“The Castilhos and their kin: A network of (luso)-asian writing in Portuguese”

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Duarte Nuno Drumond Braga

Abstract

We find signs that the family of Portuguese writers and intellectuals the Castilho sought to have a significant cultural presence in most of the Portuguese colonies, through various publications. Goa and Macao are some of the spaces in which they participated with sporadic collaboration in the local press, but also promoting works such as the “Almanaque de Lembranças Luso-brasileiro”, an almanac directed by a member of the family and published regularly since the 1850s. This periodical collects a large part of the 19th century literary production (especially poetry) coming from Asia, Portugal, and East Africa, which is the one we are most interested in here. To critically read this production (which we intend to do here) allows us to build a comparative look between the peripheral spaces of the Portuguese-speaking literary traditions in the 19th century. The aim of this paper is to inquire how the relationship of Portuguese intellectuals like the Castilhos with Portuguese-speaking literary communities, especially in Asia, allows us to observe a quite different map of what would later come to be called Portuguese-speaking literatures and what critical-theoretical consequences we should draw from it.

Published: Nov 14, 2022

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Individual Sessions: Words and Images Crossing Literary and Critical Borders