Higgenson A76a
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza (10 March 1833 - 19 July 1891) was a Spanish author, writer and political figure. He is best remembered today for his comic novel El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-cornered Hat), (1874), one of the most popular works in Spanish Literature. In 1919, the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla adapted Alarcón's tale into a famous ballet of the same name.
As a volunteer he went in 1859 to fight in the Spanish Morocan War, where he wrote the most interesting and probably the most lasting of all his writings, "Diario de un testigo de la guerra de Africa" (1860). Some parts of this work, as "La batalla de Castillejos" and "La toma de Tetuán", have not been surpassed for vividness of description andgrace of narrative by any Spanish writer.
Poetry published includes Serious and Humoristic Poems 1870
Alarcón was born in Guadix, near Granada. In 1859, he served in a Spanish military operation in Morocco and was wounded He gained his first literary recognition with A Witness' Diary of the African War (1859-1860), a patriotic account of the campaign.