A ATIVIDADE POLÍTICA E LITERÁRIA DE ALMEIDA GARRETT
THE POLITICAL AND LITERARY ACTIVITY OF ALMEIDA GARRETT

Summary/Abstract: Almeida Garrett (1799-1854) is considered nowadays one of the most important writers of the 19th century. Garrett’s writings, especially the poems from the volume Folhas Caídas, the play Frei Luís de Sousa and the novel Viagensnaminha terra are studied in Portugal not only at school, but also at university. His play Frei Luís de Sousahas been performed for dozens of years on the stage of the National Theater D. Maria II, one of the biggest public theaters in Lisbon and Portugal. Even though Almeida Garrett is mostly known by the contemporary readers as a Romantic writer, he was also an important journalist and politician who played multiple roles in the national institutions, especially between 1830 and 1840, and, at a lesser degree, in the early 1850s. He wrote articles and manifestos in journals, such as O Cronista and O Portuguêz. One of the aims of our paper is to present and analyze Garrett’s political activity. He supported the Liberal Revolution from 1820 by writing two poems Hymno Constitucional and Hymno Patriótico, which were distributed to civilians in Porto. In the following years, he became more and more active in the political affairs of the country and he even participated in various protests and insurrections, including in Vilafrancada, which was an attempt of D. Miguel to seize the power of the country in 1823. In 1832, he joined the liberal troupes of D. Pedro I of Brazil/ IV of Portugal to fight against the ones led by D. Miguel, who defended the absolute monarchy. In 1836, Garrett helped the ministers with the definition of a new Constitution, which was later adopted in 1838. During his lifetime, he was sent as consul of Portugal in Belgium, he was several times named deputy in the Portuguese Parliament and, finally, he received the title of viscount. Another aim of our paper is to analyze to which degree Garrett’s political views are included in his fictional writings, especially the novel Viagensna Minha Terra(1846),but also the plays Frei Luís de Sousa e Um Auto de Gil Vicente (1841). In order to obtain the expected results, we will take into consideration not only the articles that he published in the national journals of that time, but also his manifestos, including O Dia Vinte e Quatro de Agosto (1821) and Portugal na Balança da Europa (1830).

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