History and Literature represent two sides of the Portuguese collective imaginary construction and, simultaneously, the result of that same construction, reflecting idiosyncrasies which identify and distinguish that same imaginary and embody it as an independent nation. Embryonically merged in the Iberia Peninsula, the new order of the Christian patchwork has risen from the Reconquista, frequently assumed in the land conquered, which reflected the tension between the centripetal force of the kingdom of Castela and the centrifugal force of its neighbours, especially the peripheral ones. Throughout the centuries there have been several territorial claims and hegemonic attempts, mostly influenced by private interests of high nobility. Under the blessing of the sword and the cross, the Portuguese individuality was built under the suspicion of the neighbour kingdom centripetal force. Between the fear of submission and the ambition of prominence, a strategic intermarriage was developed as a way to guarantee long lasting political agreements and some social stability. This procedure ended up building, among royal houses, tangled familiar webs, increasing interferences and ambiguous inheritable rights. The same model was applied to the high nobility, less aware of its patriotic duty and mostly worried about its own honor and profit. As a result, marriage ended up (co)funding two force lines that majored royal concerns: the fear of the external danger and the badly disguised ambition over foreign nearby territories. The same fear and ambition were shared by the great noble houses, whose power, equally supported by alliances and marriages, crossed borders and threatened the monarchs’ dominance. It is among this context that, between historical facts and fabled legends, arises D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro story, in the middle of the XIV century, which will get investigation and artistic production passionate, especially the literary one, throughout the centuries. In the last decades, the traditional sentimental discourse and perspectives have multiplied, being lyric and feminine, and dealing directly with provocative and showy analyses, to which the spreading of the so called post-modern historical romance is not a stranger. The storytelling Inês de Castro – A Estalagem dos Assombros, Seomara da Veiga Ferreira, spreads a deep feminine discourse factually and historically realistic, and, at the same time, sustained on the revision of D. Pedro’s life, through the intern focalization of allegedly reliable narrators, such as D. Beatriz, his mother. The storytelling Advinhas de Pedro e Inês, Agustina Bessa-Luís, presents a discourse based in historical facts, but, here and there, drifts to the suppositions camp, beaconed by the prominent omniscient narrator. Somewhere between Seomara and Agustina the great post-modern historical romance dilemma is played: what is the truth? Can we live it? How can we represent it through writing? In this search to clear the past, the narrator assumes a central function, adopting alternative points of view, trying to enlighten the narratee about the borders of the presented story. Sometimes this complicity ends up fading frontiers between narrator and author and amongst narratee and reader. Therefore, History, being riddled with uncertainties, becomes what we build.
| Date of Award | 23 Jul 2015 |
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| Original language | Portuguese |
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| Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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| Supervisor | Maria José de Araújo Ferreira Lopes (Supervisor) |
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