Abstract
In 1871, the revolutionary Portuguese poet Antero de Quental and his Geração de 70 compatriots Eça de Queirós, Oliveira Martins, and others organized the Democratic Casino Conferences in Lisbon, building upon progressive issues from the polemical Questão Coimbrã in 1865. This public lecture series challenged the Portuguese government and condemned the backward Portuguese society and its cultural elite. After five of ten scheduled lectures, the conservative government banned the events, yet their influence would be felt throughout the Iberian Peninsula for decades. This article illuminates Quental’s legacy as a poet, philosopher, and spiritual leader of his Iberian generation. It explores critical commentaries in the early 1880s by renowned Spanish writers Leopoldo Alas (nicknamed Clarín) and Juan Valera, who foregrounded Quental’s spiritual poetry as a potential solution for what they viewed as the paucity of socially-engaged verse in Spain. Their reviews pointed to Quental as a prophet of what Valera called a poetic nueva religión that could guide Iberians facing impending fin-de-siècle literary and sociopolitical crises.
Resumo
Abstract
In 1871, the revolutionary Portuguese poet Antero de Quental and his Geração de 70 compatriots Eça de Queirós, Oliveira Martins, and others organized the Democratic Casino Conferences in Lisbon, building upon progressive issues from the polemical Questão Coimbrã in 1865. This public lecture series challenged the Portuguese government and condemned the backward Portuguese society and its cultural elite. After five of ten scheduled lectures, the conservative government banned the events, yet their influence would be felt throughout the Iberian Peninsula for decades. This article illuminates Quental’s legacy as a poet, philosopher, and spiritual leader of his Iberian generation. It explores critical commentaries in the early 1880s by renowned Spanish writers Leopoldo Alas (nicknamed Clarín) and Juan Valera, who foregrounded Quental’s spiritual poetry as a potential solution for what they viewed as the paucity of socially-engaged verse in Spain. Their reviews pointed to Quental as a prophet of what Valera called a poetic nueva religión that could guide Iberians facing impending fin-de-siècle literary and sociopolitical crises.
- © 2018 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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