Florencio Sánchez
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Florencio Sánchez (January 17, 1875 – November 7, 1910) was a
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
an playwright, journalist and political figure. He is considered one of the founding fathers of theater in the River Plate region of Argentina and Uruguay.


Biography

Florencio Sánchez's parents moved him and his eleven siblings to the city of
Treinta y Tres Treinta y Tres () is the capital city of the Treinta y Tres Department in eastern Uruguay. Location The city is located on Route 8, on the north banks of Olimar Grande River. The city is almost surrounded by a populated rural area, a zone of ' ...
and later to
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, where he attended elementary school. At a very young age, he published a few satirical articles in a newspaper and participated as actor and author in some family musicals (with staged representations). After abandoning high school, Sánchez alternated his life between Montevideo,
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and Rosario. His intense works in journalism and theater unfolded in these cities. In Montevideo he joined the International Center for Social Studies (a literary organization). In Rosario he was a secretary for the writing department of ''La República'' ("The Republic"), a publication led by Lisandro de la Torre. His first writings of a social and political nature were published in ''La República''. The critical and scathing realism was apparent in his literary work for the newspaper; this writing style would later characterize his theatrical productions. Sánchez moved to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, in 1892, after spending some time in Rosario, a city in Santa Fe, Argentina. He remained there for two years. After his return to Montevideo in 1894, he began working as a journalist for the newspapers ''El Nacional'' ("The National"), ''La Razón'' ("The Reason"), and ''El Siglo'' ("The Century"). He published interviews and wrote political articles in which he incorporated dialogues among the protagonists. In Buenos Aires, he began to make a name for himself as a journalist. He started to participate in intellectual circles and the Buenos Aires night life. In 1897, when the civil war broke out in Uruguay, he returned to his home country and fought under Aparicio Saravia, thus continuing his family's history of political action. During this phase, he came into contact with intellectuals such as Eduardo Acevedo Díaz. Shortly after his wartime service, his political affiliation with anarchy began. He wrote in ''La Protesta'' ("The Protest") and in the magazine ''El Sol'' ("The Sun"), the latter being led by Alberto Ghiraldo. Sánchez's plays ''Ladrones'' ("Thieves") and ''Puertas adentro'' ("Doors Within") were written in the anarchist model. On August 13, 1903, his first play, ''M'hijo el dotor'' ("My son, the doctor"), was performed in the Comedy Theater of Buenos Aires. It was a success, and he followed up with a short but intense period of playwriting, with similar success in both Buenos Aires and Montevideo. These new plays included a farce entitled ''La gente honesta'' ("The Honest People") and perhaps his most famous play, ''Canillita'' ("The Newspaper Vendor"), both also written in 1903. ''Canillita'' has been interpreted by a Spanish operetta company. With the success of ''M'hijo el dotor'', Sánchez married Catalina Raventos on September 25, 1903, after being in a relationship with her since 1897. His unorganized economic life caused him to sell his plays to several
impresarios An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...
and theater actors for very little, when he needed money. He frequently accepted advances for plays which he had not yet finished or begun writing, and he sometimes wrote plays hurriedly, giving them away without final revisions. In 1906, Sánchez settled in La Plata, where he worked for the Office of Anthropometric Identification, which was funded by Juan Vucetich. He contracted
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
, which was spreading rapidly during the late 1880s and early 1900s. For many years, he had intended to travel to Europe to create a socially and economically successful play. In 1909, he found an opportunity to go and boarded the Italian ship ''Principe di Udine'' on September 25, arriving in Genova on October 13. In Italy, he dedicated himself finding a way to connect with the theater companies, for an opportunity to see his plays produced in Spain and France. Upon receiving 3000 francs in 1910 for his play ''Los muertos'' ("The Dead"), he spent all of his money in just a few days in Niza on women and gambling in casinos. After traveling through much of Italy and southern France, he went to Milan, an important center for theater, to contact with some theater
impresarios An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...
. However, his disease was affecting his health and he was ordered to travel to Switzerland because it was believed that the pure Alpine air would help him. After arriving in Switzerland by train, he was refused service by hotels and hospitals because of his contagious disease. He returned to Milan and was admitted to a hospital in Milan on November 2 and died on November 7. He was thirty-five years old. A passionate observer, Sánchez's favorite themes for his plays were family, the tenement, and immigrants. He also portrayed the social classes on both sides of the Silver River (
Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...
), displaying through the everyday life of and dialogue between his characters both the misery and hope of the working class.


