Abriu: estudos de textualidade do Brasil, Galicia e Portugal

Jorge Amado and African Portuguese-language writers: more than a king, more than a law, more than a language

Rita Chaves — 2023-10-15

For decades, more than a writer, Jorge Amado became a sort of icon of Brazil. He brought to his works social spaces, athmosphere and characters identified with the margins of society, highlighting the African footprints in our culture. This Brazil —erased in its own territory— conquered readers in many countries. In former African Portuguese colonies, other than creating enthusiastic readers, Jorge Amado’s works encouraged the practice of writing and had a strong influence on the formation of key authors of the literature of these emerging nations.

The Staging in Buenos Aires of an Excerpt from O Mariscal by Cabanillas and Vilar Ponte in a Festival in Support of Franco's Rebels

Carlos-Caetano Biscainho-Fernandes — 2023-11-22

This paper describes the use by the so-called Crusaders of Santiago of O Mariscal —the dramatic text by the Galician nationalists Ramón Cabanillas and Antón Vilar Ponte— in an act of exaltation of Franco’s coup plotters that took place in Buenos Aires in 1937 in order to give economic support to the Junta de Burgos. In addition to putting into context this type of festival in which Galician theatre had a place, the protagonists —both the promoting collective and the playwrights and performers who took part in these events— are identified. This work also studies the process of nullifying the Galician vindication present in the dramatic titles used by the Galician Francoists in the Argentinean capital. Finally, the precautions taken by Galician writers to avoid this type of spurious use of their literary creation —as well as their impossibility of achieving this during the Spanish Civil War— are noted.

Spilling out from the text: the hypersexualization and objectification of Galician women poets

Ánxela Lema París — 2023-10-17

This article analyzes the critical discourse surrounding a set of poetry collections published between 2000 and 2010 with the aim of exposing the symbolic violence that a certain sector of non-feminist literary criticism exerts on Galician women writers. The study shows how, on the one hand, the objectification suffered by women writers who cultivate the erotic subgenre as a marketing strategy focused on pleasing the male gaze, evidenced by the monogamous, monosexual and heteronormative gaze with which this type of literature is received. What is more, a group of poets has also been hypersexualized even though their subject matter is far from erotic, yet they are automatically classified as such by the mere fact of having previously published within that field. On the other hand, the article confirms the prevailing essentialism in the treatment of literature written by women through repeated use of expressions such as “feminine point of view” through which critics seek to reinforce male hegemony by naming the other place assigned to women writers in the literary system, since there are no equivalent formulas in the case of male poets. The latter is further reinforced with paternalistic comments: even the level of intelligence of the authors is questioned so as to belittle their work. Drawing on feminist theories, in constant dialogue with the discourse of literary criticism itself, this article seeks to highlight the different strategies of silencing
and invisibility to which contemporary Galician women writers have been subjected.

The Carnation Revolution and the reinterpretations of Portuguese national myths in Brazil (1974)

Thales Reis Alecrim — 2023-10-15

In this article we analyze João Apolinário's assertions about the Carnation Revolution. Thus, we examine how this event was described by the author and what writing strategies were at stake, as these texts were first published in a Brazilian newspaper, Última Hora of São Paulo, and later unified in a book entitled 25 de Abril de 1974 Portugal Model Revolution (Nórdica, 1974). The texts play an introductory role about the Portuguese situation during the Estado Novo from the perspective of João Apolinário and then go on to describe the achievements of the Revolution. The author also mobilized some of Portugal's national myths, trying to dispel the colonial legacy by bringing the revolutionary reality closer to Brazilian readers. With these issues in mind, we operate an analysis allied to Cultural History proposed by Roger Chartier (2002) with the help of Anthony Smith's (1999) considerations on nationalism and the strategies for mobilizing the historical narrative as a source of legitimacy for the demands of the present. In our perspective, these writings performed a double movement of 1) rereading Portuguese national myths, mobilizing them as historical and determinant justifications for the success of the revolution and 2) presenting to Brazilian readers the Portuguese model as a possible way of fighting the reality of the Military Regime (1964-1985).

