Walking in the Margins with Xohán Casal: Popular Spirituality and Literary Expression

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to the figure of the Galician writer Xohán Casal (1935-1960), using Casal’s personal writings to provide new keys for the analysis of his literary figure and narrative texts. The study of these unpublished materials  preserved as Fondo Xohán Casal in the Real Academia Galega— reveals little known aspects of Casal’s ideology, aesthetics and existential position, such as spirituality and commitment to popular culture from Galicia. These new documents show how Casal took Eduardo Pondal (1835-1971) —whose worldview has left a deep mark on Casal’s thought—, Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao (1886-1950) and Luís Seoane (1910-1979) as literary and political models.