HERIBERTO FRÍAS: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Heriberto Frías Alcocer (1870-1925) was a Mexican writer, journalist and military man; He also stood out for being one of the main intellectuals who developed works on the political and social situation in Mexico. Most of his texts were related to the process of revolution and President Porfirio Díaz.

The work of Frías was characterized by being critical and scathing regarding the important events that marked the Mexican events. Among his most prominent titles were: Mexican Historical Legends, Immortal Juárez, Tomóchic and Miserias de México.

Heriberto Frías. Source: FRÍAS, HERIBERTO Tomóchic, Sinaloa: Imprenta y Casa Editorial de Valadés, 1906, via Wikimedia Commons

The writer also had a notable journalistic participation, he collaborated for several newspapers, including: La Convencion. He served as editor and director of various print media; He came to have some problems due to the content of his writings, especially for Tomóchic.

Biography

Birth

Heriberto Frías was born on March 15, 1870 in Querétaro, he came from a cultured and wealthy family. Information about his parents is scarce, but it is known that he lost his father when he was a teenager and with it the family finances fell apart.

Frías Education

Frías studied his first years of study in his hometown. He was trained at the Military College, however, due to the family's economic situation, he withdrew to join the militia in 1889. At that time, the military man Porfirio Díaz, whom he opposed, was in power.

The experience at Tomóchic

Once he enlisted in the army, he began to participate in various national events. Such was the case of the repression of the town of Tomóchic, which rose up against the Díaz government in 1891 and its uprising culminated in a massacre and the extinction of the town.

First post

The catastrophic result of the takeover of Tomóchic in Chihuahua left a profound mark on Frías. So he decided to capture the events in a novel that bore the same name of the town, the publication was made between 1893 and 1895 by way of deliveries in the newspaper El Demócrata.

Consequences of

It is important to note that it was in 1906 when Tomóchic became known with that title. Although his first installments were anonymous, Porfirio Díaz's military discovered that Heriberto Díaz wrote it, and they punished him by expelling him from the ranks of the army.

Journalistic work

When he left the army, the ex-military man dedicated himself to writing and journalism. He worked in newspapers such as: El Combatiente, El Imparcial and El Mundo Ilustrado; When he decided to republish Tomóchic he was deprived of liberty, finally he went to Sinaloa in 1896.

Between the political cause and the letters

Once he settled in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, he resumed his journalistic and social critic work. He worked in El Correo de la Tarde, he also supported non-reelection and fought from the letters against the government of President Porfirio Díaz, while supporting Francisco Madero.

When Madero became president of Mexico, Heriberto Frías accompanied him in the exercise of various positions. He served as ambassador and joined the Progressive Constitutional Party. In 1896 he published The Last Duel.

Life in the capital

At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, the writer went to live in Mexico City. By that time he had already established himself as a journalist and the doors of various print media were opened for him. Heriberto Frías was director of El Constitucional de México and La Convencion.

Last years and death

Poster made by Heriberto Frías, 1901. Source: SMU Central University Libraries, via Wikimedia Commons

After living for five years in Mexico, in 1915 Frías moved to the city of Hermosillo in Sonora where he served as director of some newspapers. He ran the risk of being assassinated by those who supported the politician Carranza, and after a time in prison they released him in 1918.

Later, during the government of Álvaro Obregón, he diplomatically represented Mexico in Spain. In the mid-1920s he returned to his country, weakened in health and with problems seeing, and died on November 12, 1925, at the age of fifty-five.

Style

Heriberto Frío had a literary style characterized by a simple but critical language. Its main theme was related to politics, the economy and the military action that took place in its time. There was sarcasm and irony in his work, also a lot of truth.

Plays

Stories

Novels

- Tomóchic (1893-1895).

- The love of the sirens (1895).

- The last duel (1896).

- Miseries of Mexico (1916).

- Eagle or sun? (1923).

- The Mexican Deluge (Unfinished).

Theater

- Don't cry man! (1899).

- Crocodile (1904).

Brief description of one of his works

Tomóchic

It was one of the best known and most important novels by Heriberto Frías, in it he related what he lived in Chihuahua after the uprising of the people against the social, economic and political situation that they lived with Porfirio Díaz. The work was faithful enough to reality that it attracted critics and readers.

The author's decision to publish those events brought him adverse consequences. Although he released the novel by chapters and anonymously, he was discovered, later imprisoned and thrown out of the militia; however, the work left a historical mark.

Fragment

“Tomóchic burned slowly in the darkness… His last poor huts, burned and deserted, were consumed in the shadows, down there… scattered in the vast expanse, one at one end, another further away at the opposite end, others in the center, near the church…

The poor village was burning sadly already, they were its last moments of agony! "Now my boss was good," replied the old soldier, "an Oxaqueño with a good strain for victim meat; tempered soul in long and hard sacrifices… ”.

References

1. Frías Heriberto. (S. f.). Mexico: Political Memory of Mexico. Recovered from: memoriapoliticademexico.org.
2. Heriberto Frías. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
3. Tamaro, E. (2019). Heriberto Frías. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
4. Muñoz, Á. (2017). Heriberto Frías. Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
5. Heriberto Frías. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: cu.