Felisberto Hernández


Felisberto Hernandez was an Uruguayan writer and pianist.

Background

Hernández was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. His father was from Tenerife. He was a self-taught pianist who earned a living playing in the silent-screen theaters and cafés of Uruguay.

Short stories

Hernández is considered to be the forefather of Magic realism, predating writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, Italo Calvino and Julio Cortázar, who all note Hernández as a major influence. His fiction often explores the secret vitality contained in inanimate objects.
Some of his most famous stories are: "The Balcony," "My First Concert," and "Daisy Dolls."

Selected works translated into English

Hernández' life and work was the subject of the short film Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H by the animation filmmakers the Quay Brothers. The short was inspired in particular by the Hernández short stories "The Balcony" and "The Flooded House" and is available to view as part of the British Film Institute's .