Work & Activities

The work by Nicomedes Pastor Díaz consists of different fields:JOURNALISTWhen he was 17 years old, he had already published his poem "Alborada" in El Museo. There were other compositions, which were collected in different newspapers of that time: "A la Luna" (in El Artista), "Mariposa Negra" (in La Abeja). Some articles of the author were also compiled in newspapers like Museo Artístico y Literario, El Porvenir, and No me olvides. His journalist production became very important and published many articles in newspapers like El Español, El Correo Nacional, El Heraldo, El Sol, and El Conservador.ESSAYISTHe wrote historical and critical essays. His first productions were Italia y Roma and Roma sin el Papa. Among his critical essays, we should specially appreciate Del Movimiento Literario en España en 1837. In this essay there is a rivalry between old, young people, some look always back to the past, and others think of a better future. He also wrote the critical essay titled Prólogo a las Obras Poéticas de don José Zorrilla. Biographical essays dedicated to Francisco J. de Burgos, Angel Saavedra, Diego de León, and Ramón Cabrera are also very important.POETIn 1840 he published a volume titled Poesías. He wrote poems in different languages: Galician, French and Castilian being specially important A la Luna, La Mariposa Negra and La Sirena del Norte and the French poems Vie et Mort.NOVELISTHe wrote a short story titled Una cita, which was published in pamphlet in 1837. De Villahermosa a la China is a bigger and better-built novel, whose first part had already been included as a newspaper serial in La Patria (1848) and printed ten years later just as it is known nowadays. This novel is also titled Coloquios, which are narrations with descriptions of Galicia. It is a sort of autobiographical novel, which was eulogized by the contemporary criticism.ORATORHe made many speeches at the Congress being the most important ones "Sobre la dotación del culto y el clero", "La devolución de los bienes del clero", "Sobre la fuerza del ejército y los recursos para el material de guerra" and "Discurso de redención, enganches y reenganches de la gente de mar". Specially important was his speech defending the 1837 Constitution against Bravo Murillo.POLITICIANMost of his political ideas about peace, order, and justice were expressed in Memorias de una campaña periodística, Los problemas sociales, Diez años de controversia parlamentaria, and Cuaderno de autógrafos inéditos.SUPPORTER OF GALICIAN AUTONOMYHe was several times criticized for not having devoted himself especially to Galicia. However he always felt devotion for his native country and whenever he could he expressed it. An example was a gratefulness speech at the Literary and Artistic Lyceum in A Coruña because of a homage in his honour. Pastor Díaz is certain to have written about Galicia in his literary work, especially about the wonderful Galician landscapes. Only his works Alborada and Belmiro e Benigno were written in Galician language.He was going to write the prologue for the book Cantares Gallegos by Rosalía but he died before starting it.