All the brutality and phlegmatic philosophy of a Sergio Leone western, but in epic poem form.

Martin Fierro put me in mind of a less sentimental (and much more murderous) Don Quixote, wandering the Argentine pampas with his 'facon' in hand. Confronted by the corruption and injustice of 'modern' society, he romanticises the gaucho lifestyle and its freedom from governmental oversight. His diatribes are full of anarchic sentiment, as well as outrage at the shady politicking and confounding bureaucracy of the government machine.

Borges said that he admired the poem Martin Fierro, but not the character Martin Fierro, and I think that pretty much sums it up. Martin Fierro is a brilliant creation, but hardly a hero: he's racist, god-fearing, loving, brutal, thoughtful, quick-witted, drunken, hypocritical, bitter and hopeful. He is often vicious and callous, in a similar outlaw model to Bonnie and Clyde: sociopathic murderers who were mythologised because they spat in the face of an unjust society.

I listened to a few passages of Martin Fierro in a Spanish recording (complete with guitar, in emulation of payador style) and the lilt of the lyrics was so seductive, but also gruff and hard. It seemed to me to fit perfectly with the author's use of language, mixing crude curses with poetic (but plain-speaking) musings and gaucho idiom.