Questions tagged [portuguese-literature]
For questions about Portuguese literature: works of literature which were originally written in the Portuguese language, whether from Portugal, Brazil, or elsewhere in the world.
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Was Jorge Amado familiar with the work of Anna Seghers?
While looking for novels by Jorge Amado in the online catalogue of a bookseller, I stumbled upon the recently published novella Anna Seghers im Garten von Jorge Amado ("Anna Seghers in Jorge ...
6
votes
1answer
162 views
What is the meaning of "I was living my own metaphor"?
I just started reading the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. In the foreword, the author is talking about how no one was buying his book. He writes,
But I never lost faith in the book or ever ...
3
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0answers
32 views
How does ancient Greek polytheism fit with Christianity in The Lusiads?
The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas), considered the national epic of Portugal, was written by Luís Vaz de Camões during the 16th century, a period in which the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions were menacing ...
3
votes
1answer
44 views
On what sources did Camões base his Os Lusíadas?
Os Lusíadas is one of the most important works of Portuguese literature, written by Luís de Camões in the 16th century and describing imaginatively the Portuguese voyages of discovery, mostly the ...
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1answer
2k views
Chilli peppers in fifteenth-century India?
In Canto 7 of The Lusíads, when Vasco da Gama and his crew finally land in Calicut, they encounter a Moor named Monsayeed who explains to the former:
You are now in India, with its various
Peoples ...
3
votes
2answers
180 views
What is meant by "Nysa" in the Lusiads?
The following verse appears in Book 1 of The Lusiads (William Mickle's translation, 1877 edition; emphasis mine):
So spoke high Jove: the gods in silence heard,
Then rising, each by turns his ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
What's the significance of the "Invocation to the muses of the Tagus"?
In the fourth stanza of Book I of an English translation of Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), the narrator speaks to the "fair nymphs of Tagus"
And you, fair nymphs of Tagus, parent stream,
If e’...
6
votes
1answer
204 views
Where is St. Lawrence island in Africa, mentioned in Os Lusíadas
Os Lusíadas chapter 1 verse 42 mentions a certain Saint Lawrence island in Africa. But this name doesn't seem to be used in modern times. What island or other geographical location does this refer ...
3
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1answer
47 views
Which passages in Manuel de Faria e Sousa's commentary on The Lusiads caused his temporary incarceration by the Inquisition?
The Wikipedia article about The Lusiads tells us that
Manuel de Faria e Sousa wrote a commentary about the work in the 17th century. Published after Sousa's death[a], the work was originally written ...
6
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0answers
41 views
Since when do the Portuguese regard The Lusiads as their national epic?
According to Wikipedia,
Os Lusíadas is often regarded as Portugal's national epic, much as Virgil's Aeneid was for the Ancient Romans, or Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for the Ancient Greeks.
The ...
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What is the meaning and significance of "urubutinga" in Mário de Andrade's "O lundu do escritor difícil"
The title is suggestive enough to elicit an understanding that Andrade probably purposefully made this poem difficult to read for people who are not familiar with Tupi culture. A conscious effort of ...
4
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1answer
74 views
How was "Contos para os nossos filhos" used in schools?
Reading about the Portuguese author Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho, I came across the following interesting tidbit of information:
The collection of stories for children she wrote with her husband, ...