Galician Authors: Méndez Ferrín, Casares, Ferreiro, and Novoneyra
Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín
His Work
From a literary standpoint, Méndez Ferrín is a fundamental author of current Portuguese literature, both in poetry and narrative.
His Narrative Work
As a narrator, he writes stories and novels. His early works are within the New Galician Narrative, influenced by European and American literature.
His narrative work revolves around three themes:
- A fantastic theme, recreating characters and environments of the Matter of Britain and the Arthurian legends.
- The exploration of the absurdity of human existence, anguish, violence, individual and institutional.
- The mythical world created by the writer.
He is also the author of a play, “Celtics Unfiltered”.
Carlos Casares
His Work
His literary activity was mainly developed in the narrative genre. He also wrote essays and worked in the press and at many cultural events.
Their Narrative Work
He is the author of fiction. The first two works are part of the New Narrative in Galician. The first three are autobiographical, covering different stages of his life. The remaining works are set in the historical past: a narrative play (The Shadowy Dreams of Clio), the arrival of cinema in a Portuguese city (Ilustrisima), the investigation of a death at the start of the Civil War (The Dead of That Summer), and the position of Galician intellectuals during the Franco dictatorship (God Sitting on a Blue Sillon).
He also wrote children’s literature and a theatrical piece: “The Oranges, But Oranges From All Oranges.”
Simultaneously, he published textbooks and works on the life and work of various authors.
Celso Emilio Ferreiro
His father was a member of the Brotherhoods of Speech. In the early 60s, he joined the UPG (Union of the Galician People). In 1966, he emigrated to Venezuela, and in 1973, he returned to America and settled in Madrid.
His Work
Celso Emilio is the foremost poet of his generation. He recovers the social aspect of poetry in Portugal.
In his poetry, three broad themes can be distinguished:
- Poetry-social nature that claims: denouncing social injustice, expressing solidarity with the downtrodden, and expressing his commitment to anti-war and anti-fascist causes.
- Intimate Poetry: expressing his existential anxiety, recalling a happy past, nostalgically evoking his homeland, reflecting on the transience of life, love, and death.
- Satirical poetry: a complaint with a strongly critical tone, full of humor and sarcasm, about the meanness and human tragedies of human beings in general.
Some of his works are: “The Dream Sulagado”, “Long Night of Stone”, “Journey to the Land of Dwarfs”, and “Songs of Mockery and Insult.”
Uxío Novoneyra
He stands out mainly for his poetry that presents the landscape of the Courel mountains: hills and peaks, wolves and eagles, the sound of rushing rivers, snow and fog, and vegetation covering the hills. Before this, man is reduced to a single point in space. The poet expresses a deep connection and fusion with nature.
His poetic work includes the following titles: “The Fields”, “Elegy of Courel and Other Poems”, “Woman Away”, and “Time Eulogy.”