Seven decades after the publication of the biographies of Luís Camões (1950) and Camilo Castelo Branco (1957) by writer Aquilino Ribeiro (1885-1963), Bertrand reissues each of them in a single volume, respectively, originally published in two and three volumes. He adds two prefaces to each one, by António Valdemar and José Cândido de Oliveira Martins, as well as name indices. Comparing it to the date of the first edition, Aquilino Ribeiro’s name will say a lot to few people – despite the editorial effort of the continuous reissue in recent years -, as it is part of another time, even if far from the ideals of the Estado Novo. Recognized at the time by the majority of his peers, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960, his death was prohibited from being reported by the censorship and in 2007 he was transferred to the National Pantheon.
It is not necessary to read Aquilino’s bibliography to understand why he is almost ignored today; After all, educated people and owners of a Portuguese language that is not always comprehensible to the current generation of those who speak it, are being forgotten.
Even if the major national issues remain, as noted by the prefacer António Valdemar after describing the approval process of The Lusíadas by the Inquisition, in which the author and censor trimmed what was necessary in order to be authorized. According to Valdemar: “As Aquilino lived in a regime of censorship, just as in the time of the Inquisition, in his opinion there were conversations and readjustments between the censor and the author and thus issues such as pagan narratives, with verses filled with sexual exaltation, such as that of Ilha dos Amores, were overcome”.
The new edition of Luís de Camões – Fabulous * True arrived in bookstores last year, when his birth was commemorated (1524 or 1525?), and Valdemar decided to make this biography more current, comparing the times and problems of the country. Here are some examples of what you consider to be a stimulus for reading Camões, especially The Lusíadasbecause Aquilino’s work confronts us with his – and our – current situation: “In numerous passages we come across the vigorous accusation of complicit silence and promiscuity in business; he rebelled against the widespread corruption installed in Portugal, with a power-hungry political class with impunity, the precariousness of employment relationships, the crisis in health and justice.”
In the introduction to Camões’ biography, Aquilino justifies his commitment to studying the poet: “A thorough and meticulous review is required.” He informs that he did not find “new sources” but poorly read details until his turn came. For example: “The three private letters that remain to us from the poet”, as well as many other specifics in order to find the “true Camões”. Aquilino Ribeiro does not fail to include in the afterword on the penultimate page one of the criticisms that were made against him after a first version, Camões, Camilo, Eça and Some Morerecording the title of Norberto de Araújo: “Camões was not quite as Aquilino saw it”.
Camilo’s Romance is the most recent biography to hit bookstores about the writer Camilo Castelo Branco, also by Aquilino Ribeiro, prefaced by Cândido de Oliveira Martins. Aquilino had already dedicated himself to several works and essays on Camilo and in choosing the title of this biography, the preface considers, he wanted to demonstrate an ambiguityas he explains in the preliminary note: “This book, despite the title, cannot be considered a novel, it is a true story”. It should be noted that it is not his invention, as Camilo had already behaved like this during his life and his own story could be read as a novel. Cândido de Oliveira Martins confirms this in his preface by concluding that “Camilo’s troubled existence formed a true ‘romance’, which was not lacking in many other picaresque moments. The writer’s troubled and scandalous life contributed greatly to this.” For the researcher, it was not only these qualities that shaped his future image: “Also, to a high degree, the image or images that Camilo was constructing of himself, insistently drawing the authorial figure, so often projected in what he wrote, in different autobiographical tones”.
Cândido de Oliveira Martins refers to what Aquilino reveals when he considers this legacy about Camilo when writing this biography in the following way: “Look for the man with temper and bladder, who spent the raisins of the Algarve until he reached his ripe old age, was the father of two crazy children, fought, confessing himself to be a commoner, for the crown of viscount, married late with the poor matron who went astray from the home, disdained by women, an animal of nervous, irregular in everything.” According to the preface, all these biographical angles of Camilo were well known to Aquilino and sufficient to advance this bio-bibliographical project that he intended at the same time “demystify Camilo’s portrait, remove the hyperbolic and fake veneer that has been glued to it.”
Aquilino Ribeiro’s two gigantic biographical efforts on Camões and Camilo did not receive a unanimous reception at the time of publication. Cândido de Oliveira Martins closes his preface reporting the controversies generated by Camilo and António Valdemar does the same, after all his biography resulted in a lot of debate because “by emptying the myths” he “swept away the cobwebs” that were of interest to intellectuals and politicians who ensured the continuity of the regime”.