Best of Portugal

Portuguese literature

It is quite evident that the literature of a country is considerably influenced by its history and also its social and cultural interactions with the outside world and Portugal is no exception to this. In the ancient times, Portugal has been under roman subjugation and later it has colonized various nations in the world as well. Thus Portugal has since the ancient times encountered multitudes of cultural influences like the Romans and other European tribes and has incorporated many of their characteristics within their cultures as well and these have also found their voice in literature. Portuguese literature is one of the earliest specimens of literary forms in the west and the origin of the Portuguese language can be attributed to the Latin which was the principle language of the Roman Empire. The initial samples of Portuguese literature have been found since the 13th century as previous evidences have not survived. A considerable composition of songs was influenced by the Portuguese-Galician troubadour poets in the 14th centuries and their impact spread beyond to the different sections of the Iberian Peninsula. The 15th century famous literary figure Gil Vicente is held with high regard even today as he is considered to be one of the proponents of the Portuguese as well as Spanish dramatic tradition.

The 16th century saw the phenomenal rise of Portuguese poetry with the writings of the prolific poet Luis de Camoes whose epic poem named ‘The Lusiadas’ was conceived after being influenced by Virgil’s magnum opus Aeneid about the hero Aeneus. Modern Portuguese poetry though is more a follower of the neoclassical trends and modern stylizations like those observed in the works of Fernando Pessoa. Some pf the famous writers of the present times include Antonio Lobo Antunes, Camilo Castelo Branco, Almeida Garrett and ,many others. The most prolific among them at present is definitely Jose Saramago who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998.