Julio Escobar was a journalist, critic, and playwright born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1892. He died in 1957. Escobar’s play Viper of the Cross was the second most popular play of 1919, performed 309 times. The first edition of the play sold 10,200 copies the first time, and sold 33,500 copies the second time. The play was first performed in the Teatro National on April 2, 1919, and reprinted and sold in theatrical magazines. Escobar was the third most prolific playwright and third most wealthy writer in Buenos Aires. He wrote 10 plays in 1919 and amassed 26,806 pesos in 1919.
Despite the popularity of his plays, Escobar is not heavily studied. However, it can be assumed that Escobar was extremely misogynistic through the use of his degrading language in reference to women, which is studied further in the gender relation portion of this analysis. We can see this misogyny through the character Diderot and his attitude toward women, which can also be inferred as Escobar’s own view of women. This information is directly from Dr. McCleary’s research.