Roberto Payró
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
writer and journalist.
Payró founded the newspaper La Tribuna in the city of Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and seat of government of Bahía Blanca Partido. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the...
, where he published his first newspaper articles. He then moved to the city of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
where he worked as an editor at the newspaper La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
. During this time he had the opportunity of frequently traveling both inside and outside of Argentina.
In 1895, he published a compilation of his articles in the book Los italianos en la Argentina (The Italians in Argentina). His diaries of travel and impressions gave rise to his novels: La Australia Argentina (Excursión periodística a las costas patagónicas) (Southern Argentina – a Journalist’s Excursion to the Shores of Patagonia); Tierra del Fuego e Islas de los Estados (The Land of Fire and Islands of the States); and En las tierras del Inti (In the Lands of the Inti). He also wrote for Caras y Caretas, the literary Journal of Fray mocho
Fray mocho
Fray Mocho was the pen name for the Argentine writer and journalist José Ciriaco Alvarez . He was born in the remote village of Gualeguaychú in the Entre Ríos Province of Argentina on August 26, 1858. He came to Buenos Aires first in 1876 and then again in 1879 at the age of 21...
.
Payró was a correspondent in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
during the First World War.
He participated fervently in meetings with other socialist writers including Leopoldo Lugones
Leopoldo Lugones
Leopoldo Lugones Argüello was an Argentine writer and journalist.-Early life:Born in Villa de María del Río Seco, a city in Córdoba Province, in Argentina's Catholic heartland, Lugones belonged to a family of landed gentry...
, José Ingenieros
José Ingenieros
José Ingenieros was an Argentine physician, pharmaceutic, positivist philosopher and essayist.He was born Giuseppe Ingegneri in Palermo , and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine in 1900...
and Ernesto de la Cárcova
Ernesto de la Cárcova
Ernesto de la Cárcova was an Argentine painter of the Realist school.-Life and work:Ernesto de la Cárcova was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1866. Taking an early interest in the canvas, he studied at the local Society for the Stimulus of Fine Arts under painter Francisco Romero...
.
In Payró's novels one can appreciate the unique ironic language style of the period. He utilized typical people and related common situations, showing the lives of the Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
immigrants ('the feisty creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
s'). In his Divertidas aventuras del nieto de Juan Moreira (Amusing Adventures of the Grandson of Juan Moreira
Juan Moreira
Juan Moreira is a well-known figure in the history of Argentina, an outlaw, gaucho and folk-hero, was indeed one of the more renowned Argentinian rural bandits.-Early life:...
) he tells the story of a provincial and his political career.
He also wrote historical novels such as El falso Inca, una serie de cuentos publicados bajo el nombre de Pago Chico (The False Inca, a series of accounts published under the name of Pago Chico). A posthumous work, Nuevos cuentos de Pago Chico (New Tales of Pago Chico), was published the year following his death.
Novels
- Canción trágica (A Tragic Song), 1900
- Sobre las ruinas (On the Ruins), 1904
- Marco Severi, 1905
- El casamiento de Laucha (The Marriage of Laucha), 1906
- El triunfo de los otros (The Triumph of the Others, 1907
- En las tierras del Inti (In the Lands of the Inti), 1909
- Divertidas aventuras del nieto de Juan Moreira (The Amusing Adventures of the Grandson of Juan Moreira), 1910
- Vivir quiero conmigo (I Wish to Live With Me), 1923
- Fuego en el rastrojo (Fire in the Stubble), 1925
- Alegría (Happiness), 1928
- Mientraiga (As long as we have some), 1928
- Chamijo, 1930
Historical novels
- El falso Inca (The False Inca), 1905
- El capitán Vergara (Captain Vergara), 1925
- El mar dulce (The Sweet Sea), 1927
Stories
- Pago Chico, (Little Pago), 1908
- Violines y toneles (Violins and kegs), 1908
- Historias de Pago Chico (Stories of Little Village), 1920
- Nuevos cuentos de Pago Chico (New Stories of Little Village), 1929
- Cuentos del otro barrio, (Tales of Another Neighborhood), 1932
- El diablo en Bélgica, (Devil in Belgium), 1953
Journalistic articles
- Los italianos en la Argentina (The Italians in Argentina), 1895, a collection of articles
- La Australia Argentina (Southern Argentina), 1898