Manuel Bernárdez was a Galician-born Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

an diplomat, poet, journalist, and editor, and is chiefly remembered as one of Uruguay's most important writers.

Life and Family

Bernárdez was the son of Juan Ramón Bernardez and Dolores Filgueira. When he was six, they left Vilagarcía de Arousa

Vilagarcía de Arousa

Vilagarcía de Arousa is a port town situated on the firth of Arousa in Galicia, 45km south of Santiago de Compostela. Vilagarcía has a population of almost 37,000 inhabitants, so it is the eighth largest town in Galicia....

, Galicia, to settle in Arapey, Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

; he became a naturalized Uruguayan when he reached the legal age.

Bernárdez was completely home-schooled

Homeschooling

Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...

 by his father, having never attended school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

 or college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

.

Writings

In his youth, he took to prose and especially poetry, publishing his first volume (Confidencias, a una joven Amiga) when he was eighteen. For the next thirty years, he would spend his professional life mainly in the staffs of various periodicals and newspapers at home and abroad; he would also marry Carmen Martínez-Thédy during this time (in 1894), with whom he would have four children.

In 1898, he became an editor for El Diario in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, living there for some time; later, he made a trip to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, writing a book about his journey (De Buenos Aires al Iguazú). In 1904 and 1905 respectively, he wrote two volumes on Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, in which he celebrated that nation's economic development: Viajes por la República Argentina, La nación en marcha, Jornadas del progreso Argentino, Hacia las cumbres.

Consul and minister to Brazil

In 1910, he would become the Uruguayan Consul

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 to Brazil, and then Minister of Uruguay in 1916.

Bernárdez died in 1942.

List of works

(Aside from those mentioned before)

• Claros de luna (1886)
• Memorias de campo (1887)
• Ave, Maria!
• La muerte de Artigas (1891)
• El Tratado de la Asunción (1894)
• De Buenos Aires al Iguazú (1901)
• El Brasil, su vida su trabajo, su futuro: itinerario periodístico (1908)
• Aspectos ejemplares de la nueva Bélgica : las grandes patrias chicas : páginas de una memoria (1928)
• Política y Moneda (1931)
• Tambos y Rodeos