Oliveira Martins

Main social sciences masterpieces: 

• Elementos de Antropologia (1880) 
• As Raças Humanas e a Civilização Primitiva (1881)
• Sistemas dos Mitos Religiosos (1882)
• Quadros das Instituições Primitivas (1883)
• Regime das Riquezas (1883)
• Tábua de Cronologia (1884)

 Main historical masterpieces:

• Camões, Os Lusíadas e a Renascença em Portugal (1872) 
• História da Civilização Ibérica (1879)
• História de Portugal (1879)
• O Brasil e as Colónias Portuguesas (1880)
• Portugal Contemporâneo (1881)
• História da República Romana (1885)
• Os Filhos de D. João I (1891)
• A Vida de Nun'Álvares (1893)
• Perfis (posthumous edition, 1930)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_OliveiraMartins 
lithis

Antero de Quental

Main masterpieces:   

• Sonetos de Antero (1861) 
• Beatrice e Fiat Lux (1863)
• Odes Modernas (1865)
• Bom Senso e Bom Gosto (1865)
• Portugal perante a Revolução de Espanha (1868)
• Considerações sobre a Filosofia da História Literária Portuguesa (1872)
• A Poesia na Actualidade (1881)
• Sonetos Completos (1886)
• A Filosofia da Natureza dos Naturistas (1886)
• Raios de Extinta Luz (1892)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

 

The three dimensions and essential themes

The work of Antero de Quental has three dimensions: 

- social – in which he analyzes society, seeks to find the causes of its decline and proposes solutions based on the utopian socialism of Proudhon; 

- philosophical – under the predominant influence of Hegel for whom the idea is the ultimate goal to reach;

- and poetic that deals with the Love and the Reason, sources of harmony in the individual and on the society; the night, dreams and death, the pessimism of returning to emptiness.

The essential themes of his poetry are God, Love, Justice, Fraternity, Death, Loneliness and Emptiness.

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_AnteroQuental 
lithis

Júlio Dinis

Main masterpieces:   

• As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor (1869) 
• A Morgadinha dos Canaviais (1868)
• Uma Família Inglesa (1868)
• Serões da Província (1870)
• Os Fidalgos da Casa Mourisca (1871)

 

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_JúlioDinis 
lithis

Ramalho Ortigão

Main masterpieces:   

• Pela Terra Alheia (1878-80) 
• A Holanda (1883)
• Banhos de Caldas e Águas Minerais (1875)
• As Praias de Portugal (1876)
• John Bull (1887)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_RamalhoOrtigão 
lithis

Camilo Castelo Branco

Main masterpieces:   

• Anátema (1851)
• Mistérios de Lisboa (1854)
• Duas épocas na vida (1854)
• O livro negro do padre Dinis (1855)
• Vingança (1858)
• Carlota Ângela (1858)
• A morta (1860)
• O romance de um homem rico (1861)
• Amor de Perdição (1861)
• Coração, cabeça e estômago (1862)
• Amor de Salvação (1864)
• A Queda dum Anjo (1866)
• A Corja (1880)

Historical period in literature: 
Modern literature, Romantic period

The impact of Amor de Perdição 

The novel

Novel composed in 1861 by Camilo Castelo Branco, during the time the author was arrested for adultery in Oporto. It has been written based on an actual episode in the life of his uncle, Simão Botelho, that would have been told him by an aunt. However, Camilo’s manipulation and fiction are so free, that converted the novel into the most famous sentimental novel of Portuguese Romanticism.
The plot is ultra-romantic: the protagonists, Simão and Teresa, sons of two enemy families of Viseu, the Botelhos and Albuquerques, fall in love. On Baltasar Coutinho’s advice, cousin and promised to Teresa, Tadeu de Albuquerque decides to send the daughter to the Monchique’s convent, in Oporto. Simão is waiting for them outside Viseu, confronts Baltasar and kills him by shooting, surrendering immediately to justice. Arrested in Oporto, he is sentenced to exile.

When embarking for India, Simão can still glimpse his beloved, who says goodbye to him, almost dying, worn out by misfortune. Hours later, Simão becomes aware of the death of Teresa and dies too.

The genuine character of the novel, that breaks with romantic conventionality, is, however, Mariana, a good and selfless girl, who, feeling an absolute love for Simão and hopeless, acts as intermediary between Simão and Teresa, deciding to join him in exile and kill herself after his death, embracing his dead body thrown overboard.

Besides the passionate and tragic story, where love, hate and revenge, in its many nuances appear, according to some scholars Camilo also intended to do a social criticism, namely report the society’s blind obedience to the obsolete prejudice of family honor.

The movie

Amor de Perdição has been adapted in 1978 into a movie directed by Manoel de Oliveira, who won the Jury's Special Award at the Festival of Figueira da Foz.

Main cast was composed of: Adelaide João; António Sequeira Lopes; Cristina Hauser; Elsa Wallencamp; Duarte de Almeida; Henrique Viana; Lia Gama; Manuela de Freitas; Ruy Furtado.

Pedro Bandeira Freire and Manoel de Oliveira and an excerpt. 

Prod. CPC – Centro Português do Cinema, 1978

  

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_CamiloCasteloBranco 
lithis

Alexandre Herculano

Main masterpieces:   

• Eurico, o Presbítero (1844)
• História de Portugal (1845-53)
• História da origem e estabelecimento da Inquisição em Portugal (1854-59)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, Romantic period

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_AlexandreHerculano 
lithis

Almeida Garrett

Main masterpieces:   

• Camões (1825)
• D. Branca (1826)
• Um Auto de Gil Vicente (1838)
• O Alfageme de Santarém (1841)
• Frei Luís de Sousa (1844)
• O Arco de  Sant'Ana (1845)
• Viagens na Minha Terra (1846)
• Folhas Caídas (1853)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, Romantic period

 

Combining literature with politics

Initiator of Romanticism, refounder of Portuguese theater, creator of modern lyricism, creator of modern prose, journalist, politician, legislator, Garrett is a real example of the inseparable alliance between political man and writer, citizen and poet.

Enthusiastic supporter of Liberalism that in the nineteenth century radically transforms the Portuguese society, Garrett was a Portuguese interventive in various facets of life.

He is considered by many authors as the most complete Portuguese writer of the nineteenth century, since he left us masterpieces in poetry, drama and prose, innovating writing and composition in each of these literary genres.

Garrett was also the major driving force of the theater in Portugal from Romanticism. It was he who proposed the building of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and the establishment of the Conservatory. The situation of theater in the country has been radically altered by the presence of Garrett. He managed to change the foundations of the theater which began to be associated with the concerns of a society better and better literate and attentive.

Literary work rich in different genres

Camões is a poem written in 1825 which is attributed to the beginning of Portuguese Romanticism.

Although scarce, the novelistic work of Garrett stands out for the originality. As Viagens na Minha Terra can be considered the first Portuguese modern narrative using an informal style, in permanent dialogue with the reader, the author presents in the manner of Stern, a masterpiece of intellectual irony; under the pretext of a travel’s chronic, offers a comprehensive and lucid representation of the actual time.  

Frei Luís de Sousa is the largest Portuguese romantic drama, written by Garrett and one of the best plays of Portuguese literature. It was first performed in 1843 and published in the following year.

Folhas Caídas is the last and most important work of Garrett, published anonymously in 1835, and the best work of Portuguese Romantic poetry.

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_Garrett 
lithis

Luís António Verney

Main masterpiece:   

• Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (1746)

Historical period in literature: 

Classical literature, Neoclassic period

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_LuísAntónioVerney