Saturday, July 28, 2012

Manuel Maria du Bocage





Main masterpieces:   

  • A Morte de D. Ignez de Castro
  • A Pavorosa Illusão
  • A Virtude Laureada
  • Elegia
  • Improvisos de Bocage
  • Rimas
     
Historical period in literature: 
Classical literature, period of Neoclassicism

 

Bocage, the poet of Freedom, the lyrical, the comical

Bocage lived in a time of evident crisis. The economy was fragile. The broad and radical reforms undertaken by Marquês de Pombal were systematically perverted. The indigent people were afraid of his impotences.
Bocage, in addition to poetry, composed satirical poems covering regime’s people and the clergy, which has not pleased obviously the power.
Censorship pursued Bocage throughout his life. Many lines of his poems were cut, others ostensibly
changed, and some poems only appeared posthumously. For this reason it is plenty understandable his desperate yearning for freedom.
In a transitional, troubled, convulsing period, his work reflects this instability. On the one hand, it reflects the influence of classical culture, cultivating his genres, appealing to the mythology, using authentic vocabulary; on the other hand, it is a pre-romantic because he sets himself free from the webs of reason, overflows with intensity all that is in his soul, torrentially expresses his feelings, defends loneliness.
It is well known Bocage’s irreverent character. Indeed, he wrote merciless satires, severe criticisms to the society’s model, to the government, to the powerful ones in general. The social conventions, clergy, doctors, greedy and writers, among others, were also subject of his careful observation and his corrosive criticism. He consubstantiated the voice of the oppressed people, but always with a critical tone, that compensated with laughter, with the caricature and ridicule related with his legitimate dissatisfaction.


Self-portrait

Original in Portuguese:
Magro, de olhos azuis, carão moreno,
Bem servido de pés, meão na altura,
Triste de facha, o mesmo de figura,
Nariz alto no meio, e não pequeno;
Incapaz de assistir num só terreno,
Mais propenso ao furor do que à ternura;
Bebendo em níveas mãos, por taça escura,
De zelos infernais letal veneno;
Devoto incensador de mil deidades
(Digo, de moças mil) num só memento,
E somente no altar amando os frades,
Eis Bocage, em quem luz algum talento;
Saíram dele mesmo estas verdades,
Num dia em que se achou mais pachorrento.
Free translation in English:
Thin, blue eyes, tanned face,
His fair share of feet, middling height,
Sad face and figure,
High nose in the middle, and not small;
Incapable of staying in just one place,
Quicker to anger than tenderness;
Drinking in his pale hands, out of a dark cup,
From hellish enthusiasms a lethal poison;
Burning incense to a thousand divinities
(I mean, a thousand girls) in a single moment,
Loving the priests only at the altar,
This is Bocage, in whom some talent shines;
He himself wrote these truths,
On a day when he was bored.

Curiosities

Nicola, a coffee with history




Place for exchanging ideas, literary debates and propaganda of opinions, that's how we can define one of the most fashionable coffees of the eighteenth century. Founded by an Italian in Rossio, Nicola Breteiro, this is one of the oldest establishments in Lisbon.
With the nickname "Academy", due to the wide range of intellectuals who attended it, Nicola had a regular that stood out among all others. This man was Bocage. One of the funniest episodes of the life of the author happened just ahead of Nicola: it is said that a policeman asked him who he was, whence came and whither he went. The poet answered showing his comical side:


"Eu sou Bocage
Venho do Nicola
Vou pr'o outro mundo
Se dispara a pistola." 

(original version in Portuguese)

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_Bocage 
lithis

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sandra Carvalho



Main masterpieces: 


  • A Última Feiticeira (2005)
  • O Guerreiro Lobo (2005)
  • Lágrimas do Sol e da Lua (2006)
  • O Círculo do Medo (2007)
  • Os Três Reinos (2008)
  • A Sacerdotisa dos Penhascos (2009)
  • O Filho do Dragão (2012) 


Historical period in literature: 
21st Century Literature

Consulted source:  

Editorial Presença

Margarida Rebelo Pinto



Main masterpieces: 

  • Sei Lá (1999)
  • Não há Coincidências (2000)
  • As Crónicas de Margarida (2000)
  • Alma de Pássaro (2002)
  • Vou Contar-te um Segredo (2006)
  • A Rapariga Que Perdeu o Coração (2007)



Historical period in literature: 
21st Century Literature

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_MargaridaRebeloPinto

José Rodrigues dos Santos



Main masterpieces: 

