González Prada, Manuel

González Prada, Manuel (mänwĕl` gōnsä`lĕs prä`thä), 1848–1918, Peruvian writer and political reformer, b. Lima. One of the most brilliant figures in Spanish American letters, he was a master of satire and invective. With apostolic zeal he took up the defense of the exploited indigenous people, and in his eloquent essays, speeches, and polemical writings he hurled demolishing broadsides at the landowning oligarchy that had ruled Peru since colonial days. He advocated radical social reform along nationalistic lines and became the mentor of a generation of young radicals. González Prada was also an innovator in poetry, introducing new devices and revitalizing Spanish verse by cultivating unusual forms, such as the triolet, the rondel, and the Malayan pantun. More than nine books of poetry and many editions of his essays were published, a number of them posthumously. Some of his prose collections are Páginas libres (1894), Nuestros Indios (1904), and Horas de lucha (1908).