Don Segundo Sombra is a 1926

1926 in literature

The year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....

 novel by Argentine

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...

 rancher Ricardo Güiraldes

Ricardo Güiraldes

Ricardo Güiraldes was an Argentine novelist and poet, one of the most significant Argentine writers of his era, particularly known for his 1926 novel Don Segundo Sombra, set amongst the gauchos.-Life:...

. Like José Hernández's poem Martín Fierro

Martín Fierro

Martín Fierro is a 2,316 line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro . The poem is, in part, a protest against the modernist tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento...

, its protagonist is a gaucho

Gaucho

Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...

. However, unlike Hernandez's poem, Don Segundo Sombra does not romanticize the figure of the gaucho, but simply examines the character as a shadow (sombra) cast across Argentine history. Unlike Martin Fierro, purely an imaginary character, Don Segundo Sombra was loosely inspired by the real life of Segundo Ramírez, a native of the town of San Antonio de Areco

San Antonio de Areco

San Antonio de Areco is a town in northern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and capital of the partido of San Antonio de Areco. It is located on the Areco River away from the Buenos Aires city, the country's capital....

 in the province of Buenos Aires.