:for the professional basketball player, see alfonso reyes (basketball) thumb|statue of alfonso reyes. alfonso reyes ochoa (17 may 1889, monterrey, nuevo leÃ³n â 27 december 1959, mexico city) was a mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat. == biography == alfonso reyes' parents were bernardo reyes and aurelia ochoa. his father was in important government positions during the government of porfirio dÃ­az, such as the governorship of nuevo leÃ³n and the secretary of war and navy. alfonso reyes was educated primarily in mexico city. in 1909, he and other like-minded young intellectuals such as martÃ­n luis guzmÃ¡n and josÃ© vasconcelos, founded the ateneo de la juventud to promote new cultural and aesthetic ideals and educational reform in mexico. at the age of 21, reyes published his first book, cuestiones estÃ©ticas. the following year, 1912, he wrote a short story, la cena ("the supper"), considered a forerunner of surrealism and of latin american magical realism. in that year he was also named secretary of the escuela nacional de altos estudios at the national autonomous university of mexico. reyes obtained his law degree in 1913, the same year that his father would die participating in an attempted coup d'Ã©tat against the then president francisco madero. alfonso reyes was posted to mexico's diplomatic service in france in 1913. after germany invaded france in 1914, he moved to madrid, spain, and pursued a literary career as journalist, investigator, translator, critic, and writer. in 1915, he wrote what is probably his best-known essay, "visiÃ³n de anÃ¡huac (1915)," with its famous epigraph, "viajero: has llegado a la regiÃ³n mÃ¡s transparente del aire", the source of the title of carlos fuentes's novel la regiÃ³n mÃ¡s transparente. reyes was reinstated in the diplomatic service in 1920. he was the second secretary in spain in 1920,[biblioteca "alfonso reyes" http://portal.sre.gob.mx/argentina/index.php?option=displaypage&itemid=93&op=page&submenu=] mexican embassy in argentina (spanish) was in paris from 1924 to 1927, then served as the ambassador to argentina (1927â30 and 1936â37). he was the mexican ambassador to brazil from 1930 to 1935 and again in 1938. in 1939, he retired from the diplomatic corps and returned to mexico, where he organized what is today el colegio de mÃ©xico and dedicated himself to writing and teaching. == homage == the argentinian writer jorge luis borges referred to reyes as "the greatest prose writer in the spanish language of any age" borges, j. l., 1980, "la ceguera" ("blindness") in siete noches. mexico city: fondo de cultura econÃ³mica: 156.
1889_births 1959_deaths Ambassadors_of_Mexico_to_Argentina Hellenists Members_of_El_Colegio_Nacional Members_of_the_Mexican_Academy_of_Language Mexican_essayists Mexican_philosophers Mexican_poets Mexican_translators Writers_from_Monterrey