  • A Ilha das Trevas (2004)
  • A Filha do Capitão (2005)
  • Codex 632 (2006)
  • A Fórmula de Deus (2007)
  • O Sétimo Selo (2007)
  • A Vida Num Sopro (2008)
  • Fúria Divina (2009)
  • O Anjo Branco (2010)
  • O Último Segredo (2011)



Historical period in literature: 
21st Century Literature

A journey as a writer

(Text from José Rodrigues dos Santos - The Author)

José Rodrigues dos Santos is a journalist, a lecturer at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and a writer.  (...)
In 2002, a friend involved in a literary magazine asked José to write a short story for him. He had read War Chronicles and believed José was a novelist in waiting. José did not agree with his friend, but he owed him a favour.
So, drawing from his journalistic writing and radio drama scripting, José began writing a short story for the magazine. After a while, however, he realized his short story, written in two weeks, was 200 pages long. It became his first novel, The Island of Darkness (66 000 copies), the story of a family in East Timor during the years of the Indonesian occupation. At the outset, the book sold 6 000 copies. It wasn’t a bestseller, but it gave him the writing bug and two years later José finished his second novel, The Captain’s Daughter (125 000 copies) This was a story of love and betrayal set in World War I. In the first two weeks this 600 page novel did not sell. Then, after the main Portuguese news magazine fleetingly mentioned the book, sales erupted all over the country and the novel became one of 2004’s bestsellers in Portugal.
After The Captain’s Daughter, all José’s novels became instantaneous bestsellers, sold for translation in 18 languages.  
In 2005, José published Codex 632 (201 000 copies), an historical thriller focusing on the true identity of Christopher Columbus and his Iberian Jewish background, and based on actual documents. This novel became the third bestselling book of 2005 in Portugal and was longlisted for the 2010 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.  
His next novel, The Einstein Enigma (184 000 copies), became the nº 1 bestselling book of 2006 in Portugal and was longlisted for the 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It is a scientific thriller set in Portugal, Iran and Tibet concerning the Iranian nuclear crisis and the biggest quest of them all: the search for the scientific proof of God’s existence.  
José’s 2007 novel, The Seventh Seal (196 000 copies), is another thriller set in Antarctica, Portugal, Austria, Siberia and Australia and concerns the biggest immediate threats to human civilization: global warming and the end of oil. It became the second bestselling novel of 2007 in Portugal.  
In the following year he published Life in a Breath (144 000 copies), a story set in Portugal in the 1930s, involving a love affair, a murder, a political persecution and the Spanish Civil War. This novel became the nº 1 bestselling book of 2008 in Portugal.
His 2009 novel, The Wrath of God (187 000 copies), deals with two questions: what if Al-Qaeda has got the atomic bomb, and what if true Islam is radical Islam? Reviewed by a former operative of Al-Qaeda, the man who carried out Bin Laden’s first attack in Europe, this novel became the n.º 1 bestselling book of 2009 in Portugal and won the 2009 Porto Literary Club Award.
In 2010 he published The Last Interview of José Saramago, a short book on his conversations with the Portuguese Nobel of Literature laureate, who died this year.
José’s next work was The White Angel (158 000 copies), the story of a flying doctor in war-torn Mozambique who, one day, while visiting a remote village, comes across a terrible, dark secret. This novel is based on the life of the author’s own father and it became the nº1 bestselling book of 2010 in Portugal.
His latest novel is The Last Secret (150 000 copies), a mystery about the true identity of Jesus. The plot involves the serial killing of three academics and Tomás Noronha’s pursuit of the assassin. The quest takes him to the Holy Land, a search that leads him to who Jesus really was. All historical, biblical and scientific information in the novel is authentic.
 

La Formule de Dieu, a best-seller in France

La formule de Dieu, French edition of A Fórmula de Deus, was launched in early July in France by HC Editions, Paris, and became an immediate success, going straight to the top of sales of the magazine Livres Hebdo. The book is having an enthusiastic welcome by the public and critics, with the Metro Newspaper (2 million copies) saying that La formule de Dieu is the great success this summer, the 20 Minutes (4 million copies) said in a front page that the new Dan Brown is from Portugal and the Dauphine Libere announce that the novel is a masterpiece.
The Top FNAC France can be found at Meilleur Ventes Roman.
Review online from Metro on Metro France.

