The Brotherhood of Speech: Revitalizing Galician Literature

The Brotherhood of Speech

Born in 1916 across various localities in Galicia, the Brotherhood of Speech (Irmandades da Fala) aimed to dignify and expand the use of the Galician language through several key initiatives:

• A) Revitalizing Galician literary culture by holding competitions, researching, and founding theatrical performance groups.
• B) Expanding the limited circle of readers that existed at the turn of the century.
• C) Diversifying and renewing literary genres to provide higher quality and variety.
• D) Translating world literature into Galician for the first time.

The Poetry of the Brotherhood

In the early twentieth century, the quality of produced texts was lower than that achieved by Rosalía de Castro, Pondal, or Curros during the Rexurdimento. The press in Galician had largely disappeared, and the language was used primarily for editing humorous verses. There were no publishers dedicated to Galician books, and narrative and drama suffered from meager results, as poetry continued to dominate the literary stage.

Narrative Brotherhoods

The Brotherhood of Speech sought to create the necessary channels for dissemination to develop genres that had failed to reach the level of lyric poetry in the previous century. Establishing publishers, forming a growing readership, and encouraging a culture of these genres were primary objectives. The main narrative trends included:

• Humor and the macabre: Aimed at captivating an urban audience (e.g., O ollo de vidro).
• Neoceltismo: Focused on the recovery of Celtic roots.
• Ethnographic narrative: (e.g., A compañía de Santa Compaña).
• Naturalistic narrative.
• Symbolist trends.

Brotherhoods Theatre

The theater of the period presented four basic trends:

• A) Social and anti-caciquil: (e.g., A ponte social).
• B) Humorous customs: Often presented in smaller genres.
• C) Historical: Focusing on the evocation or recreation of past moments and figures (e.g., A torre do peito, O bordelo).
• D) Lyric Theatre: (e.g., Artabrans).

The lack of actors and theater companies dedicated to performing works in Galician remained a significant challenge. Furthermore, the difficulty of publishing dramas and the devaluation of the Galician language among the urban middle classes—compounded by competition from cinema—served as major impediments to the growth of the genre.