Manuel González Prada

Jose Manuel de los Reyes González de Prada y Ulloa (Lima, 5 January 1844 – Lima, 22 July 1918) was a Peruvian politician and anarchist, literary critic and director of the National Library of Peru. The first writer to criticize the oligarchy within Peru, he is well remembered as a social critic who helped develop Peruvian intellectual thought in the early twentieth century, as well as the academic style known as modernismo.

He was born into the aristocratic class. His father was the judge and politician Francisco González de Prada Marrón y Lombrera, who served as Member of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima and Mayor of Lima. His mother was María Josefa Álvarez de Ulloa y Rodríguez de la Rosa. His grandfather was an important administrative figure in the Viceroyalty of Peru. During Peru's impending defeat by Chile in the War of the Pacific, González Prada stayed in his home for three years, refusing to look at the foreign invaders occupying Peru. The Literary Circle saw themselves as freethinkers and that they were destined to change Peru, reaching out to González Prada, who immediately reoriented the groups direction.

Until his death, González Prada dedicated himself to educating university students and workers, holding Luz y Amor (Light and Love) discussion groups and sharing his writings with them. His writings on Anarchism, Anarquía, was posthumously released in 1936.

Political views

Upon returning to Peru from Europe in 1898, Gonzalez Prada began to support anarchism, believing it provided more liberty compared to liberalism, which had prevented reform in Peru. Peruvian intellectuals influenced by González Prada include José Carlos Mariátegui and Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.

Works

Essays Discurso en el Politeama (1888) Pájinas libres (París, 1894) Nuestros indios (Lima, 1904), incorporado en la segunda edición de Horas de lucha. Horas de lucha (Lima, 1908) Bajo el oprobio (posthumous, París, 1933) Anarquía (posthumous, Santiago de Chile, 1936) Nuevas páginas libres (posthumous, París, 1936) Figuras y figurones (posthumous, París, 1938) Propaganda y ataque (posthumous, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Imán, 1939) Prosa menuda (posthumous, Buenos Aires, 1941) El tonel de Diógenes (posthumous, México, D.F.: Tezontle, 1945)

Poetry Al amor (Perú,1901) Minúsculas (Lima, 1901) Presbiterianas (Lima, 1909) Exóticas (Lima, 1911) Trozos de vida (posthumous, París, 1933) Baladas peruanas (posthumous, Santiago de Chile, 1935) Grafitos (posthumous, París, 1937) Libertarias (posthumous, París, 1938) Baladas (posthumous, París, 1939) Adoración (posthumous, Lima, 1946) Poemas desconocidos (posthumous, Lima, 1973) Letrillas (posthumous, Lima, 1975) Cantos del otro siglo (posthumous, Lima, UNMSM, 1979)