Lynch, Benito (1880–1951)

Benito Lynch (b. 25 July 1880; d. 23 December 1951), Argentine journalist and writer. Lynch came from an old, distinguished family of estancieros (ranchers) and spent his childhood on an estancia in Buenos Aires Province. In 1890 he settled in La Plata, where he later worked for the conservative newspaper El Día. From 1904 to 1941 he devoted himself to writing fiction. His novels Los caranchos de la Florida (1916; The Vultures of La Florida) and El inglés de los güesos (1924; The English Boneman), both later adapted for stage and film, made him one of the most prominent Hispanic novelists. However, to preserve his privacy, Lynch shunned the trappings of success, refusing royalties and academic honors. A member of the generation presided over by Leopoldo Lugones and Ricardo Rojas, Lynch maintained his reclusiveness, his keen loyalty to his social class, his conservatism, and his divorce from contemporary political and literary life even when confronted with the innovative Martín Fierro group. His narratives almost exclusively concern life on the estancias of Buenos Aires Province around the beginning of the twentieth century, contrasting city life with the sedentary, stable life of the peasantry. An admirer of Zola, his naturalism contrasts with a sentimental vision of love and friendship, despite his basic distrust of the human race. Lynch's novels are considered models of linguistic frugality and well-adjusted plots.

See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gerald L. Head, "Characterization in the Works of Benito Lynch" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1964).

"La muerte del paisano de Benito Lynch," in Romance Notes 12 (1970): 68-73, and "El extranjero en las abras de Benito Lynch," in Hispania 54 (1971): 91-97.

Elba Torres De Peralta, "Actitud frente a la vida de los personajes en El inglés de los güesos de Benito Lynch," in Explicación de textos literarios 5 (1976): 13-22.

David William Foster, "Benito Lynch," in Latin American Writers, edited by Carlos A. Solé and Maria Isabel Abreu, vol. 2 (1989), pp. 559-563.

Additional Bibliography

French, Jennifer. Nature, Neo-Colonialism, and the Spanish American Regional Writers. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press, 2005.

                                    Angela B. Dellepiane