Galician Avant-Garde Poetry: Movements & Key Figures
The Avant-Gardes in Galicia
The “Nós” group, with their work restoring Galician culture and their universalizing vision, opened doors for the incorporation of avant-garde movements into Galician literature. Particularly important was the influence of *Risco*, who introduced Manuel Antonio to “isms” and the trends of Eastern Europe.
The Galician avant-garde youth, also known as the Generation of ’25, were born around 1900. They represented a break and a critical attitude towards the prevailing poetry: the tradition of sentimentality (nostalgia, tears, complaints), folklore (festivals, customs, rural life), and the 19th-century landscaping. For the first time, there was an integration with European poetry. They made themselves known in magazines such as Alfar, Ronsel, and Cristal.
We can identify movements clearly influenced by European fashions (“-isms”) and other specifically Galician movements:
European-Influenced Movements
- Surrealism: Álvaro Cunqueiro: *Poemas do si e non* (1933) offers a very personal interpretation of Surrealism, with a flow of associated ideas and the influence of dreams, but with a sentimental, joyful landing, without the dramatic charge usually found in Surrealist texts. Some elements of Cubism can also be seen in *Mar ao Norde* (1932).
- Creationism: The sole practitioner was Manuel Antonio (Rianxo, 1900-1930). A rebellious personality, he represents the best example of the avant-garde in Galicia. In 1922, he published the manifesto *Máis alá*, which, despite its political allusions, did not adhere to a specific “-ism.”
His main work (and the only one published during his lifetime) is *De catro a catro. Follas sen data dun diario de abordo* (1928). It comprises 19 poems structured like a sea voyage, often at night, symbolizing an absolutely pessimistic conception of life: dull, repetitive, in complete solitude (like being lost at sea), and a continuous farewell.
We could speak of a surface structure: a sea voyage (from preparation to the end, with an intermediate stop), monotonous, repetitive, and contradictory – time passes but is stopped; there is only the present. And a deep structure: an inner journey, an initiation, a disillusioned, negative vision of life from a perspective of loneliness.
Native Avant-Garde Movements
- Hylomorphism: This was the most successful poetic movement at the time, with a large number of followers. Under a traditional form (therefore, not fully avant-garde) – popular stanzas, assonant rhyme, measured lines, popular language features – it incorporated avant-garde imagery of a living nature, open to sensory, auditory, and visual experiences, for sentimentality and anecdotes. The poem is dehumanized, and the landscape is humanized. The initiator and most prominent representative is Amado Carballo (1901-1927), with *Proel* (1927) and *O Galo* (posthumous, 1928). Among the many followers, Eduardo Blanco Amor stands out. It continued after the war.
- Neotrobadorism: In 1928, José Joaquim Nunes published medieval songs that achieved widespread popularity, leading to the emergence of this current. It is not strictly avant-garde but rather a reformulation of styles and themes from the medieval tradition, adding images from modern poetry. It also continued after the war.
We can distinguish two trends within Neotrobadorism:
- The more innovative trend, represented by the initiator, Bouza-Brey (*Nao senlleira*, 1933), and A. Cunqueiro (*Cantiga nova que se chama Riveira*, 1933; *Dona do corpo delgado*, 1950).
- A more mimetic trend, culminating with Xosé María Álvarez Blázquez, who, in 1953, passed off his *Cancioneiro de Monfero* as a genuine medieval songbook.