Portuguese literature is one of the highest expressions of our country’s contemporary culture. For this very reason, Portuguese writers attract readers all over the world.
The success of the DGLB’s Program in Support of Translation is an indication of this popularity.
We have received requests for translations of a wide variety of contemporary works as well as classics, both poetry and fiction, from the four corners of the globe.
The sixth volume of Sights from the South –Portuguese Literature features authors who exemplify the exceptional quality of the most recent Portuguese writing.
Two generations of fiction writers are included, representing quite different currents of contemporary prose.
These include Manuel Alegre’s fictionalized autobiography, A.M. Pires Cabral’s fresh look at rural life from the perspective of our present era, and valter hugo mãe’s stylistically experimental examination of social change. Because each of these prose writers is also a poet, they pay special attention to the creative possibilities of language, fashioning narrative voices and forms of story-telling in which the lyrical quality is abundantly apparent.
The three authors featured in the poetry section give ample evidence of contemporary Portuguese poetry’s extraordinary value, as befits a genre with ancient roots in our country.
Each follows a different path: for Luiza Neto Jorge, it is experimentation with poetic form and voice; for António Ramos Rosa, the consolidation of a philosophical vision of the world and worldly objects; for Luís Quintais, the shaping of a modern écriture that is dense with literary references but endowed with a pure discursive flow.
Finally, in the Essay section, we present Vítor Aguiar e Silva, one of the greatest Portuguese essayists of our time, a specialist in Camões and literary mannerism who is also celebrated for his illuminating essays on contemporary writers.
This great scholar’s beautiful and elegant style belies the depths of his erudition, which provides a great wealth of information on Portuguese literature, its sources and its scope, tempered by the universal reach of his learning.
This edition of Sights from the South – Portuguese Literature therefore provides an important overview of Portugal’s contribution to world literature.
In offering it to the reading public the DGLB and the Ministry of Culture express their hope that readers worldwide will be able to have continued access to these as well as other Portuguese writers, and through them entry to a rich and exciting literature.
Sights from the south –Portuguese Literature 6 para descarregar (.PDF)
