MARIANO JOSÉ DE LARRA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Mariano José de Larra y Sánchez de Castro (1809-1837) was a notable Spanish writer, journalist, and politician. His work is one of the most prominent within the ranks of Romanticism. In addition, his work developed aspects of critical manners; it reflected the shortcomings of the Spanish society of its time.

Larra, as a journalist, had the power to write articles of all kinds, and to develop the essay as a genre. Through his pen he had the ability to attract readers by the political conception and ideas he had. Scholars considered that he had the verbal ability to "manipulate".

Mariano José de Larra. Source: Vicente Urrabieta

Although the end of the writer's life was not as expected, he was a man who always expressed his wishes for a country in constant progress. He loved and advocated for freedom, always sought to keep his public informed, and tried to create criteria for the situation the nation had.

Biography

Birth and family

Mariano José de Larra was born in the city of Madrid on March 24, 1809. His parents were the doctor Mariano de Larra y Langelot and María Dolores Sánchez de Castro. From four years of age to nine he lived in exile in Paris with his family, due to the departure of the Napoleonic troops.

In 1818 the Larra Sánchez family returned to their country after the amnesty granted by King Fernando VII. They settled in the Spanish capital. They managed to start over thanks to the fact that their father became the doctor of the monarch's younger brother, since he allowed them to stabilize both economically and socially.

Larra's Education

Mariano's primary education, in part, was in exile. Upon returning to Spain he was able to resume his studies, having the influence of his father as a doctor.

For some time Mariano had to move to other cities due to the jobs his father obtained. This situation caused some instability in the writer, although it helped with his writings.

When he graduated from high school, the young man began to study medicine in Madrid, but left the training unfinished. Later he decided to study law, and went to Valladolid to do it. He was not a continuous student, although he passed the subjects, then dropped out and went to the capital in 1825.

Mariano de Larra took up his studies again, and joined the militia of the monarch Fernando VII, called the Royalist Volunteer Corps. The objective of this troop was to attack those of the liberal movement. During this period the young man began serious encounters with writing.

The writer's loves

The writer's university stage in Valladolid was affected by a troubled relationship he had with a woman, who in the end turned out to be his father's lover. Years later, on August 13, 1829, he married Josefa Wetoret Velasco.

The couple had three children: Luís Mariano, Adela and Baldomera. The marriage from the beginning did not show solid foundations. The author began an extramarital affair with a woman named Dolores Armijo, shortly after they were married.

In 1834 Larra was left without company, separated from his wife, at the same time that the lover left him. The situation was a low blow for the writer. However, he continued to carry out his work as a writer and journalist.

Larra's first professional jobs

Larra began his steps in journalism when he was barely nineteen years old, by that time it was 1828. It was on that date that he released the monthly publication El duende satírico del día, with these articles he gained public recognition, although he signed them under the pseudonym of "El Duende".

The writer was critical and analytical, and the situations that his country experienced he transmitted to the public in a satirical and ironic tone. In a very short time he managed to consolidate those characteristics of his personality and style as a writer in the magazine El Pobrecito Hablador. On that occasion he signed as Juan Pérez de Munguía.

Some time later, in 1833, he put aside the nicknames with which he was known and began to stamp them with the pseudonym "Fígaro", whose works were published in the newspapers El Observador and La Revista Española. In addition to giving the public the usual, he took the opportunity to make political and literary criticism.

Last steps of Mariano José de Larra

Larra decided to make a work and knowledge trip in 1835. He toured several cities in Europe, such as Paris, Brussels, London and Lisbon. He spent a good time in the French capital, where he had the opportunity to become intimate with fellow writers Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo.

Upon his return to Madrid, he published several of his works in the newspaper El Español. It was the time of the government of Juan de Dios Álvarez Mendizábal, with whom Larra sympathized. Shortly after, he criticized it for the effects it produced on the poorest.

Concerned about the situation in Spain, he aligned himself with the Moderate Liberal Party and in 1836 he was elected deputy for the city of Ávila, in the community of Castilla. The same revolts that arose in the country did not allow him to perform as such.

