself to literature and journalism, working in the Centro de Estudios Históricos (Center for Historical...