Jose Hernandez

1834-1886

He was born on November 10, 1834 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Not much is known about his childhood, though it seems to be that a disease forced him to live in the pampas, where he got in touch with the lifestyle, language and codes of honor of the gauchos (argentine cowboys).

It was self-taught writer and through his numerous reading he acquired firm political ideas. Between 1852 and 1872, times of great political turmoil in Argentina, he defended the position of the provinces that did not have to remain tied to the central authorities established in Buenos Aires.

In 1858, along with some opponents to the government of Alsina, he emigrated to Parana, where he participated in the Cepeda and Pavón's Battle (on Urquiza's side). He initiated his journalistic labor in the Nacional Argentino newspaper, and in 1868 he lauched the newspaper "El Eco de Corrientes" where he published articles referred to the matter of the gaucho and the land, about politics of borders and about the Indians; topics that he would articulate in the Martin Fierro book.

Al regresar a Buenos Aires en 1874, en el Gran Hotel Argentino (calle 25 de mayo y Av. Rivadavia) terminó de escribir El Gaucho Martín Fierro (un poema épico popular y está considerado una de las grandes obras de la literatura argentina), editado en diciembre de 1872.

He took part in the last revolution of the gauchos that ended in 1871 with the defeat of the gaucho and Hernández's exile. He returned to Buenos Aires in 1874, and while stying at the Great Argentine Hotel (25 de Mayo and Av. Rivadavia) he finished writing the book titled "El Gaucho Martin Fierro" (an epic-popular poem considered one of the greatest works in Argentine literature),  and edited it in December of 1872, resulting in a enormous success.

In 1879, after the eleventh edition, he published The Return of Martin Fierro. The greatest merit of Hernandez was putting in writing the life of a gaucho; telling the story in first person, with his own words and imbued with his spirit.

He was also congressman and in 1880, being the leader of the Congress, he defended the federation project in which Buenos Aires turned out to be the capital of the country. In 1881 he wrote "Instruction of the rancher" was elected senator, and later reelected until 1885. On October 21, 1886 he died in his cottage in the neighborhood Belgrano from heart failure.

His last words were: Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.

His resting place is the cemetery of La Recoleta.