Abstract
Even though some critics deny any literary or esthetic value to his work, Juan A. Mateos (1831-1913) was a prolific journalist, orator, playwright and, mainly, novelist. His most valuable production is made up by the historical novels he began publishing after the fall of Maximillian’s Empire (El cerro de las campanas). Despite the fact that his work is considered “popular”, it should not be denied literary or esthetic value, it should only be considered literature meant for the people. His novels were written in deliveries, also known as “pamphlet” novels, in which the author wrote “against the clock”, which is why his works could not be considered artistic but rather popular, and could be shortened or lengthened according to the novel’s demand, a novel that most commonly narrated adventures. The author concludes by stating that despite being a writer who has almost been forgotten in the 21st Century, rescuing the works of a character present in editions of several mainstream diaries and journals of the time constitutes an attraction for contem-porary investigators, interested in his literary production.