SOURCE: Sherman, Alvin F., Jr. “Mariano José de Larra: A Witness of His Time.” In Mariano José de Larra: A Directory of Historical Personages, pp. 1-23. New York: Peter Lang, 1992.

In the following excerpt, Sherman examines various influences on Larra's work, as well as Larra's influence on the critical and political writers of both Spain and Latin America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Introduction

Larra's articles have played a prominent role in the development of both critical and ideological thought in Spain and Latin America. One of the earliest manifestations was with the Generation of 1837 in Argentina (Alvarez Guerrero). The political-literary personalities of this decisive period in Latin American history, including Sarmiento (Scari, 77) and the revolutionary writers of Uruguay (Martín Periodista, 235), modified and enhanced Larra's liberal vision of a progressive government to meet the needs of the emerging nations of Latin America. In Spain his works...