Vicente Risco
Encyclopedia
Vicente Martínez Risco Agüero (1884, Ourense
– 1963) was a Galician intellectual of the 20th Century
. He was a founder member of Xeración Nós, and among the most important figures in the history of Galician literature
. He is well regarded for his writings on Galician nationalism
, as well as a contributor to the Galician New Narrative. He is also the father of Spanish novelist and critic Antonio Risco.
, 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 as Xulio Alonso Cuevillas or Arturo Vázquez Núñez, who would significantly influence Vicente Risco's literary career. He read decadent English and French authors, who exposed him to occultism and orientalism
. He also studied Buddhism
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 of Rabindranath Tagore
, announcing the fact in the intellectual social gatherings of Ourense
.
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 study Pedagogy
. There he was a pupil of José Ortega y Gasset
, spoke with Ramón Gómez de la Serna
and Luis de Hoyos Sáinz and became attracted to Catholicism
.
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
.
under the influence of Antón Losada Diéguez, and on December 18, 1917 he gave his first speech in the Galician language, an act of support for Francesc Cambó
. In the 1918 campaign for Parliamentary Elections, he made many speeches in the district of Celanova
, to no acclaim. In July 1918, Risco began writing articles for A Nosa Terra
. He tried to improve the status of Galician literature, writing about Arthur Rimbaud
, Paul Verlaine
, Apollinaire and Omar 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 and ethnography
; 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 the Seminario 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 the Commonwealth of Catalonia.After his rupture with the Irmandade da Fala da Coruña and A Nosa Terra he wrote for Rexurdimento, the newspaper of the Irmandade 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 the University of Berlin. After that he became more conservative and Catholic. He wrote a book, Mitteleuropa, in which he described his European trip.
into a political party. With Ramón Otero Pedraio he founded the Partido 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.
On October 25, 1931, he led a group of Galicianists that published a Catholic manifest against what they considered the persecution of the Catholic 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 the Popular Front
. Risco united with the group of right-wing Galicianists, and he left the PG to direct Dereita Galeguista.
On June 13, 1936, when the campaign began to establish the Statute 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".
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 translated Camilo 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.
.
Ourense
Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name in Galicia. Its population of 108,674 accounts for 30% of the population of the province and makes it the third largest city of Galicia.-Population:...
– 1963) was a Galician intellectual of the 20th Century
20th Century Galicia
The period of Solidaridad Gallega , the beginning of the modern Galician nationalist movement, began in 1907 and ended around the First World War...
. He was a founder member of Xeración Nós, and among the most important figures in the history of Galician literature
Galician literature
Galician language literature is the literature written in Galician. The earliest works in Galician language are from the early 13th-century trovadorismo tradition...
. He is well regarded for his writings on Galician nationalism
Galician nationalism
Galician nationalism is a political movement arguing for the recognition of Galicia as a nation. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born at the beginning of the twentieth century from the idea of Galicianism.- Ideology :...
, as well as a contributor to the Galician New Narrative. He is also the father of Spanish novelist and critic Antonio 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 the University of SantiagoUniversity of Santiago
University of Santiago can refer to:* University of Santiago de Cuba* Universidad de Santiago de Chile in Chile* University of Santiago de Compostela, in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia...
, and in 1906 became a public official as his father was.
In these years he participated in social gatherings directed by Marcelo Macías
Marcelo Macías
Marcelo Antonio Macías Oliveri is an Uruguayan football goalkeeper. He currently plays for Real España in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras. He played backup for Orlin Vallecillo, but became the first chioce keeper when Orlin left the club.-References:...
, with other intellectuals, such as Xulio Alonso Cuevillas or Arturo Vázquez Núñez, who would significantly influence Vicente Risco's literary career. He read decadent English and French authors, who exposed him to occultism and orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
. He also studied Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and became a Theosophist
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
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 of Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, announcing the fact in the intellectual social gatherings of Ourense
Ourense
Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name in Galicia. Its population of 108,674 accounts for 30% of the population of the province and makes it the third largest city of Galicia.-Population:...
.
In February 1912 Risco he met Castelao
Castelão
There are two association football stadiums nicknamed Castelão:*Castelão , located in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil*Castelão , located in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil-Other:...
and praised one of his speeches in El Miño, but Risco was still far from the Galicianist
Galicianism (Galicia)
Galicianism is a political ideology of nationalist character whose objective is the defence of Galicia and its culture by the means of the establishment and strengthening of its own institutions.-Origins:...
movement.
In 1913 he went to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
to study Pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
. There he was a pupil of José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
, spoke with Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Ramón Gómez de la Serna Puig was a Spanish writer, dramatist and avant-garde agitator. He strongly influenced surrealist film maker Luis Buñuel....
and Luis de Hoyos Sáinz and became attracted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
.
