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Back to article: JUAN BAUTISTA PABLO FORNER (1756-1799)

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FORNER, JUAN BAUTISTA PABLO (1756-1799), Spanish satirist and scholar, was born at Merida (Badajoz) on the 23rd of February 1756, studied at the university of Salamanca, and was called to the bar at Madrid in 1783. During the next few years—under the pseudonyms of Tome Cecial," Pablo Segarra,'' " Don Antonio Varas," " Bartolo," " Pablo Ignocausto," " El Bachiller Reganadientes," and " Silvio Liberio "—Forner was engaged in a series of polemics with Garcia de la Huerta, Iriarte and other writers; the violence of his attacks was so extreme that he was finally forbidden to publish any controversial pamphlets, and was transferred to a legal post at Seville. In 1796 he became crown prosecutor at Madrid, where he died on the 17th of March 1799. Forner's brutality is almost unexampled, and his satirical writings give a false impression of his powers. His OraciOn apologetica par la Espana y su Write literario (1787) is an excellent example of learned advocacy, far superior to similar efforts made by Denina and Antonio Cavanilles; and his posthumous Exequias de la lengua castellana (printed in the Biblioteca de autores espanoles, vol. lxiii.) testifies to his scholarship and taste.