Uruguayan literature has a long and eventful history.

Beginnings

Literature properly speaking starts in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

with the country-flavoured poetry of

Bartolomé Hidalgo Bartolomé José Hidalgo (Montevideo, 24 August 1788 - Morón, 28 November 1822) was a Uruguayan writer and poet. Alongside Hilario Ascasubi he is considered one of the initiators of Gaucho literature. Nowadays the most important literary awar ...

, 1788-1822. The two leading figures of the Romantic period are Adolfo Berro and

Juan Zorrilla de San Martín Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (28 December 1855 – 3 November 1931) was a Uruguayan epic poet and political figure. He is referred to as the "National Poet of Uruguay". Well-known poems Two of Zorrilla's best-known poems are ''Tabaré (poe ...

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''Modernistas''

Julio Herrera y Reissig Julio Herrera y Reissig (January 9, 1875 – March 18, 1910) was a Uruguayan poet, playwright and essayist, who began his career during the late Romanticist period and later became an early proponent of Modernism. Background He was the son ...

was one of the great fin-de-siècle ''modernistas'', indeed one of the very greatest and subtlest of Latin American poets. Two leading women are

Juana de Ibarbourou Juana Fernández Morales de Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, (March 8, 1892 – July 15, 1979) was a Uruguayan poet and one of the most popular poets of Spanish America. Her poetry, the earliest of which is often highly erotic, is no ...

and

Delmira Agustini Delmira Agustini (October 24, 1886 – July 6, 1914) was an Uruguayan poet of the early 20th century. Biography Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, she began writing when she was ten and had her first book of poems published when she was still a tee ...

; indeed, Ibarbourou defined a whole period of Spanish-American sentiment towards the poetic and was immensely popular. Emilio Frugoni and

Emilio Oribe Emilio Nicolás Oribe (April 13, 1893 – May 24, 1975), was a Uruguayan poet, essayist, philosopher, and doctor. A professor at the University of the Republic, Uruguay, Oribe was dean of the university's Faculty of Humanities and Sciences and a ...

were distinguished lyricists.

Other important figures

Outstanding among the prose and fiction figures are

Juan Carlos Onetti Juan Carlos Onetti Borges (July 1, 1909 – May 30, 1994) was a Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories. Early life Onetti was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was the son of Carlos Onetti, a customs official, and Honoria Borges, who ...

, Carlos Martínez Moreno,

Eduardo Galeano Eduardo Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left". Galean ...

, Felisberto Hernández,

Mario Benedetti Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia (; 14 September 1920 – 17 May 2009), was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet and an integral member of the Generación del 45. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being publish ...

Tomás de Mattos Tomás de Mattos Hernández (October 14, 1947 – March 21, 2016) was a Uruguayan writer and librarian. Being from Tacuarembó, de Mattos was one of the relatively few contemporary Uruguayan writers from the north of the country. As a libraria ...

, Mauricio Rosencof and Jorge Majfud.

Horacio Quiroga Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza (31 December 1878 – 19 February 1937) was a Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. He wrote stories which, in their jungle settings, used the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of m ...

was an immensely popular as well as highly individual and flavourful short-story writer who has had vast influence. Constancio C. Vigil was once a beloved, if highly moralistic, children's writer.

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, while Argentine, was an avid commentator on the Uruguayan historical and cultural scene; some of his characters are realistically

Uruguayan Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Florencio Sánchez remains Uruguay's most famous theater writer.

Writers from Northern Uruguay

While many of

's writers have been primarily connected with the capital Montevideo, a number have been identified with the north of the country.

External links

Centro Cervantes
South American literature Latin American literature by country Spanish-language literature {{Uruguay-stub

Beginnings

''Modernistas''

Other important figures

Writers from Northern Uruguay

See also

External links