The Argentinian poet and novelist Ricardo Güiráldez (1886-1927) is most widely known for his evocative novel Don Segundo Sombra, about the passing away of the gaucho's style of life.

Ricardo Güiráldez was born in Buenos Aires on Feb. 13, 1886, into a distinguished Argentine family. As an infant, he was taken to Paris, where he learned French before Spanish. He was a world traveler from his earliest years and, in a sense, adopted Paris as his spiritual home. Yet he always maintained a deep love for the Argentine pampa and, especially, for the family ranch, La Porteña, at San Antonio de Areco. His university education was spotty, as he shifted from architecture to law, finishing neither.

However, a genuine passion for literature was awakened in Güiráldez through the intensive but informal reading he did during these...