Fernández de Lizardi, José Joaquín

Fernández de Lizardi, José Joaquín hōsāˈ hwäkēnˈ fārnänˈdās dā lēsärˈdē [key], 1776–1827, Mexican journalist, novelist, and dramatist, known by his pseudonym El Pensador Mexicano. His early liberalism, revealed in satiric poetry, put him at odds with the censors. His most revered fiction is the picaresque novel El Periquillo Sarniento (1816–30, tr. The Itching Parrot, 1942), considered by many to be the first Hispanic-American novel. It is a sardonic account of the decadent court of the Mexican viceroys.

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