Vicente Risco

Vicente Martínez Risco Agüero (October 1, 1884 in Ourense – April 30, 1963 in Ourense) was a Galician intellectual of the 20th Century. He was a founder member of Xeración Nós, and among the most important figures in the history of Galician literature. He is well regarded for his writings on Galician nationalism, as well as a contributor to the Galician New Narrative. He is also the father of Spanish novelist and critic Antonio Risco.

The son of a public official, Vicente Risco was born into a well-to-do and highly cultured family. He suffered from bad health as a child. He was a good friend of Ramón Otero Pedrayo. In 1899 he obtained his high school certificate. He studied Law in the University of Santiago, and in 1906 became a public official as his father was.

In these years he participated in social gatherings directed by Marcelo Macías, with other intellectuals, such as Xulio Alonso Cuevillas or Arturo Vázquez Núñez, who would significantly influence Vicente Risco's literary career. He read decadent English and French authors, who exposed him to occultism and orientalism. He also studied Buddhism and became a Theosophist author.

In 1910 he began work for a local newspaper, El Miño, where he wrote philosophical articles under the pseudonyms Rujú Sahib and Polichinela. He became a follower of Rabindranath Tagore, announcing the fact in the intellectual social gatherings of Ourense.

In February 1912 Risco he met Castelao and praised one of his speeches in El Miño, but Risco was still far from the Galicianist movement.

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