Works

Sánchez is regarded as Uruguay's leading playwright. His dramatic plays include: * ''La gente honesta'' nglish: The Honest PeopleFarce; premiere- June 26, 1903. Retitled ''Los curdas''. * ''M'hijo el dotor'' nglish: My Son, the DoctorComedy in three acts; premiere- August 13, 1903 * ''Canillita'' nglish: The Newspaper VendorFarce; premiere- October 2, 1903 * ''Cédulas de San Juan'' nglish: The Raffle of the Night of St. JohnFarce in two acts; premiere- August 7, 1904 * ''La pobre gente'' nglish: The Poor PeopleComedy in two acts; premiere- October 1904 * ''La gringa'' nglish: The GringaComedy in four acts; premiere- November 21, 1904 * ''Barranca abajo'' nglish: Downwards GullyTragedy in three acts; premiere- April 26, 1905 * ''Mano santa'' nglish: Holy HandFarce; premiere- June 9, 1905 * ''En familia'' nglish: In the FamilyComedy in three acts; premiere- October 6, 1905 * ''Los muertos'' nglish: The DeadComedy in three acts; premiere- October 23, 1905 * ''El conventillo'' nglish: The TenementTraditional Spanish Operetta in one act; premiere- June 22, 1906 * ''El desalojo'' nglish: The EvictionFarce; premiere- July 16, 1906 * ''El pasado'' nglish: The PastComedy in three acts; premiere- October 22, 1906 * ''Los curdas'' nglish: The DrunkardsFarce; premiere- January 2, 1907 * ''La tigra'' nglish: The TigressFarce; premiere- January 2, 1907 * ''Moneda falsa'' nglish: The CounterfeitFarce; January 8, 1907 * ''El cacique Pichuelo'' nglish: Chief PichueloTraditional Spanish Operetta; premiere- January 9, 1907 * ''Los derechos de la salud'' nglish: Health RightsComedy in three acts; premiere- December 4, 1907 * ''Nuestros hijos'' nglish: Our ChildrenComedy in three acts; premiere- June 1908 * ''Marta Gruni'' Farce; premiere- July 1908. Utilized as a text for an opera written by Juarés Lamarque Pons in 1967 * ''Un buen negocio'' Comedy in two acts; premiere- May 2, 1909


Political activities

Sánchez was a supporter of the conservative nationalist leader Aparicio Saravia. He sided with Saravia in the
Uruguayan Civil War The Uruguayan Civil War, also known in Spanish as the ''Guerra Grande'' ("Great War"), was a series of armed conflicts between the leaders of Uruguayan independence. While officially the war lasted from 1839 until 1851, it was a part of armed c ...
of 1897, but disillusioned by its aftermath, Sánchez became an anarchist and wrote for the anarchist periodical ''La Protesta'' ( en, Protest).


References


See also

*
List of Uruguayan writers The following is a list of notable Uruguayan writers: List of Uruguayan poets * Teresa Amy (1950–2017) * Washington Benavides * Mario Benedetti * Amanda Berenguer * Selva Casal * Roberto Echavarren * Amir Hamed * Circe Maia * Jorge Meretta ...
* Anarchism in the Americas {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Florencio 1875 births 1910 deaths People from Montevideo Uruguayan anarchists Argentine anarchists Uruguayan dramatists and playwrights Male dramatists and playwrights Uruguayan male writers Uruguayan politicians Burials at the Central Cemetery of Montevideo