The perception of public power in Quarto de despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Breno Pentagna — 2023-10-15

This article aims to present the perception of Brazilian public power in Quarto de despejo (1960), the first book published by Carolina Maria de Jesus. The book achieved enormous success upon publication, largely due to the uniqueness of the author herself: a black and marginalized woman, waste collector and writer. However, a few years after its release, the author and her work fell into a long oblivion. In the diary, Carolina makes several observations about state bodies and the actions of their representatives. She denou ces the development project in force at the time, which ignored the lower classes, and the inability of political representatives and state institutions to understand the problems arising from the country’s social inequality. In this way, the invisibility of the marginalized po- pulation in public policies comes to light. The article analizes a list of excerpts from Quarto de despejo that illustrate this perception of Brazilian public power and, at the same time, highlight the timeliness of Carolina Maria de Jesus’ book.

Autobiographism and fototextuality in 21st century Galician narrative: As voces baixas by Manuel Rivas and Virtudes (e misterios) by Xesús Fraga

Ruben Venzon — 2023-10-15

As voces baixas (2012) by Manuel Rivas and Virtudes (e misterios) (2020) by Xesús Fraga are novels whose autobiographical content is combined with the documentary reproduction of photos from the authors’ family album through different iconotextual strategies. Based on the analysis of the relationship between word and image, this article studies how the phenomenon of phototextuality, in conjunction with autobiographism, influences the production and reception of both works. To this purpose, the substantial differences that exist between the novels of Rivas and Fraga are specifically examined, both in the use of visual resources and in the narrative treatment of memory. Finally, Galician and Spanish versions are compared with the aim of highlighting the extent to which the various editorial choices regarding the presentation of the photographs have repercussions on their perception by the reader/viewer.

Edition Notice

Abriu Abriu — 2023-10-17

Call for Papers

Abriu Abriu — 2023-10-17

Back Cover

Abriu Abriu — 2023-10-17

Author Guideline

Abriu Abriu — 2023-10-17

Luso-African literature from the perspective of Francophony

Mirella Botaro — 2023-10-15

"O Prego e o Rinoceronte" or "A portrait without a wall". Resistence and representativity in contemporary Brasilian Literature

Carolina Dutra Carrijo — 2023-11-22

Reading "Gender, Displacement, and Cultural Networks of Galicia"

Maribel Rams Albuisech — 2023-10-15

Around "A Literatura e o Mal"

Vera Lopes da Silva — 2023-11-22

Basilio Losada Castro, In Memoriam

María Xesús Lama — 2023-10-19

Collection of three obituaries on the occasion of the death of Basilio Losada Castro. These three portraits, written by three distinguished writers from the point of view of recognition and esteem, allow us to follow the intellectual and affective legacy that Basilio Losada left as a teacher, translator, researcher, orator and first professor of Galician and Portuguese Studies at the University of Barcelona.

The Nélida Piñon Library at the Cervantes Institute in Rio de Janeiro

Antonio Maura — 2023-10-15

The recent opening of the Nélida Piñón Library at the Cervantes Institute in Rio de Janeiro is the fruit of a long story that began with the author’s first donation in 2011, initially installed at the Cervantes Institute in Salvador de Bahia. The move to Rio and the expansion with another eight thousand volumes constitutes an essential resource centre on the author and the Brazilian cultural life of her time.

On the death of Prof. Alan Freeland (1940-2022)

Elena Losa Soler — 2023-10-15

In honour of Alan Freeland’s death, his professional career is here remembered. It highlights his decisive contributions to Lusophone studies, especially around the work of Eça de Queirós, and his important work as a cultural mediator and teacher of Portuguese language and literature in the United Kingdom.

A raft and its identities

Víctor Martínez-Gil — 2023-11-22

José Saramago: from iberism to trans-Iberism

Carlos Reis — 2023-10-15

This paper confronts different positions on iberism, starting with Miguel Torga and his Iberian Poems (1965). The point of arrival of this journey is the novel A Jangada de Pedra (The Stone Raft) (1986), by José Saramago. We thus move from the notion of Iberism to the concept of trans-Iberism, within the framework of an approach that is assumed to be piecemeal; such an approach takes into account historical and political transformations that, at the end of the twentieth century, go beyond the scenario experienced by Torga. José Saramago’s progressive concern with Iberism emerges, then, in a number of essayistic texts that follow the novel The Stone Raft, as if explaining and deepening the great mean- ings represented in it. Thus, as it was elaborated by Saramago, the trans-Iberist project refers to a geostrategic reality to come, motivated by what the novelist called the “southern vocation” of the Iberian nations.

