Esplendor e miséria das Descobertas = Splendor and Misery of the Discoveries

Abstract

This paper attempts to explain how Portuguese literature (withspecial focus on the novel) has approached discoveries: from theheroic celebration in old texts considered foundational by Martin Puchner in The Written World (2017) - of which Os Lusíadasare a privileged example - until recent novels that deal with historical issues. The voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro ÁlvaresCabral (1498 and 1500, respectively), whose reports reach us bythe pen of those who participated in them, gave rise to numerous works, the content of which is modified according to the literary fashions and the purposes of those who write. Dissonantvoices (like the one of the Velho do Restelo or Gil Vicente's, inAuto of India) are, at the time, quite rare. The 19th century glorifies Portuguese performance and only rarely criticizes one or another aspect, although there are already dissonant opinionsabout King Sebastian, symbol of the Portuguese collapse. It willbe, however, in the late 20th century that readings become moreepistemologically staggering and that voices like that of LoboAntunes emerge in As Naus.