Lynch, Benito Edgardo (bap. 1882-1951), novelist, was born on 2 June 1882 in La Plata, Buenos Aires, the second son of Benito Lynch (1856-1902) and Juana Beaulieu (d. 1937). The Lynch family were descended from Patrick Lynch (b. 1715) of Co. Galway, who settled in South America in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Benito Lynch grew up in the family ranch and acquired a first-hand knowledge of the life and works of the pampas cowboys, the gauchos. During his early life Lynch had a private tutor who taught him the classics. He distinguished in rowing, box, and fencing. In 1902 Benito Lynch began contributing to El Día newspaper, where his father was a board director.

Benito Lynch's best-known book El Inglés de los Güesos (1922), is a critical view of the urban culture. Lynch also published Plata Dorada (1909), Los Caranchos de la Florida (1916), Raquela (1918), Las Mal Calladas (1923), El Romance de un Gaucho (1933), short novels El Antojo de la Patrona (1925) and Palo Verde (1925), and short stories collections La Evasión (1922), and De los Campos Porteños (1931).

In 1910 Lynch was a member of the Conservative Party of the Buenos Aires province, and worked for its communications committee. In 1949, when he was blind and deaf, he was run over a tramway. He was hospitalised with concussion and died three years later on 23 December 1951 in La Plata.

Writer and historian Manuel Gálvez described Benito Lynch as "tall, thin, just bones and bends. A long face with some wrinkles, curved nose, with gentle features, and a lively expression. Handsome and manly. Big eyes, a pleasant look, somehow naughty. He had a quixotic profile: long arms, noble appearance, straight body, and lean countenance. He smiled and gave me a warm welcome. However, he was not unrestrained. He had a sense of self-control. Very distinguished, with the air of a lord, he spoke neatly, without criolladas or tackiness. You would never distinguish under his personality the countryside man or the professional writer. He used to speak moderately, well, and charmingly. He seemed to dislike of literary conversation, so the first impression was of a man not too particularly cultured. However, in his letters you may spot amazing paragraphs, even in classic Latin. At home, he had more than a few books. Among Argentine writers, there were not many gentlemen as Lynch. He had a hyperbolic sense of honour, frequent in Spaniards. His sincerity and his loyalty were some of his qualities."

Gonzalo Cané

References

- Coghlan, Eduardo A., Los Irlandeses en la Argentina: Su Actuación y Descendencia (Buenos Aires, 1987), p. 630.

- Constitution of the Conservative Party of the Buenos Aires province, La Plata, Buenos Aires.