Mariano José de Larra.

By ALEIX GWILLIAM

Mariano José de Larra is one of Spain’s most emblematic romantic writers of the 19th century. Born and bred in Madrid, his works are a perfect picture of the city at that time, hilarious stories that show what life and society were like.

To understand the present, one must understand the past. There is no point in renting apartments in Madrid and staying in the Spanish capital if we don’t know the city’s history. It’s like looking at a random photograph and not knowing its background. Yes, it’s pretty but if we know the story behind it, not only will it be pretty but it will also be interesting. That’s the case with Madrid, a city that’s lived through times of glory and pain, who has seen some of the most important events in the history of the western world, and who has produced some of the most amazing artists that Europe and the world has ever seen.

I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t include the great Mariano José de Larra in this category. Yes, it can seem a biased choice but anyone who has studied Spanish literature can tell you that the romanticism period in Spain produced some great works by some great artists and writers, and Larra was one of them. He might not be as famous as Miguel de Cervantes or Camilo José Cela, the Nobel Prize winner, but he’s one of Spain’s greatest writers, whose style make his writings page-turning ones, because of the hilarity of the situations he writes about. All of these situations are true stories that happened to him during his life in Madrid, and the people and situations that he tells about are a perfect picture of 19th century Spanish society and the city, what it was like to live there and the philosophy of the government of the time and its people.

Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.

Mariano José de Larra was born in Madrid in 1809 and died in the same city at the young age of 27 after committing suicide, like most romantic artists and writers did. He is considered one of Spain’s most important romantic writers, alongside the great Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, José de Espronceda and Rosalía de Castro, a true golden era for Spanish literature. He was not only a writer but also a journalist and a politician, hence the amount of situations and people he came across. He published a monthly paper called ‘El Duende’, The Elf, whose essays were a critique of the society of the time, which caused a lot of controversy. Larra was also an educated Spaniard and therefore he spoke French and was a lover of all things French, a country and a culture which he often compared and contrasted to his country’s own, usually depicting Spain in a bad light, although it was mostly an exaggeration.

Madrid was a very lively city during the 19th century, with important political, social and economic events taking place in it. This was a perfect situation for someone who was writing about it and Larra’s funny and vigorous prose mean that reading his works is a perfect prelude to your visit to Madrid. You wouldn’t think from reading him that he was a depressive character and that love drove him to shoot himself in the head, putting an early end to the career of one of Spain’s most prolific and genius writers. The city paid tribute to Larra by making a bust of the writer, which we can find on Calle Bailén, right in front of the Almudena Cathedral.

There’s no better way to prepare your trip to Madrid apartments than by reading Mariano José de Larra. His hilarious and entertaining situations will give you a great idea of the history of the city and its people, so that when you go there you will know plenty about it.

Aleix Gwilliam is a 24-year-old from Barcelona who looks English but thinks like a Catalan. He enjoys travelling, especially on old Czech trains, and trying to start conversations in Hungarian with people at Pecs station, even though his Hungarian is as good as his Bulgarian, in other words, not very good. He’s a trier.