CASTELAO, Alfonso (Daniel) R(odriguez) 1886-1950

PERSONAL: Born January 29, 1886, in Cabo de Vila (Rianxo), Spain; died January 7, 1950, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Education: Graduated from University of Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

CAREER: Political activist and writer.

MEMBER: Real Academia Galega.

WRITINGS:

As Cruces de Pedra na Bretaña, Semianario de Estudos Galegos (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), 1930.

Galicia martir: estampas, Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy (Toronto, Canada), 1937.

Galicia mártir, Ediciones Españolas (Madrid, Spain), 1937.

Castilla no es España, es la anti-España, Biblioteca Catalana (Mexico D.F., Mexico), 1944.

Estatuto de autonomía pra Galicia, 1936, Akal (Madrid, Spain), 1948.

Os vellos non deben de namorarse, farsa en tres actos con un prólogo e un epílogo, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1953.

Cousas, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1961, translation by Kristy Hooper published as Things, Planet (Aberystwyth, Wales), 2001.

Retrincos, Celta (Madrid, Spain), 1962.

Escolma possible, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1964.

El Pensamiento político de Castelao, Ruedo ibérico (Paris, France), 1965.

Os dous de sempre, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1967.

Galicia y Valle-Inclán. [Conferencia leída en la Habana en enero de 1939], Celta (Lugo, Spain), 1971.

Cousas da morte: antoloxía, Castrelos (Vigo, Spain), 1973.

Prosas recuperadas, Celta (Lugo, Spain), 1974.

Cuatro obras: teatro, relatos, fantasía macabra, ensayos, Cátedra (Madrid, Spain), 1974.

Narrativa e teatro, Akal, (Madrid, Spain), 1975.

Nós, Akal (Madrid, Spain), 1975.

Cousas, terceiro libro, Castrelos (Vigo, Spain), 1975.

Castelao, prosa do exilio, Patronato da Cultura Galega (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1976.

Homenaxe a Castelao, Universidad de Santiago (Santiago, Chile), 1976.

Sempre en Galiza, Akal (Madrid, Spain), 1976.

Diario 1921, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1977.

Discursos parlamentarios (1931-1933), Castro (La Coruña, Spain), 1978.

Coroa poetica para Castelao: 187 poemas, de 1911 a 1987, Castro (La Coruña, Spain), 1978.

Cincoenta homes por dez reás, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1978.

Castelao, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1979.

Un ollo de vidro: memorias d'un esquelete, Rueiro (La Coruña, Spain), 1980.

Narracións e outras prosas, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1982.

El problema de les nacionalitats ibèriques: antologia de "Sempre en Galiza," Edicions 62 (Barcelona, Spain), 1983.

Castelao, 1886-1950, Ministerio de Cultura (Madrid, Spain), 1986.

Castelao para nenos, La Torre (Madrid, Spain), 1988.

Cadernos (1938-1948): escolma, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 1993.

175 debuxos de Castelao, Fundación Caixa Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), 1996.

Diario 1921. Revista Nós. Do meu diario. Cubismo. Apéndices, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 2000.

Introducción. Escritos políticos. Varia, Galaxia (Vigo, Spain), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS: Although known as an accomplished artist and author, Alfonso R. Castelao considered himself first and foremost a political activist for political autonomy for Galicia. Castelao was born in Spain, but his family moved to Argentina in 1886 and then returned to Galicia four years later. Castelao earned a medical degree but practiced medicine for a very short time deciding to devote himself entirely to art, literature, and Galician politics. In 1923 he enrolled in the Semanario de Estudos Galegos, devoting himself to the ethnographic and cultural history of the Galician people in Iberia. In 1926 he was accepted into the Real Academia Galegaand, and five years later he was the elected representative from the Province of Pontevedra as a separatist candidate and founded the Partido Galeguista. During the elections of 1936 he was the most popular candidate of the Frente Popular and the most outstanding voice for Galician autonomy.

During the years of the Spanish Civil War Castelao was an active participant for the Republican cause as well as the creation of the "estamps" or drawings, that brought world-wide attention to the plight of the Spanish people and to him as an artist. In 1940 he went to Buenos Aires as a self-proclaimed exile, and he lived there for many years creating his art and his writing as well as creating the Partida Galeguista in Argentina.

Castelao's work can be divided into four categories: graphic arts, literary criticism, fiction and poetry, and political writing.

The most important collections of Castelao's drawings and other graphic art are Cousas da vids, Cincuenta homes por dez reás, Album Nós, and Galicia martír. His prose fiction works include Un ollo de Vidro, Cousas, Retrincos, and Os vellos no debn namorarse. His most influential and published political writing are Sempre in Galiza, Discursos parlamentarios, O Estatuto de Galiza, and Antecentes e comentarios, while his literary criticism is best represented by As cruces de pedra na Galiza, As cruces de pedra na Bretaña, and O galeguista no arte.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Modern Spanish and Portuguese Literature, Continuum (New York, NY), 1988.*