The Construction of Portugalidade in Portuguese Literature and Its Deconstruction in Mário De Carvalho’S Fantasia Para Dois Coronéis E Uma Piscina
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTUGALIDADE IN PORTUGUESE LITERATURE AND ITS DECONSTRUCTION IN MÁRIO DE CARVALHO’S FANTASIA PARA DOIS CORONÉIS E UMA PISCINA by ANNELIESE FELICITY HATTON A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS BY RESEARCH Hispanic Studies Department of Modern Languages University of Birmingham June 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT National identity discourse has proliferated since the nineteenth-century, and this has been reflected in the construction and analysis of portugalidade as Portugal has undergone significant historical and social transformations. This discourse has developed within Portuguese imagology and is consistently based upon the central imagery of the Discoveries. Although there have been changes intended to either support or question the ruling elite, the imperial motif has remained throughout. The end of the Estado Novo and the Portuguese empire means that former identity discourse must be reappraised in an attempt to construct a post-imperial identity. However, even as these notions have come to be deconstructed through the use of irony and parody in postmodern literature, the centrality of the imagery of the Discoveries endures. This is particularly evident in Mário de Carvalho’s 2003 novel Fantasia para dois Coronéis e uma Piscina, where he uses metafictive techniques to analyse contemporary portugalidade. His construction of various characters parodies Portuguese imagology in order to question its legitimacy, as well as portraying the importance of agency within identity discourse through his manipulation of the reader using subversion. This emphasises the necessity of the deconstruction of portugalidade in order to fully understand its contemporary relevance. DEDICATION This thesis, alongside all my academic activities, is dedicated to my son Felix and my partner John, whose love and support have enabled me to attain my academic goals, and allowed me to enjoy myself in the process. I know you will understand this: ‘Nunca houve uma boa dona de casa que não tivesse muito que fazer’ (Salazar). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor Dr Patricia Odber de Baubeta, who has consistently supported me throughout this thesis as well as in my undergraduate studies. Her academic guidance has been invaluable and has enabled me to develop many skills that I know will stay with me for life, and for this I cannot thank her enough. She has also become a great friend, and I look forward to remaining in the ‘family’ even as I progress to a doctorate in Nottingham. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Instituto Camões, who have generously supported my study at Masters level by funding my studies as well as allowing me to participate in many research activities. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Title Page Introduction 1 1 National Identity and Imagology 4 2 The Construction of Portugalidade 19 2.1 The nineteenth century – decay, degeneration 19 and iberismo 2.2 The possibilities of a Portuguese Renaissance – 31 Teixeira de Pascoaes and Fernando Pessoa 2.3 The influence of the Estado Novo on 52 portugalidade 2.4 Contemporary portugalidade – Eduardo 63 Lourenço, António Quadros and José Gil 3 The Deconstruction of Portugalidade in 80 Carvalho’s Fantasia para dois Coronéis e uma Piscina 3.1 The narrator/author and cronovelema 80 3.2 Emanuel Elói – A Portuguese hero? 91 3.3 The colonels – o português velho in 110 contemporary Portuguese society 3.4 The uncle and Maria das Dores 125 3.5 Eleutério, the beekeeper 133 3.6 The shepherd 138 Conclusion 143 Bibliography 145 INTRODUCTION É difícil distinguir se o nosso passado é que é o nosso futuro, ou se o nosso futuro é que é o nosso passado. Fernando Pessoa This thesis will examine how the notion of portugalidade based upon the imagery of the Discoveries has developed over centuries of Portuguese imagology, and has subsequently come to be deconstructed within postmodern literature, thereby questioning its legitimacy. In order to investigate this, three main avenues must be explored: national identity theory, the construction of portugalidade and an example of its deconstruction in a novel, Mário de Carvalho’s Fantasia para dois Coronéis e uma Piscina. Chapter 1 will examine how national identity theory has developed since the nineteenth- century, and how this has impacted on definitions of national identity itself. It has become clear that national characteristics are not ‘natural’ but have been constructed and manipulated by the intellectual, political and social elites in order to perpetuate their own power. Literature was the ideal medium to portray the characteristics of national identity to the masses, and so authors are an integral part of identity discourse. The combination of cohesive images regarding national identity can be said to form a national imagology, a theoretical framework that recognises the necessity of an understanding of the impact of 1 socio-historic circumstances upon literature to allow for a more comprehensive analysis. These theories will form the basis for investigation of portugalidade and its deconstruction. Chapter 2 is an analysis of the construction of portugalidade throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is a wealth of literature on this subject, meaning that only a limited number of texts can be analysed in this thesis, but leaving scope for future research. This discourse was based upon imagery of the Discoveries, but interpreted and portrayed in various ways according to the socio-historical context. Through the examination of selected authors and texts, this central tenet can be seen as a recurring motif, but its significance is constantly adapting. The nineteenth-century perspective (2.1) is based around the belief in the degeneration of the Portuguese people that culminated in the Ultimatum, leading authors to attempt to define a method for regaining their former greatness through analysis of portugalidade. These attempts are continued into the twentieth-century with Pascoaes and Pessoa (2.2), but the effects of the 1910 Revolution and the First World War led to a more spiritual perspective and a belief in the ability to initiate a Portuguese Renaissance. The pronounced nationalism of the Estado Novo was echoed in the imagology of contemporary authors Francisco da Cunha Leão and Jorge Dias, who attempted to demonstrate the exemplary nature of the Portuguese thereby justifying their imperial identity. Finally, the end of the Estado Novo and loss of the Portuguese empire and their consequences led to more intense analysis of the meaning of portugalidade by Eduardo Lourenço, António Quadros and José Gil (2.4), as it became 2 apparent their identity would be forced to change and they would need to explore the formation of a new one. However, the imagery of the Discoveries remained and still remains prominent, portraying its persistent centrality in the formation of portugalidade. Finally, chapter 3 will investigate the deconstruction of the notion of portugalidade in the 2003 novel, Mário de Carvalho’s Fantasia para dois Coronéis e uma Piscina. This novel is set in contemporary Portugal and deals with issues regarding Portuguese identity. Carvalho also makes many references, both explicitly and through the use of parody, to Portuguese imagology, which makes this an ideal novel for an investigation into how portugalidade is (de)constructed within postmodern literature. Carvalho demonstrates his postmodern stance predominantly through the use of metafictive techniques and irony, and he explores and manipulates the relationship between author and reader through the character of the narrator/author and his invention of the sub-genre cronovelema (3.1). Emanuel Elói is a character designed to examine through the use of irony the tradition of the hero within Portuguese imagology (3.2), and to cast doubt upon the supposedly heroic nature of the portugalidade based upon the imagery of the Discoveries. The colonels (3.3) are used by Carvalho to investigate the impact of the colonial wars on the Portuguese, as well as a parody of the quest for a true Portugal as the colonels attempt to retreat from the modern world. Several secondary characters are utilised by Carvalho to emphasise his ironic portrayal of portugalidade and Portuguese imagology through metafiction: the uncle and Maria das Dores (3.4), the beekeeper (3.5) and the shepherd (3.6). 3 1. NATIONAL IDENTITY AND IMAGOLOGY The concept of national identity, as with many other aspects of identity theory, is ever- changing and fluid, often adapted to suit prevalent contemporary political and social factors. It is therefore difficult to arrive at an overarching definition of what constitutes national identity, although by examining the work of theoreticians some tentative conclusions can be drawn. Questions surrounding nationalism and national identity stem from the emergence of the nation-state, whose origin is also debated