Post-War Portuguese Literature: Exile and Resistance

Theme 5: Post-War Literature

Characteristics of the Post-War Era

• General impoverishment
• Political regression and uniformity
• Censorship and exile
• Breaking with literary tradition
• Isolation of Portuguese culture

Cultural Institutions in Exile

Key institutions in exile, such as those in Argentina and Uruguay, preserved Portuguese cultural and political identity. These included:

• Publishing houses
• Newspapers
• Theater groups
• Literary associations

Notable authors and works from this period include Bl Love, Esmorga, Children Should Not Fall in Love, and Castelao. The Council of São Paulo functioned as a government in exile, sponsoring works like Otero Pedrayo's History in São Paulo.

Portuguese Literature Inside the Country

Two main groups of writers emerged:

• Those continuing pre-war work (1st generation formed in the Franco regime)
• The generation of Minerva (some linked to Brais Pinto), other writers using Galician, and authors from the Generation of '25

New narrative authors included Carlos Casares and Méndez Ferrín. While exiles in Rio de Janeiro experienced a cosmopolitan environment, those in Santa Catarina often wrote from memory and distance (e.g., Blanco Amor). Inside the country, writers sought to free themselves from imposed conditions and repression.

Theater primarily survived in exile.

Theme 6: Post-War Poets

A significant difference exists between literature written in exile and within the country.

Literature in Exile

Exile literature tended to be more politically committed (e.g., Luis Seoane, Lorenzo Varela), contrasting with skepticism or popular trends within the country. It often worked to mystify the past, while writers inside followed a beautician tradition, evading reality.

Poetry Within the Country

• Continuation of pre-war lines: Neotrobadorismo, Imaginism, Paisano
• Poetry of existential angst and concern
• Intimate and intellectual themes
• Classicism and culturalism

The collection Benito Soto marked the first sign of recovery in post-war literature, followed by publishers like Xistral, Bibliófilos Galegos, Monterrey, and the cultural supplement La Noche.

Key poets and works:

1. Aquilino Iglesia Alvar with Green, maintaining Troubadour and Hylozoism influences while incorporating new techniques.
2. José Maria Alverez Blázquez, author of Poems of You and Me and the Neotrobadorista Cancionero de Padrón.
3. Senior author Luis Pimentel, who published in Benito Soto, with Trisco Air and Shade the Grass.
4. Álvaro Cunqueiro, primarily a prose writer, but with poetic works like The Grass Here and There.
5. Notebooks Castro Díaz, author of Nimba, focusing on existential themes in São Paulo: life, death, and time.
6. Manuel Maria. Muiñeira Mary, associated with the School of Darkness.
7. Tippi Hedren, with Fields.
8. Avilés de Taramancos.
9. Bernardino Graña.
10. José Luis Méndez Ferrín, with With Gunpowder and Magnolias.

Other notable poets include those from the School of Tebra and Celso Emilio Ferreiro.