Alvaro Cunqueiro
Álvaro Cunqueiro was a prominent Galician writer born in 1911 near Lugo, in northwest Spain. His literary work was deeply influenced by the rich Celtic traditions of his homeland, and he often wrote in the Galician language, which has Portuguese roots. Cunqueiro began his literary career in the 1920s while studying at the University of Santiago de Compostela, engaging with the avant-garde literary scene by publishing poems and editing journals. His first collection of poems was published in 1933, and he explored medieval literature, incorporating surrealism and regional styles into his early works.
During the Franco regime, Cunqueiro faced censorship that limited foreign influence, prompting him to shift from poetry to prose fiction, notably with his novel "Merlin e familia," which reimagined Arthurian legends. Although he ventured into fiction, his primary focus remained on poetry in Galician, characterized by an ironic melancholy in his later years. Cunqueiro received several accolades for his work, including the Nadal Literature Prize in 1968 and the Frol de Augua Prize in 1979. He passed away in 1981 in Vigo, leaving a lasting legacy in Galician literature.
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Alvaro Cunqueiro
Poet
- Born: December 22, 1911
- Birthplace: Mondonedo, Lugo, Spain
- Died: February 28, 1981
- Place of death: Vigo, Spain
Biography
Álvaro Cunqueiro was born in 1911 near Lugo in the Galician region of northwest Spain, an area rich in the Celtic tradition which informed his literary imagination throughout his life. In fact, Cunqueiro frequently wrote in the Portuguese-related Galician language. His family had deep Galician roots, and several of his ancestors were writers. He attended the University of Santiago de Compostela and found himself caught up in the avant-garde literary atmosphere of the city, where in the 1920’s Cunqueiro began to write poems and edit journals dedicated to the new literary style.
He published his first book of poems in 1933. At the same time, he began exploring medieval literature, and his early work represented both surrealism and the “neotroubador” styles of the region. By the 1940’s he was an established writer, working both as journalist and poet. Censorship under the Francisco Franco regime suppressed foreign influences and surrealism, with the result that in the post-World War II years, Cunqueiro was forced to write in Castilian Spanish. Much Spanish poetry of the period exhibited a social consciousness which Cunqueiro found as uncongenial as he found fascism, so he began to turn to prose fiction. His first novel, Merlin e familia, created a series of fantasies based on Arthurian legends.
Despite his work in fiction, Cunqueiro’s main literary focus was on writing poetry in Galician, and he continued to publish vigorously throughout the last two decades of his life. His later poetry is marked by an ironic melancholy. He was awarded the Nadal Literature Prize in 1968 for his novel Un hombre que parecía a Orestes and the Frol de Augua Prize in 1979 for his poetry collection Herba aquí o acolá. He died in 1981 in the Galician city of Vigo.