- Vicente Risco
Vicente Martínez Risco Agüero (1884,
Ourense – 1963) was a Galician intellectual of the 20th Century. He was a founder member ofXeración Nós , and among the most important figures in the history ofGalician literature . He is well-regarded for his writings onGalician nationalism , as well as a contributor to theGalician New Narrative . He is also the father of Spanish novelist and criticAntonio Risco .Early years
The son of a public official, Vicente Risco was born into a well-to-do and highly cultured family. He suffered from bad health as a child. He was a good friend of
Ramón Otero Pedrayo . In 1899 he obtained his high school certificate. He studied Law in theUniversity of Santiago , and in 1906 became a public official as his father was.In these years he participated in social gatherings directed by
Marcelo Macías , with other intellectuals, such asXulio Alonso Cuevillas orArturo Vázquez Núñez , who would significantly influence Vicente Risco's literary career. He read decadent English and French authors, who exposed him tooccultism andorientalism . He also studiedBuddhism and became a Theosophist author.In 1910 he began work for a local newspaper, "
El Miño ", where he wrote philosophical articles under the pseudonyms Rujú Sahib and Polichinela. He became a follower ofRabindranath Tagore , announcing the fact in the intellectual social gatherings ofOurense .In February 1912 Risco he met
Castelao and praised one of his speeches in "El Miño", but Risco was still far from the Galicianist movement.In 1913 he went to
Madrid to studyPedagogy . There he was a pupil ofJosé Ortega y Gasset , spoke withRamón Gómez de la Serna andLuis de Hoyos Sáinz and became attracted toCatholicism .In 1916 he finished his studies and he returned to Ourense as a professor of history. In 1917 he founded, along with
Arturo Noguerol Román , the literary magazine "La Centuria ", an antecedent of the future nationalist magazine "Nós ".Encountering Galicianism
Beginning in 1917, Vicente Risco entered the
Irmandades da Fala under the influence ofAntón Losada Diéguez , and onDecember 18 1917 he gave his first speech in the Galician language, an act of support forFrancesc Cambó . In the 1918 campaign for Parliamentary Elections, he made many speeches in the district ofCelanova , to no acclaim. In July 1918, Risco began writing articles for "A Nosa Terra ". He tried to improve the status of Galician literature, writing aboutArthur Rimbaud ,Paul Verlaine ,Apollinare andOmar Khayyam .Soon Risco had become the main theoretician and leader of
Galician nationalism , and in November 1918 he played an important role in the I Nationalist Assembly.In 1920 he published the book "Theory of Galician Nationalism", considered the foundational text of Galician nationalism. Risco took ideas from Murguía and combined them with
philosophical irrationalism ,geographic determinism ,neotraditionalism andethnography ; he defined the nation as a natural entity based on land, race, language, social organization, and national sentiment. He valued Galicia's geographical and cultural connection to Celtic history and the Atlantic region, as opposed to Spain's Mediterranean heritage.In 1920 he started the magazine "
Nós ", where he wrote over 100 articles until its cancellation in July 1936. He also directed the ethnographic section of theSeminario de Estudos Galegos . In 1922 he married María Carme Fernández Gómez. In 1923 his first son,Antón Risco , was born.Risco initially supported the dictatorship of
Miguel Primo de Rivera , because he saw in it the opportunity to destroy the caciquist system and accept the role of provincial deputy in Ourense thinking of the possibility of the establishment of a Commonwealth of Galicia, similar to theCommonwealth of Catalonia .After his rupture with theIrmandade da Fala da Coruña and "A Nosa Terra" he wrote for "Rexurdimento", the newspaper of theIrmandade Nazonalista Galega ("Galician Nationalist Brotherhood"), although he returned to "A Nosa Terra" after a short time.In April 1930 he travelled to
Berlin , living there for four months and delivering a course in ethnography at theUniversity of Berlin . After that he became more conservative and Catholic. He wrote a book, "Mitteleuropa", in which he described his European trip.Second Republic
In the VI Nationalist Assembly Risco supported the idea of the transformation of the
Irmandades da Fala into a political party. WithRamón Otero Pedraio he founded thePartido Nazonalista Republicán de Ourense to take part in the elections of 1931. After losing the election for the position of deputy, he began to lose influence in the Galicianist movement in favour of Otero Pedraio and Castelao.In
October 25 ,1931 , he led a group of Galicianists that published a Catholic manifest against what they considered the persecution of theCatholic Church by the Republican government.In 1933 he published "Nós, os inadaptados", in which he expounded his spiritual and cyclical conception of history.
In the Third Assembly of the PG (October 1935), he accepted temporary collaboration with the left-wing parties to avoid the dissolution of the PG. In January 1935 he published an article in the "Heraldo de Galicia", where he called for the reconquest of Galicia by God. In confrontation with the leaders of his party he didn't attend the IV Assembly of the PG in
Monforte de Lemos . It was during that assembly the accords with left-wing parties were ratified. In the extraordinary Assembly of Santiago in February 1936 the PG formed a coalition with thePopular Front . Risco united with the group of right-wing Galicianists, and he left the PG to directDereita Galeguista .On
June 13 ,1936 , when the campaign began to establish theStatute of Autonomy of Galicia , he supported the affirmative vote. When the Civil War began, he did nothing to help his Galicianist friends that were murdered or imprisoned. From 1937 he directed "Misión", founded with Otero Pedraio. After 1938 he started to write articles for "La Región" where he supported Franco's band. As a result, old Galicianist friends regarded him as a traitor. This is symbolized in the phrase of Castelao in his book "Sempre en Galiza ": "...said Risco, when Risco was somebody".Franco's dictatorship
In 1940 he published the ethnographic work "The end of the world in the Galician popular tradition" and in 1944 published "History of the Jews after the destruction of the Temple". He lived for a time in
Pamplona and wrote articles for "El Pueblo Navarro". In 1945 he lived in Madrid, where he wrote articles for "El Español", "Pueblo" and "La Estafeta Literaria", and he published in 1947 "Satanás. Biografía del Diablo". He returned to Ourense in 1948.With the help of Galicianist friends Otero Pedrayo and
Francisco Fernández del Riego , he again started writing in Galician: in his ethnographic studio he wrote "History of Galiza" directed by Otero Pedrayo, and translatedCamilo José Cela 's book "The family of Pascual Duarte", completed in 1951.Nevertheless, Castilian would be the language employed in the rest of his literary production after the Civil War. The best book of this stage was "La puerta de paja," runner-up to the prestigious
Premio Nadal in 1953. He also wrote "La tiara de Saitaphernes", "Gamalandafa" and "La verídica historia del niño de dos cabezas de Promonta", which were not published during his lifetime.He died on
April 30 ,1963 , in Ourense, a few days after Franco's government gave him the Medal of Afonso X.Ideology
The political ideology of Vicente Risco was based on a critique of the modern world, considered decadent. He exalted irrationalism, mysticism and popular religion, and rejected realist literature. He also despised
Mediterranean civilization in favor ofCelticism .Literature
*"A trabe de ouro e a trabe de alquitrán"
*"O lobo da xente", 1925
*"A coutada", 1926
*"O Porco de Pé ", 1928
*"O bufón d'el rei", 1928
*"Nós, os inadaptados", 1933
*"La puerta de paja", 1953External links
* [http://www.fundacionvicenterisco.com/ Vicente Risco's foundation] (galician)
* [http://bvg.udc.es/ficha_autor.jsp?id=VicMart%ED&alias=Vicente+Mart%EDnez+Risco&solapa=biografia Bibliteca Virtual Galega] (galician)
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