Ernesto Guerra Da Cal

ERNESTO GUERRA DA CAL / Quiroga, O “Paraíso da Memoria”

• Birth: El Ferrol, 1911
• Death: Lisboa, 1994
• Outstanding works:

                -Lúa de alén mar (1959)

                -Poemas (1961)

                -Rio de sonho e tempo (1962)

                -Motivos de eu (1985)

                -Futuro inmemorial (1985)

                -Espelho cego (1990)

• Profession: Poet, enssayist, teacher and academician.
• Award: Guggenheim fellowship.

“Although I was born in Ferrol, I have always considered myself a citizen of Quirgoa”, said Guerra da Cal. He spent his childhood in this house. Later, he moved to the house number 3 (located on the opposite corner of the square) and to number 44 Real street.  

Quiroga was the “Edém da infáncia”, “Paraíso intantil da memória” or “Jardím de lembranças sossegado” is for the poet, who returns his emotional gaze to the village.

Ernesto Guerra da Cal was a captain of the Republic Army during the Civil War. In 1939, he was exilated to United States, where he maintained a close relationship with Castelao and other exiled intellectuals. He developed a prolific teaching career at the universities of Columbia and New York; besides, he worked as a lecturer, researcher and literary critic. In 1954, he became a naturalised American citizen and adopted the surname Guerra da Cal to replace his original Pérez Guerra. When he retired, he settled in London, later moving to Estoril and then to Lisbon, where he lived until his death.

He defended the Galician-Portuguese linguistic unity and the reintegrationism. He contributed also to the Lusophony thesis.