Tempo para entender: História comparada da literatura portuguesa (review)

Prof. Hélio Alves's volume of studies is both a rich source of valuable insights on well-known and lesser-known authors born in Portugal or living in it, and a puzzling attempt to re-tell the history of Portuguese literature. In its totality, this relatively brief volume claims the need for "tempo para entender," i. e., that it is time to overcome certain biases based on ideas of national identity, on the implicit requirement that "Portuguese literature" be written in the Portuguese language, and on the "canonization" of certain central authors, especially those who, like Camões, Eça de Queirós, and Pessoa, are eminently "exportable" on the world literary scene. As a result, Prof. Alves provides a re-periodization of Portugal's literary history, which, while based on reasoned motives, still appears problematic to this reviewer. For example, the period he calls "Modernidade" extends from 1611 to 1825, while the period from 1826 to the present is vaguely termed "Revoluções." Unfortunately, the most recent author treated in this alternative vision is António Nobre, principally his poetic volume Só (first edition 1892).

As another facet of his re-working, Prof. Alves champions (justifiably, in many cases) a series of authors who, in his view, have been eclipsed by towering national or international figures, for example, 1) Gil Vicente, 2) the Renaissance humanist Cataldo Sículo (who, though living in Portugal, wrote extensive poems in Latin); 3) the Baroque poet Vasco Mouzinho, and 4) Camilo Castelo Branco. The only problem with these vindications is the necessity Alves feels of making them equal to, or greater than, better-known figures. For example, the insightful analyses of Gil Vicente's farces and of Mouzinho's narrative poems are marred at certain points by unnecessary comparisons with Shakespeare, a playwright who wrote in genres and who lived under cultural circumstances that make these direct comparisons problematic, to say the least. The lamentable tendency to erect a small number of "masterworks" and "genius authors" should not lead to an implicit diminishing of their importance in order to "make room" for the critic's favorite authors, however unjustly neglected.

While one may have serious difficulties with Alves's periodization and methodology, as well as with the somewhat misleading subtitle "História comparada da literatura portuguesa," it is undeniable that the volume demonstrates a far-reaching knowledge of many European literatures and contains some very impressive case studies. Alves does some very fine analysis of structure and temporality in Gil Vicente's "Auto da Índia." Even more remarkable is his necessarily brief, but suggestive analysis of narrative voice in Bernardim Ribeiro's enigmatic Menina e Moça. In more modern periods, he does an insightful comparison of two novels which, each in its own way, combine narrative complexity and social analysis with carnavalesque satire: Camilo's A brasileira de Prazins and Gogol's Dead Souls (which Alves cites in the original Russian).

Although the volume cannot be recommended as a thoroughgoing revision of Portuguese literary history, its "mergulhos" into specific authors (in a comparative context) make very rewarding reading and could serve as models of textual analysis.