HERNNDEZ, JOS

born Nov. 10, 1834, Chacra de Pueyrredn, Buenos Aires died Oct. 21, 1886, Belgrano, near Buenos Aires Argentine poet, best known for his depiction of the gauchos. At the age of 14, because of illness, he left Buenos Aires to live in the pampas, where he learned the ways of the gauchos. From 1853 to 1868 he took part in the provinces' political struggle with Buenos Aires. After the unsuccessful revolt against Pres. Domingo Sarmiento's government in 1870, Hernndez fled to Brazil (January 1871). On returning to Buenos Aires, he published El gaucho Martn Fierro (1872; The Gaucho Martin Fierro, 1974), a work depicting the life of a persecuted gaucho; it is recognized as the best example of gaucho poetry. In the poetic narrative's second part, La vuelta de Martn Fierro (1879; "The Return of Martn Fierro"), the gaucho hero is reintegrated into the society he had abandoned.