Froylán Turcios was a Honduran

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He is considered one of the most important Honduran intellectuals of the early twentieth century.

Background and political roles

He was born in Juticalpa, Olancho. He was Minister of Interior, Member of the National Congress of Honduras and delegate to the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

.

He was private secretary of guerrilla Augusto César Sandino

Augusto César Sandino

Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933...

 in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

, and a personal friend of Rubén Darío

Rubén Darío

Félix Rubén García Sarmiento , known as Rubén Darío, was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo that flourished at the end of the 19th century...

, Juan Ramón Molina

Juan Ramón Molina

Juan Ramón Molina was a Honduran poet....

 and many other intellectuals and philosophers.

Writing activities

He directed the Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa , and commonly referred as Tegus , is the capital of Honduras and seat of government of the Republic, along with its twin sister Comayagüela. Founded on September 29, 1578 by the Spanish, it became the country's capital on October 30, 1880 under President Marco Aurelio Soto...

 daily paper El Tiempo and founded the journals, El Pensamiento (1894), Revista Nueva (1902), Arte y Letras (1903) and Esfinge (1905), among others. In Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 he published the newspapers El Tiempo ( 1904),El Domingo (1908) and in Honduras El Heraldo (1909), El Nuevo Tiempo (1911), and Boletín de La Defensa Nacional (1924).

Violent themes

Turcios was especially against American involvement in Honduras, bitterly so. His literature tended to be violent stories, influenced by the Italian wrtier Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...

, with strong plots; indeed, in 'La Mejor Limosna' (The Best Act of Charity), from Cuentos del Amor y la Muerte (Stories of Love and Death) (1930), Turcios' narrator seemingly advocates 'mercy killings' .

Works

• Mariposas (1894)
• Reglones (1899)
• Hojas de Otoño (1905)
• Anabel Lee (1906)
• El Vampiro (1910)
• Tierra Materna (1911)
• El Fantasma Blanco (1911)
• Prosas nuevas (1914)
• Floresta sonora (1915)
• Cuentos del Amor y la Muerte (1930)
• Páginas del Ayer (1932)

External links