Felisberto Hernández

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

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. This fact can be seen in a letter by Cortázar to Hernández entitled "Letter In One's Own Hand" in which the younger Cortázar praises Hernández for the trail he blazed. In 2005, American fiction writer Joe De Quattro had the Cortázar letter translated from Spanish to English for the purposes of a lecture on Hernández's life, work, and influence on 20th century magical realism which De Quattro subsequently delivered at the MFA program at Bennington College. De Quattro credits Hernández as a major influence on his own work, in particular his short stories "Still Life with Stalin" (Mystery Tribune 2018), "Swimming in Mercury" (Terror House Magazine 2018), "Manhattan: An Interview" (Five2One Magazine 2016), and "Exits" (Zahir Magazine 2009). Hernández's 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."

• Piano Stories, translated by Luis Harss, Marsilio Publishers, 1993
• Lands of Memory, translated by Esther Allen, New Directions Press, 2002

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 Blu-ray collection of the Quays films.

• List of Uruguayan writers

• Felisberto Hernandez