What is Mariano José de Larra?
[[File:Mariano José de Larra (Museo nacional del Romanticismo de Madrid).JPG|thumb|right|250px|Mariano José de Larra]] '''Mariano José de Larra''' (24 March 1809 - 13 February 1837) was a [[Spain|Spanish]] [[Romanticism|romanticist]] [[writer]] noted for [[satire]] and perhaps the best [[prose]] writer of 19th-century Spain. He was born in [[Madrid]]; his father was a doctor in the [[French army]], and, as an ''[[afrancesado]]'', was [[exile|forced to leave]] the [[Iberian Peninsula|Peninsula]] with his family in 1812. In 1817 Larra went back to Spain, knowing less Spanish than French. His nature was disorderly, his education was imperfect, and, after trying obtain a degree in [[medicine]] or law, he made an imprudent marriage at the age of twenty, broke with his relatives and became a [[journalist]]. On the 27th of April 1831 he produced his first [[play]], ''No más mostrador'', based on two pieces by [[Scribe]] and [[Dieulafoy]]. Though not very original, it is brilliantly written, and held the stage for many years. On the 24th of September 1834 he produced ''Macías'', a play based on his own [[historical novel]], ''El doncel de don Enrique el Doliente'' (1834). The drama and novel are interesting as experiments, but Larra was really a [[journalist]], and the increased liberty of the press after the death of [[Ferdinand VII]] gave him opportunities. He was already famous under the [[pseudonym]]s of ''Juan Pérez de [[Munguía]]'' and ''[[Fígaro]]'' which he used in ''[[El Pobrecito Hablador]]'' and ''[[La Revista Española]]'' respectively. People in Madrid laughed at his grim humour; ministers feared his [[Vitriol|vitriolic]] pen and courted him; he defended [[Liberalism]] against the [[Carlism|Carlist]] rebellion; he was elected as deputy for [[Ávila]], and a great career seemed to lie before him. But the era of military [[pronunciamiento]]s ruined his personal prospects and patriotic plans. His writing took on a more sombre tinge; domestic troubles increased his pessimism, and after a disastrous [[love-affa