Vicente Blasco Ibanez was born in Valencia. He studied law at university and graduated in 1888, but he never practiced because his interests were in politics, journalism, and literature. He was particularly fond of Miguel de Cervantes. In politics, he was a fierce Republican partisan in his youth, and he established the newspaper El Pueblo in his hometown, where he launched the Republican populist political movement known as Blasquismo. The journal caused so much controversy that it was brought to court several times. In 1896, he was caught and condemned to a few months' imprisonment. He created numerous enemies and was shot and nearly died in a single dispute. In 1909, he proceeded to Argentina and established two new communities, Nueva Valencia and Cervantes. He held seminars on historical events and Spanish literature. Tired and dissatisfied by government failings and inaction, he traveled to Paris at the start of World War I. He died in Menton, France, the day before his 61st birthday, at Fontana Rosa (also known as the mansion of Writers), the mansion he had built and dedicated to Miguel de Cervantes, Charles Dickens, and Honoré de Balzac.