 



Some videos firsthand about his novels


A Fórmula de Deus (The Einstein Enigma, English edition




Fúria Divina (The Wrath of God, English edition)




O Último Segredo (The Last Secret, English edition)



Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_JoséRodriguesSantos
The Official Website 

Miguel Sousa Tavares



Main masterpieces: 

  • Anos Perdidos (2001)
  • Equador (2003)
  • Rio das Flores (2007)
  • No Teu Deserto (2009)
  • "Ukuhamba" (2010)
  • Ismael e Chopin (2010)



Historical period in literature: 
21st Century Literature

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_MiguelSousaTavares

Isabel Alçada e Ana Maria Magalhães




Main collections: 

  • Uma Aventura (already with 53 adventures)
  • Viagens no tempo 
  • Ler Dá Prazer
  • História de Portugal
  • História e Lendas
  • Livros do Dia e da Noite
  • Asa Delta
  • Floresta Mágica
  • Quero Ser


Historical period in literature: 
21st Century Literature

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_IsabelAlçada
infopédia_AnaMariaMagalhães
Uma Aventura e outras coleções
 

Nuno Júdice



Main masterpieces: 

    • A Noção do Poema (1972)
    • Plâncton (1981)
    • A Partilha dos Mitos (1982)
    • A Manta Religiosa (1982)
    • A Condescendência do Ser (1988)
    • Enumeração de Sombras (1989) 
    • Um Canto na Espessura do Tempo (1992)
    • Meditação Sobre Ruínas (1994)
    • O Movimento do Mundo (1996)
    • O Estado dos Campos (2003)
    • O Anjo da Tempestade (2005)


    Historical period in literature: 
    21st Century Literature

    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_NunoJúdice

    Daniel Sampaio



    Main masterpieces: 

    • Vozes e Ruídos – Diálogos com adolescentes (1993)
    • Inventem-se Novos Pais (1994)
    • A Cinza do Tempo (1997)
    • A Arte da Fuga (1999)
    • Tudo o Que Temos Cá Dentro (2000)
    • Lições de Abismo (2002)
    • Vagabundos de Nós (2003)


    Historical period in literature: 
    21st Century Literature

    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_DanielSampaio 

    António Lobo Antunes



    Main masterpieces: 

    • Memória de Elefante (1979)
    • Os Cus de Judas (1979)
    • Conhecimento do Inferno (1981)
    • Auto dos Danados (1985) 
    • Tratado das Paixões da Alma (1990)
    • A Morte de Carlos Gardel (1994)
    • Manual dos Inquisidores (1996)
    • O Esplendor de Portugal (1997)
    • Exortação aos Crocodilos (1999)
    • Não Entres tão Depressa Nessa Noite Escura (2000)
    • Boa Tarde às Coisas Aqui em Baixo (2003)
    • Eu Hei-de Amar uma Pedra (2004)
    Historical period in literature: 
    21st Century Literature

    Subjects and style

    The novelty introduced by António Lobo Antunes's novelistic reveals itself in several features that makes it unique. 

    Many of the books of António Lobo Antunes refer or are related to the whole process of moving from the end of the Estado Novo till the deployment of Democracy. The end of the Colonial War, the end of a bourgeois world marked by retrogade and conservative values. The problems of the quick social change on April 25 1974, and therefore the political instability experienced in Portugal. This process of change is reflected in family relationships. Usually in this author's novels appear dysfunctional families in which the individual is losing his references, in which communication is either null or superficial among its members. In general the anti-heroes are people from the liberal professions of "good families".
    At the same time, the cruel self-knowledge of the country's pre-and post-revolutionary is done with violence and negativity. The aim is not the lyricism of a helpless rebellion, but on the contrary, playing the black humor, the annulment of any sentimentalism in desacralization of the images of a recent past and lucid analysis of the collective madness and collapse.

    It is consensual to consider his writing as complex, obsessive with simultaneous descriptions and constantly changing of narrators. In fact the reader has some difficulty on reading his novels because, for example, it is not unusual to have changes of narrator and the reader has a tendency to "lose the thread".
    However although he is not an author who chooses to write in an easy way, Lobo Antunes is a sales phenomenon and is widely read internationally, especially in Continental Europe.



    Literary Awards

    Among the awards stand out the following: Prize of Portuguese Writers' Association (1895 and 1999); France Culture Prize (1996 and 1997); The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2000); Jerusalem Prize (2005); Camões Prize (2007); France Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2008).



    A Morte de Carlos Gardel adapted into movie in 2011


    Director: Solveig Nordlund
    Cast: Albano Jerónimo, Celia Williams, Rui Morrison, Teresa Gafeira, Ruy de Carvalho

    Watching movie trailer





    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_AntónioLoboAntunes 
    lithis

    Lídia Jorge




    Main masterpieces: 

    • O Dia dos Prodígios (1980)
    • A Costa dos Murmúrios (1988)
    • O Vento Assobiando nas Gruas (2002)
    • O Vale da Paixão (1998)


    Historical period in literature: 
    Contemporary literature, Existentialism period 

    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_LídiaJorge 
    lithis


    Saturday, July 21, 2012

    Agustina Bessa-Luís


    Main masterpieces: 

    • A Sibila (1954)
    • O Manto (1966)
    • Canção diante de Uma Porta Fechada (1966)
    • As Fúrias (1977)
    • O Mosteiro (1981)
    • Os Meninos de Ouro (1983)

    Historical period in literature: 
    Contemporary literature, Existentialism period 

    A Sibilia and its importance to the literature

    Agustina Bessa Luís leads the reader to travel back in time and thought through A Sibilia that comprises a beauty and richness in language.
    It is through magical pages that is possible to find real lives, underlined by the trace of the philosophy of life and the uncertain strikeout of the supernatural, mysticism and wisdom.





