Las Hortensias y otros cuentos

Felisberto Hernández (1902-1964) is renowned as "a writer's writer," admired by his peers for his groundbreaking approach to literature. Akin to E.T.A. Hoffmann and Franz Kafka, Hernández forged his own path, redefining the human experience and challenging conventional reality with what he termed "the mystery"—the profound, often overlooked truths hidden beneath the surface of the homogeneous and utilitarian.

A trained musician and composer, Hernández crafted literary works analogous to musical compositions, where meaning emerges from the intricate relationships between themes, symbols, and recurring motifs. This collection, edited by Ana María Hernández, showcases his most representative short stories, including the titular "Las Hortensias" and "La casa inundada," emphasizing the intertextual web of symbols like horses, plants, dolls, machines, water, and houses.

His narratives delve into the unconscious, exploring psychological depths and the fragmentation of personality, often projecting human traits onto inanimate objects. This unique blend of the fantastic and the psychological profoundly influenced later writers like Julio Cortázar, and cements Hernández's place as a singular and essential voice in Latin American avant-garde literature.