SOURCE: Sherman, Alvin F., Jr. “Larra and Satire: The Question of Don Carlos and the Spanish Monarchy.” Critica Hispanica 17, no. 2 (1995): 211-23.

In the following essay, Sherman discusses Larra's views on satire, which he considered a necessary activity that would lead to social and political reform.

In his well-known article “De la sátira y de los satíricos”¹ Larra comments:

Somos satíricos porque queremos criticar los abusos, porque quisiéramos contribuir con nuestras débiles fuerzas a la perfección posible de la sociedad a que tenemos la honra de pertenecer.

(BAE 128:164)

As we can see, Larra saw satire as a reformative activity that if manipulated correctly could result in improved social development. In this same article he defines the satirical writer as “la luna, un cuerpo opaco destinado a dar luz, y es acaso el único de quien con razón se puede decir que da...