A study (Volume1) and an edited collection (Volume 2) of the writings of Manuel Culebra/Manuel Andújar published before his departure for exile in 1939, recovering a corpus of 535 texts that appeared between May 1928 and 24 January 1939._x000D_ Despite the claims that Manuel Andújar himself made in 1987 about his early literary vocation, he has been persistently classified, albeit with some exceptions, as a writer shaped and driven by exile._x000D_ The study begins with a set of biographical details for those years, which provide essential contextualisation for Andújar's work. The starting point is Málaga, where he was educated and where he began writing (1928-1932). Then comes his time in Madrid (1932-1935), during which he was radicalised, left the Radical Socialist Republican Party (PRRS), joined the Socialist Youth (JJ.SS.), and threw himself into politics. In 1936 he moved to Barcelona as a land registry officer, and intensified his activism. When the Civil War broke out, being unfit for armed service due to a limp, he took charge of UHP (Unite, Proletarian Brothers), a newspaper in Lérida belonging to the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) and the General Workers' Union (UGT). On the fall of the city, he joined the newspaper Las Noticias in Barcelona, and around the same time was expelled from the PSUC. In Mexico he began to use the pseudonym Manuel Andújar systematically, and later had it legally registered. On his return to Spain he had his surname changed officially._x000D_ The study of the corpus follows the chronology and the place of writing: Málaga (Chapter 2), Lérida (Chapter 3) and Barcelona (Chapter 4). The Málaga period consists mainly of literary writings, as recalled by the author in 1987. The Lérida period is the most prolific, and encompasses the first twenty months of the war. At its core is the "Paréntesis" (Parentheses) series of articles, whose aims were pedagogical and cultural and which dealt with a wide variety of topics (ranging from the concept of art to the war front) in response to people's interests in those times. Particular attention is paid to a pamphlet reporting on the 27th Division (1938), which is his first work to have been conserved. In Las Noticias, Andújar wrote a brief column entitled "La Calle" (The Street), which had literary pretensions and which dealt with day-to-day city life._x000D_ Finally, the comments made earlier on matters of content and form that stretch into the author's later work are summarised, on three levels: theme, concept of literature, and style. There is a variety of recurring thematic elements after 1939: important figures, such as Benito Muñoz; cinema, such as the appraisal of René Clair; towns, such as Málaga and Andújar; descriptions of the war front (Singra), landscapes (the plains), etc. Andújar reflects as early as 1930 [4] on his conception of literature as a vocational, ethical and aesthetic activity. Another of his characteristics is the care with which he uses the writer's basic tool of language, developing a distinct style over the years that, though modulated in line with the type of discourse, remains consistent until the very end._x000D_ The conclusion is that Manuel Culebra/Andújar began writing at a very early age, but his political involvement and radicalisation led him away from this activity temporarily. As a result of the war and the need to defend the Republic, he then went back to literary writing as a journalist and continued to write while in exile, making sure not to "profesionalizar la vocación pura" (professionalise the pure vocation)._x000D_ The second volume is the result of editing this disperse, forgotten corpus. The accompanying notes serve a dual purpose: to point out the textual problems deriving from careless printing, poor-quality materials or precarious conservation; and to clarify cultural, political or historical allusions and words or expressions that have fallen out of use.