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
Nós
Nós is an Irish language youth lifestyle magazine. The magazine first began publishing online on 17 March 2008 as part of the annual Irish language week, Seachtain na Gaeilge...
.
Encountering Galicianism
Beginning in 1917, Vicente Risco entered the Irmandades da FalaIrmandades da Fala
The Irmandades da Fala was a Galician nationalist organization active between 1916 and 1936.It was the first political organization of Galicia that only used the Galician language.-Origin:...
under the influence of Antón Losada Diéguez, and on December 18, 1917 he gave his first speech in the Galician language, an act of support for Francesc Cambó
Francesc Cambó
Francesc Cambó i Batlle was a conservative Catalan politician, founder and leader of the autonomist party Lliga Regionalista. He was minister in several Spanish governments...
. In the 1918 campaign for Parliamentary Elections, he made many speeches in the district of Celanova
Celanova
Celanova is a village and municipality located in the province of Orense, Galicia, Northern Spain. Situated near the border with Portugal, the village is bordered by Ramirás, Cartelle, A Merca, A Bola, Verea and Quintela de Leirado....
, to no acclaim. In July 1918, Risco began writing articles for A Nosa Terra
A Nosa Terra
A Nosa Terra is a Galician weekly newspaper founded in 1977 and published in Vigo. It is known for its leftist stance and its closeness to Galician Nationalism....
. He tried to improve the status of Galician literature, writing about Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
, Apollinaire and Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
.
Soon Risco had become the main theoretician and leader of Galician nationalism
Galician nationalism
Galician nationalism is a political movement arguing for the recognition of Galicia as a nation. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born at the beginning of the twentieth century from the idea of Galicianism.- Ideology :...
, 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
Manuel Murguía
Manuel Murguia was a Galician journalist and historian who created the Real Academia Galega. He was one of the main figures in Galician Rexurdimento movement. He is also remembered as Rosalía de Castro's husband, publisher and main supporter.-Life:...
and combined them with philosophical irrationalism, geographic determinism
Geographic determinism
Geographic determinism is the theory that the human habits and characteristics of a particular culture are shaped by geographic conditions. Coined by Ellsworth Huntington, the theory looked at the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from 400-500. Much of the fall of the empire had to do with a...
, neotraditionalism and ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
; 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
Nós
Nós is an Irish language youth lifestyle magazine. The magazine first began publishing online on 17 March 2008 as part of the annual Irish language week, Seachtain na Gaeilge...
, where he wrote over 100 articles until its cancellation in July 1936. He also directed the ethnographic section of the Seminario 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
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
, 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 the Commonwealth of Catalonia.After his rupture with the Irmandade da Fala da Coruña and A Nosa Terra he wrote for Rexurdimento, the newspaper of the Irmandade 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 the University 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 FalaIrmandades da Fala
The Irmandades da Fala was a Galician nationalist organization active between 1916 and 1936.It was the first political organization of Galicia that only used the Galician language.-Origin:...
into a political party. With Ramón Otero Pedraio he founded the Partido 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.
On October 25, 1931, he led a group of Galicianists that published a Catholic manifest against what they considered the persecution of the Catholic 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
Monforte de Lemos
Monforte de Lemos is a city and municipality in northwestern Spain, in the province of Lugo, Galicia. It covers an area of 200 km² and lies 62 km from Lugo. As of 2005 it had a population of 19,472. It is located in a valley between the shores of Sil River and Miño River, in the area...
. 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 the Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
. Risco united with the group of right-wing Galicianists, and he left the PG to direct Dereita Galeguista.
On June 13, 1936, when the campaign began to establish the Statute 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
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
'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 PamplonaPamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
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
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
: in his ethnographic studio he wrote History of Galiza directed by Otero Pedrayo, and translated Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquis of Iria Flavia was a Spanish novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".-Biography:Cela published his...
'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
Premio Nadal
Premio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on January 6 since 1944...
in 1953. He also wrote La tiara de Saitaphernes
Tiara of Saitaferne
The Tiara of Saitaferne is a tiara in gold sheet, acquired by the Louvre Museum in 1896, afterwards shown to be a fake.-History:On April 1, 1896, the Louvre announced that it had purchased a gold tiara that had belonged to the Scythian king, Saitapharnes. The museum had purchased the artifact for...
, 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 of CelticismCelticism
Celticism may refer to:*a word or linguistic property adapted from a Celtic language **List of English words of Celtic origin**List of English words of Scottish Gaelic origin**Irish words used in the English language...
.
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, 1953