Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages

Advisor

Nuria Morgado

Committee Members

José del Valle

Lia Schwartz

Subject Categories

Arts and Humanities | Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature

Keywords

Galicia Lugo Siglo XX Cuentos fantásticos

Abstract

Formal presentation of the three themes of the thesis: 1) Objectives and the historical time frame of the writer (Ánxel Fole, 1903-1986); 2) His intellectual career before and after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939); and 3) The importance of his work in the restoration of Galicia’s identity that, notwithstanding the politicians and their thirst for power, and even if marginalized, survived always hidden throughout the centuries.

My thesis about Ánxel Fole is divided in three parts:

Part One.

To present a study and annotated edition of his story tale book Á lús do candil. To define some of the terms for those readers who might not be familiar with the setting, since the author expresses himself through folk oral language: the types, landscape, fauna, celebrations, and customs typical of the different rural regions. In the surrounding villages, not only the same word might have a different meaning, but its scientific definition may very well not be found in a dictionary. In order to give recognition to this lexicon, I will do a comparison with contemporary writers, including Ramón Piñeiro, Álvaro Cunqueiro, Domingo García Sabel, Francisco Fernández del Riego, and Ramón Otero Pedrayo.

Part Two.

In La Fundación Penzol from the city of Vigo, the Casa Gallega da Cultura has a collection of unpublished letters related to the correspondence of Ánxel Fole with other writers and friends. In the Fondo Otero Pedrayo there are 14 letters written between 1955 and 1973. In the Fondo Ramón Piñeiro López there are 154 letters written between 1950 and 1985. In the Fondo Francisco Fernández del Riego there are 125 letters written between 1953 and 1981. The thesis makes reference to all the letters related to the author’ life and work, including those referring to his book Á lús do candil (1953). All this information is first-hand and it can help the reader understand why Piñeiro wanted so much to have those story tales written by Fole.

Part Three.

I obtained from the General Archives of the Censor's Office during the Franco Regime (Archivo General de la Administración de Censura del Franquismo), located in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, the documents related to the file on Ánxel Fole. The archives indicate that he was persecuted and that his work was censured during the Civil War and during Franco's dictatorship, as he was viewed with suspicion.

In 1936 Fole had already written his first literary work (Auga lizgaira), which was never published, even though it was already in the Villamarín publishing house, in the city of Lugo. Due to the military coup, this work will be lost forever.

Before the Civil War, Ánxel Fole was a prestigious journalist who wrote in Galician and Castilian. He was a liberal ideologue whose father, a judge with whom he shared the same ideals, was a descendant of the aristocracy of the city of Lugo. Due to the Civil War, Fole loses his job and is deprived of everything during his exile in the hinterland, far from Lugo, his city. M. T. Bermúdez Montes defines the conditions in which many intellectuals lived after the beginning of the Civil War, including the persecution they suffered and the censorship of their work:

Essentially, there were three possible outcomes: first, execution in the hands of Franco's coup forces, as it was the case with the publisher Ánxel Casal, the main driving force of editions in Galician (Nós) during the previous decades, and the mayor of Santiago de Compostela at the beginning of the Civil War; second, the exile suffered by the writer and member of Parliament of the Galician Party, Alfonso R. Castelao, until his death in Buenos Aires (1950); and third, the reprisals and forced distancing from the educational institutions, as it was the case of the writer and geography senior lecturer Ramón Otero Pedrayo, who only years later regained his job in his institution (1950), and later received his doctorate and academic chair (Santiago de Compostela).

Ánxel Fole was also persecuted and his work as a writer was interrupted until his re-appearance in 1953 with Á lús do candil, published by Editorial Galaxia. The thesis includes information regarding the reasons why Fole was persecuted.

Download

Share

COinS