1986 – The death year of the Portuguese political-economic freedom: critical notes surrounding the romance The Stone Raft

Daniel Vecchio — 2023-10-25

José Saramago’s criticisms in his literary works and in his diaries are very clear about the harm brought about by the conservative political process restarted since the counter-revolution of November 25th, which culminated in Portugal’s entry into the European Economic Community (EEC), leading to the prolongation of the workers’ poverty level. During so many years living with this critical resentment, arising mainly from the economic dependence that Portugal has historically suffered, always under the “protection” of a stronger power, Saramago became more and more convinced of the criticism he has drawn in his 1986 novel, A Jangada de Pedra (The Stone Raft). He then preferred to make the raft sail through Atlantic waters than see it sink in front of the new impositions of Franco-German banks and financial centers. In this way, Saramago offers a new opportunity for Iberians to rethink and choose their partnerships and identities, reconstituting the ideas and values that unite individuals.

“Let us look in silence, let us learn to listen”. Saramago’s trans-Iberism and the ecocritical and decolonial debate

Burghard Baltrusch — 2023-11-22

This study aims to demonstrate the importance of Saramago's trans-iberist reflections not only for the interpretation of history, but also for the analysis of political and cultural actuality. Besides a brief recapitulation of the origins of trans-Iberism in Saramago's work and thought, attention will focus, above all, on a proposal to link them to ecocritical (Donna Haraway) and decolonial (Grada Kilomba) perspectives. An attempt is made to contextualise trans-Iberism in relation to current debates on colonialism, racism and other exclusionary discourses (in the media, in history teaching, in literary criticism, in literature and other arts). Avenues of further theoretical development of the trans-Iberist idea are proposed.

Impossible dialogues in post times: geographical locations and identities in José Saramago and Ruy Duarte de Carvalho

Livia Apa — 2023-11-22

The following lines draw an imaginary dialogue between the theoretical dimension of the idea of national identity proposed by José Saramago’s reflection after Portugal’s entry into the European Economic Community, and the reflection of the writer and anthropologist Ruy Duarte de Carvalho presented in works that have as their center the cultural universe of the Kuvale world of southern Angola, written largely during the years of civil war that occurred after the country’s national independence. By questioning, rethinking and trying to rebalance the relationship between centers and margins of an idea of common, both authors seek a way to imagine a new self-placement, capable of re-signifying the idea of the failure of the imperial relationship as well as the failure of an idea of a macro- cephalic Nation that seems to ignore the parts that make up the national body itself. It is on this basis that I intend to reflect on the terms of Saramago’s trans-Iberista proposal, creating a (impossible) dialogue with the idea of continentality as an overcoming of the colonial narrative and the knowledge produced in Ruy Duarte’s writing.

Abriu: estudos de textualidade do Brasil, Galicia e Portugal

Jorge Amado and African Portuguese-language writers: more than a king, more than a law, more than a language

The Staging in Buenos Aires of an Excerpt from O Mariscal by Cabanillas and Vilar Ponte in a Festival in Support of Franco's Rebels

Spilling out from the text: the hypersexualization and objectification of Galician women poets

The Carnation Revolution and the reinterpretations of Portuguese national myths in Brazil (1974)

The perception of public power in Quarto de despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Autobiographism and fototextuality in 21st century Galician narrative: As voces baixas by Manuel Rivas and Virtudes (e misterios) by Xesús Fraga

Edition Notice

Table of Contents

Call for Papers

Back Cover

Author Guideline

Luso-African literature from the perspective of Francophony

"O Prego e o Rinoceronte" or "A portrait without a wall". Resistence and representativity in contemporary Brasilian Literature

Reading "Gender, Displacement, and Cultural Networks of Galicia"

Around "A Literatura e o Mal"

Basilio Losada Castro, In Memoriam

The Nélida Piñon Library at the Cervantes Institute in Rio de Janeiro

On the death of Prof. Alan Freeland (1940-2022)

A raft and its identities

José Saramago: from iberism to trans-Iberism

1986 – The death year of the Portuguese political-economic freedom: critical notes surrounding the romance The Stone Raft

“Let us look in silence, let us learn to listen”. Saramago’s trans-Iberism and the ecocritical and decolonial debate

Impossible dialogues in post times: geographical locations and identities in José Saramago and Ruy Duarte de Carvalho