ALARCN Y ARIZA, PEDRO ANTONIO DE

born March 10, 1833, Guadix, Spain died July 10, 1891, Valdemoro writer remembered for his novel El sombrero de tres picos (1874; The Three-Cornered Hat). Alarcn had achieved a considerable reputation as a journalist and poet when his play El hijo prdigo (The Prodigal Son) was hissed off the stage in 1857. The failure so exasperated him that he enlisted as a volunteer in the Moroccan campaign of 185960. The expedition provided the material for his eyewitness account Diario de un testigo de la guerra de Africa (1859; Diary of a Witness of the African War), a masterpiece in its way as a description of campaigning life. On his return Alarcn became editor of the anticlerical periodical El Ltigo, but in the years 186874 he ruined his political reputation by rapid changes of position. His literary reputation, however, steadily increased. El sombrero de tres picos, a short novel inspired by a popular ballad, is notable for its skillful construction and pointed observation and is a masterpiece of the costumbrismo literary genre. Manuel de Falla based his ballet of the same title on the story, and Hugo Wolf wrote an opera so titled. Alarcn's other major novels are El final de Norma (1855; The Last Act of Norma), El escndalo (1875; The Scandal), and El nio de la bola (1880; The Lucky Kid).