Ernesto Herrera (playwright)

Ernesto Herrera (1889–1917) was a Uruguayan playwright, short story writer and journalist.

Ernesto Herrera

Background

Herrera was a dyed in the wool anarchist and a prolific writer of short stories and plays, featuring large on the Uruguayan literary scene from his late teens until his premature death at the age of twenty-seven. His first publication, Su Majestad el Hambre: Cuentos Brutales, was a collection short stories linked around the central themes of poverty and hunger, laying bare the author’s anger at the injustice and brutality he witnessed in contemporary Uruguayan society, and depicting a world in which desperation and violence go hand in hand.^[1] His most famous work for the stage was El león ciego (The Blind Lion), published in 1911.^{[citation needed]}

He travelled to Europe on several occasions, mainly visiting Spain, Portugal and France.^{[citation needed]}

Principal works

Short stories

• Su majestad el hambre (cuentos brutales) (1910)

Plays

• El estanque (1910)
• Mala laya (1911)
• El león ciego (1911)
• La moral de Misia Paca (1911)
• El pan nuestro (1914)
• El caballo del comisario (1915)
• El Moulin Rouge (1915)
• La bella Pinguito (1916)
• La princesita Cenicienta (unfinished)

Death and legacy

His early death in 1917 when he had not yet attained the age of 30 left his reputation as an accomplished playwright with a sense of unfulfilled potential.

See also

• List of Uruguayan writers