Eduardo Lourenço, Camões e Portugal: Dialogues of Rebellion

Abstract

Rereading the Camões essays written by Eduardo Lourenço (edited and unpublished) it is concluded that Camões always occupied a central place in his concerns. Anyone who only focuses on texts published from the 1970s onwards could be led to think that Camões represents, for Eduardo Lourenço, one author among many others, which is not true. For Lourenço, as for most essayists who published on literature throughout the second half of the 20th century, Camões ends up being a subject of direct or indirect dispute. Another conclusion that can be drawn from reading the Estudos sobre Camões, Obras Completas (volume VI), is that we are faced with an irregular and relatively scarce camion driver. This perception may result from strict contact with studies that were published in a relatively isolated and dispersed manner. Any of these ideas dissolve, however, with the global vision that becomes accessible with the publication of the volume.