Publications

Preparations at Nós to publish the novel, O frade das dúas almas (originally planned as Padre Hilarión), were interrupted in 1936 by the outbreak of civil war in Spain. The author, Xosé Tobío Mayo, was forced into exile and the book was left unpublished.

The story is divided into eleven chapters of varying length, with greater narrative coherence in the first seven. The description of the work in the subtitle as ‘a novel of popular customs’ is particularly appropriate in the early chapters, which recount key moments in the childhood of the main character, Leliño, and chronicle the everyday life of the labourers and fishermen among whom Tobío Mayo grew up.

The ‘popular customs’ of the subtitle refer to the traditional ways of life of the labourers and fishermen in Leliño’s village and the neighbouring town. The story itself becomes secondary at times, in fact, such is the profusion of description devoted to the customs and traditions of the characters: coblas exchanged at the mill, midsummer celebrations, pilgrimages and processions, collecting cantigas, and the song-duel (regueifa) performed at Mingos and Delores’s wedding.