HERNANDEZ, JOSE (1834-1886), Argentine poet, was born near Buenos Aires, on Nov. 1o, 1834, of distinguished line age. His youth was spent on the pampas, but after the overthrow of Rosas in 1852, he took an active interest in the national re habilitation and held numerous posts in the provincial Govern ments. In the struggle between Buenos Aires and the other prov inces, he sided with Urquiza against Mitre, and with Lopez Jordan against Sarmiento, and upon the complete collapse of the pro vincial cause in 1872, was forced to seek refuge out of the country. Returning to Buenos Aires soon afterwards, he resumed his posi tion of influence, founded the Revista de la Plata, and was con spicuous in establishing the new provincial capital at La Plata. He died at Belgrano on Oct. 21, 1886. He is remembered chiefly for his poem Martin Fierro, the first epic in Spanish-American literature since Ercilla's Araucana, and the finest example we have of the so-called gaucliesca literature. It appeared in two parts, the first, La Ida, in 1872, and in 1878, the second, La Vuelta de Martin Fierro. This poem is not Hernandez's only literary effort, but it is the only one to win the confirmation of time.
See Henry A. Holmes, Martin Fierro, an Epic of the Argentine (New York, 1923) ; Carlos 0. Bunge, Martin Fierro (Buenos Aires, 1915) ; Ricardo Rojas, La literatura argentina (vol. i., Buenos Aires, 1917) ; Jose M. Salaverria, El Poema de la Pampa (Madrid, 1918) ; for a complete bibliography see S. E. Leavitt, Argentine Literature, a bibliography (1924). (W. B. P.)