Emigration in Antón Villar Ponte’s theatre

Abstract

Antón Villar Ponte (1881-1936) was one of the leading figures of Galician nationalism, as well as a significant playwright. This analysis of Villar Ponte’s theatre builds on a combination of, on the one hand, theories of the imagological potential of literature and, on the other, studies of the role of emigration in the construction of cultural identities. The purpose of this analysis is to identify and analyse the images of the migratory phenomenon conveyed by Villar Ponte in his plays, and to link them to his political ideology, shaped in other texts, mostly essays, over a span of three decades. The issue of emigration, central to Villar Ponte’s thought, gradually acquired a complexity and richness that would eventually contribute to Galicia’s cultural and political imaginary.