A Peregrinação de Fernão Mendes Pinto revisitada : a sua teoria moderna da viagem

Abstract

In revisiting the Peregrinação, which in our time as in the century it was published, has enjoyed unusual success, reasons for this popularity are put forward, and privileged areas of its critiques are highlighted – some without aesthetic-literary relevance, such as the historical-biographical «lies» – and areas which have been neglected, such as those with particular importance for the theory of travel. The lay and religious meaning of «peregrinação (pilgrimage)» is explored, which implies focus on the autobiographical and diegetic plane and narrative structure, a type of adventurer and secluded memoirist, the unique work of Mendes Pinto, even for its obsession with the idea of journey and anti-epic tone, seems close to the best of modern literature of the genre.