    Sibila de Delfos-Roma by Michelangelo


    Sibyl refers to the classic figure of the Sibyl of Delphi, that means fortune-teller and refers to the character Joaquina Teixeira, the Quina. The book doesn’t tell the story from birth to death of the protagonist, but tells the story of two previous generations of the family Teixeira and a later one. It tells conspiracies, intrigues and corruptions of relatives, servants, friends and enemies. There is also criticism of the rural bourgeoisie, but the novel emphasizes above all a reflection on the metaphysical dimension of the human being. Quina had no supernatural powers, was only shrewd and a practice counselor; no one called her sibyl. He died old and sick, but proud of the house saved from bankruptcy and the fortune she amassed.
    This work portrays the role of several women from a farming family for prospecting and raising it. Men are presented as supporting characters and without much relevance to the success of the house, while women build together the whole clan forming a strong alliance.
    The publication of A Sibila came to solve many of the impasses in which the evolution of contemporary novelistic got entangled. Actually the novel made possible the reconciliation between regionalism and universalism and annulled opposition between objectivity and subjectivity of the narrator.
    The publication of A Sibilia, distinguished work with the awards Delfim Guimarães in 1953, and Eça de Queirós, in the following year, devotes Agustina Bessa-Luís as a leading name of the contemporary novelistic.

     

    Adapted works into movies:

    • Francisca based on Fanny Owen (1981)

    Director: Manoel de Oliveira 
    Cast: Tereza Menezes, Diogo Dória and Mário Barroso

    Watching movie trailer




    • Vale Abraão (1993)

    Director: Manoel de Oliveira 
    Cast: Leonor Silveira, Cécile Sanz de Alba and Luís Miguel Cintra

    Watching movie trailer









    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_AgustinaBessa-Luís 
    lithis

    José Saramago




    Main masterpieces: 

    • Memorial do Convento (1982)
    • O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis (1984)
    • A Jangada de Pedra (1986)
    • O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (1991)
    • Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira (1995)
    • Caim (2009) 


    Historical period in literature: 
    Contemporary literature, Historical Realism period

     

    Effort to revive the Portuguese history and identity through a new language


    Saramago’s literary world consists of four key elements. First the question of modern man in a double logic of assuming a critical position on the past and at the same time, learn from the past. Second the introduction of supernatural elements but never keeping away from the real world. Third the attempt of a new language different in punctuation. Finally the journey not only in the real world but also inside the Man through imagination. With these elements of 'time', 'supernatural', 'torrential narrative' and 'journey' that interpenetrate his works searched for utopia through allegorical allusions, criticism and ethics.
    Apart from the elaborate work of language, Saramago deeply deals with the problems of the contemporary Portugal and the identity of Lusitanian people. Besides showing the direction in which Portugal should follow and its world view, Saramago searches for the man's identity lost in modern society.
    In conclusion, the magnitude of Saramago's works lies in the effort to evoke the history and identity of the 'lost homeland', together with the search for a new literary language in which states his experimental spirit.

     

    Literary Awards

    Among the awards stand out the Camões Prize (1995) highest distinction given to the Portuguese-language writers, and Nobel Prize in Literature (1998), the first awarded to a Portuguese language writer.



    Quotes that are worth remembering


    "I think we are blind. Blind people who can see, but do not see."
     
    "I never appreciated 'positive heroes' in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies, until the model is exhausted. I prefer perplexity, doubt, uncertainty, not just because it provides a more 'productive' literary raw material, but because that is the way we humans really are."
     
    "I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement."
     
    "Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, 
    of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt."
     
    "As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved - it's the citizen who changes things."
     
    "A human being is a being who is constantly 'under construction,' but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction."
     

    Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira adapted into movie in 2008

    Original title: Blindness
    Director: Fernando Meirelles
    Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael García Bernal, Danny Glover, Yoshino Kimura, Alice Bragam Sandra Oh

    Watching movie trailer







    Consulted sources:  

    Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
    infopédia_JoséSaramago 
    lithis