Atonality and indeterminacy in Felisberto Hernández: a poetics of limits

Abstract

There is a general academic agreement to consider music as a major influence in the fictional works of Uruguayan writer Felisberto Hernández, but there have been very few analytic efforts in that direction. Among them, just a couple of papers consider the possibility of Arnold Schoenberg’s atonalism as a main influence in the works of Hernández. This text departs from a variation of Wolfgang Iser’s theory of indeterminacy and Gustavo Lespada’s vision of “lack” as a narrative strategy for Felisberto Hernández, and establishes a comparison between his writing strategies and the main features of early atonalism. Besides, the article discusses the influence of Schoenberg’s theory over Hernández works.

Keywords

• Felisberto Hernández
• Arnold Schoenberg
• indeterminación
• atonalidad
• música y literatura
• literatura uruguaya
• literatura comparada