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TheRexurdimento (Galician for 'resurgence') was a period in theHistory of Galicia during the 19th century. Its central feature was the revitalization of theGalician language as a vehicle of social and cultural expression after the so-calledséculos escuros ("dark centuries") in which the dominance ofCastilian Spanish was nearly complete. The GalicianRexurdimento coincides with theCatalanRenaixença.
Romanticism led to a revival ofregionalism in theIberian Peninsula. Languages besides the official Castilian Spanish were reevaluated. In contrast to the universalizingAge of Enlightenment, a positive value was placed on regional traditions, languages, and dialects. In Galicia, Castilian Spanish had become the language of the cities and of thebourgeoisie, while Galician had become a largely rural language without a live literary tradition. This created some degree ofdiglossia, with Castilian Spanish dominating literary and business use, and Galician being strictly a language of daily life.
The transitional phase from theséculos escuros to theRexurdimento is referred to by literary historians as thePrerrexurdimento. Within thePrerrexurdimento, two phases can be roughly distinguished, before and after the unsuccessfulSolís Uprising of 1846. The first phase involved a rather diffuse revival of the Galician language; the second is more concentrated, including the first new Galician-language works in centuries to gain acclaim.
From 1840 onward, groups of intellectuals saw Galicia as a backward region whose advancement was dependent on the formation of a regional or national identity. This provincialist movement centered at theUniversity of Santiago de Compostela; its most prominent figure wasAntolín Faraldo Asorey.
The failed Solís Uprising of 1846, an uprising against centralism, ended with the summary execution of the so-calledMartyrs of Carral. This political and military defeat nonetheless awoke Galician literary consciousness. Authors who shared the idea of Galicia as their fatherland published in magazines such asEl Centinela de Galicia ("The Galician Sentinel") andLa Aurora de Galicia.Benito Viceto published aHistory of Galicia (1865–1866) a heroic narrative of Galician history in six volumes. Important works from this period include theProezas de Galicia ("Prowess of Galicia") by Fernández Neira,A gaita gallega ("The Galician Bagpipes") byJuan Manuel Pintos (1853), the founding of theJuegos Florales de Galicia ("Floral Games of Galicia") inA Coruña (1861), as well as publications such asEl álbum de la caridad ("The Charity Album") and newspapers that published fragments of Galician-language novels and plays.
The two foremost Galician-language genres from this time were political writings and the revival of Galician as a literary language. The first of the political writings were linked to thePeninsular War, viewed throughout Spain as a war of independence againstNapoleonic France:Un labrador que foi sarxento ("A farmer who was a sergeant", 1808) and several dialogues, the first of them beingProezas de Galicia explicadas baxo la conversación rústica de los dos compadres Chinto y Mingote ("Prowess of Galicia explained through the rustic conversation of two comrades Chinto and Mingote") byJosé Fernández de Neira (1812). Later, pamphlets and newspapers published polemics on both sides in the struggle betweenabsolutism andliberalism, and other polemics critical of the administrative situation of the region. On the literary front werevillancicos (intended to be sung), one play (A casamenteira byAntonio Benito Fandiño, published in 1849 and centered onarranged marriage), satiricalsonnets, two books of poetry byNicomedes Pastor Díaz, and various other works.Francisco Añón was another author relevant in this period.
ProfessorDolores Vilavedra, while cautious in drawing conclusions, sees this phase of thePrerrexurdimento as basically a Galician form of artistic and political Romanticism.[1] Some institutions developed during this period, such as an Academia Literaria de Santiago with its official organEl Idólatra de Galicia, and magazines such asRevista de Galicia. However, many of these institutions were repressed after the 1846 Solís Uprising.
The intellectual heirs of this thwarted movement were a group of young people, among themManuel Murguía,Eduardo Pondal, andRosalía de Castro. Their gathering in 1856 at theBanquete de Conxo ("Banquet ofConxo") marks the founding of the Liceo de la Juventud as a gathering place and a base forcultural activism.
TheRexurdimento is conventionally considered to begin with the publication ofRosalía de Castro's book of poemsCantares Gallegos in 1863. Nonetheless, there is no sharp break from thePrerrexurdimento to theRexurdimento, and there were no other significant publications in Galician for over a decade after theCantares Gallegos, a period that includes Spain'sGlorious Revolution and the subsequent liberal era.
However, beginning in 1875 more works were published in Galician, including, again, newspapers, the most famous of which wasO Tío Marcos da Portela ("Uncle Marcos from Portela", 1876–1889). TheBiblioteca Gallega ("Galician Library") published 52 works beginning in 1885, including such prominent works asAires da miña terra ("Airs of My Land") byManuel Curros Enríquez andQueixumes dos Pinos ("Moans of the Pines") by Eduardo Pondal.
1880 was a particularly outstanding year, with the publication ofFollas Novas ("New Leaves") by Rosalía de Castro,Aires da miña terra by Curros Enríquez, andEspiñas, follas e frores. Ramiño primeiro ("Spines, Leaves, and Fronds. First Sprigs") byValentín Lamas Carvajal.
In 1886, for the first time, a literary contest was held, confined to Galician-language works. Poetry was particularly prominent, and anthologies of Galician poetry began to appear. In a more political vein, that year saw the publication ofLos precursores ("The Precursors") by Manuel Murguía.
These years also saw the publication of many grammar books, dictionaries, and critical literary studies, and further history books, including anotherHistory of Galicia by Manuel Murguía. Furthermore, there was a recovery of the splendid works in Galician by medievaltroubadours, theCantigas. The first such work to be published was theCancionero de la Vaticana (1875), followed byColocci Brancuti (1889),Cantigas de Alfonso X El Sabio (1889), andCancionero de Ajuda (1904).
The first significant published prose fiction in Galician was byMarcial Valladares Núñez. HisMaxina ou a filla espúrea ("Maxina or A Spurious Daughter") appeared in the 1880s in a series of inserts in a magazine; the manuscript dates from 1870). The book is particularly unusual in its mix of Galician and Castilian Spanish to suggest the bifurcated lives of its characters. The first drama in Galician wasRentar de Castromil (1904) byEvaristo Martelo Paumán.[2]
ThecanonAntonio López Ferreiro is considered the true father of the Galician novel. He wrote three novels, the best known of which isA tecedeira de Bonabal ("The Weaver of Bonabal"), published in installments in Galician newspapers. Theserealistic works with aspects of thehistorical novel are set at different points in Galician history.
Costumbrismo, the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life, mannerisms, and customs, was also active in Galicia, as it was elsewhere in Spain. However, in Galicia it focused almost entirely on rural life. Urban narratives in Galician began to appear only toward the end of the 19th century, as in the work ofFrancisco Álvarez de Novoa, urban, bourgeois, and psychological. This was a prelude to the innovative writers of theIrmandades da Fala.
There were very few theatrical works associated with theRexurdimento.