Short answers, pulled from the story.
Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938) was an Argentine poet, essayist, novelist, and short story writer whose poetic writings are often considered founding works of modern Spanish-language poetry. He was the leading Argentine exponent of Modernismo, a literary movement that fused Parnassianism with Symbolism, and his short fiction made him a crucial precursor and pioneer of fantastic and science fiction literature in Argentina.
Lugones died by suicide on the 18th of February 1938 at the river resort of El Tigre in Buenos Aires, taking a mixture of whisky and cyanide. Political frustration has been the most widely cited cause, though recent Argentine publications have pointed to a second factor: he was forced to end a passionate relationship with a young woman he had met at a university lecture, triggering a depressive decline.
His notable poetry collections include Las montañas del oro (1897), Lunario sentimental (1909), and Odas seculares (1910). His short story collections La guerra gaucha (1905), Las fuerzas extrañas (1906), and Cuentos fatales (1924) established him as a pioneer of fantastic and science fiction in Argentina. Las fuerzas extrañas was translated into English by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert in 2001.
Lugones moved from Socialism in his early career to conservatism and ultimately to support for Fascism by the latter part of his life. He became an active Freemason in 1899, participated in the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations between 1924 and 1931, and in 1930 supported the coup against Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen.
Jorge Luis Borges dedicated his book Dreamtigers to Lugones. Lugones was a crucial precursor and pioneer of fantastic and science fiction literature in Argentina, directly anticipating the literary modes Borges would later develop and bring to international renown.
His son Polo Lugones, chief of the Federal Police under the Uriburu dictatorship, is believed to have created the picana torture device and committed suicide in 1971. Polo's younger daughter Pirí was detained and disappeared in December 1977 during Argentina's Dirty War. One of Pirí's sons, Alejandro, also died by suicide in Tigre, the same location where Leopoldo himself died.