Death of the journalist

Burial of Mariano José de Larra. Source: Asqueladd

The country situation and the personal circumstances that surrounded Larra's life began to depress him, making him negative and pessimistic. When they separated from their spouse they were unable to reach certain agreements with the divorce. His decayed spirit led him to suicide on February 13, 1837. He was barely twenty-seven years old.

Style

Mariano José de Larra's literary and journalistic style was characterized by being critical and satirical. He used the use of satire to mock the situation that affected Spain for some time. His capacity for language was particularly substantial, and that appealed to the reader.

The journalist Larra had a vigorous, powerful and clear language style, which he finally managed to persuade. He leaned towards the development of costumbristas criticisms, which he made with implacable lines, and in a painful and penetrating tone. His language was so clear and simple that it was easy for him to convince the masses of his positions.

The writer belonged to Romanticism, however many scholars considered that he was the least romantic of his generation, because his work was framed in the reality of the country. Such circumstances made him a creator of reason and not of beauty.

What brought Larra closer to the romantic current was his ability to capture strong connotations, and the abundance of aesthetics. The author also used the reiteration of ideas, and, at the same time, of motives, two aspects that favored his own appreciations, leaving the reader with a funny result.

Plays

Mariano de Larra's work was more focused on journalistic work, which made him a great professional in the area. As has been said previously, his articles were the expression of the situation in the country at the time. Politics, literature and customs were constant themes.

Bust of Mariano José de Larra in Madrid. Source: JL de Diego, via Wikimedia Commons

In his works he developed themes such as failure, lack of freedoms, education, the defects that society had and did not lead it to advance, laziness, among others. With her work she became one of the first antecedents of the opinion article and the essay.

Here are some of the most important and prominent titles of Larra's work:

- Bullfight (1828).

- Where they give them, they take them (1832).

- Mania of citations and epigraphs (1832).

- Marrying early and badly (1832).

- Letter to Andrés Niporesas, written from Las Batuecas by El Pobrecito Hablador (1832).

- The old Castilian (1832).

- Who is the audience and where is it located? (1832).

- In this country (1833).

- The new inn (1833).

- Critical varieties (1833).

- Come back tomorrow (1833).

- The whole world is a mask (1833).

- The friends (1833).

- Don Cándido Buenafé (1833).

- Don Timoteo or the writer (1833).

- The life of Madrid (1834).

- The three are not more than two and the one that is nothing is worth three (1834).

- Two liberals or what it is to understand each other (1834).

- What people are we among? (1834).

- The European Calamity (1834).

- Masked ball (1834).

- Advantages of things half done (1834).

- The album (1835).

- The antiquities of Mérida (1835).

- Literature (1836).

- On satire and satirists (1836).

- No more counter (1831).

- Count Fernán González and the exemption of Castilla (1832).

- Macías (1834).

- The doncel of Don Enrique the Sorrowful (1834).

Brief description of his most representative works

Come back tomorrow

It was one of the best known articles by the Spanish journalist. The author made a satirical criticism of the operating system of public administration entities in Spain. In another sense, he expressed concern about inefficiency and ineffectiveness in solving problems.

Macias

It was a historical drama that dealt with the life of Macías, the troubadour, set in Spain in the Middle Ages. It is a passionately dramatic story, the writer denounced in a literary way his disagreement against false morals. Political replies to such content were not lacking.

The Doncel of Don Enrique the Sorrowful

With this story, the author relied on the love that Macías felt for Elvira, who in turn was married to another man. The novel has something autobiographical, due to the love situations in which Larra was involved during his short life.

References

1. Life and work of Mariano José de Larra. (2013). (N / a): Notes. Recovered from: apuntes.com.
2. Mariano José de Larra. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
3. Fernández, J. (2019). Romantic prose. Mariano José de Larra. Spain: Hispanoteca. Recovered from: hispanoteca.eu.
4. Escobar, J. (Sf). Mariano José de Larra. Spain: Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library. Recovered from: cervantesvirtual.com.
5. González, M. (S. f.). Mariano José de Larra- Style and validity. (N / a): First Flat. Recovered from: pericav.wordpress.com