FARIA (Manuel Severim de). VARIOS Discursos Políticos. Lisboa. 1791.

FARIA (Manuel Severim de). VARIOS Discursos Políticos. Lisboa. 1791.
FARIA (Manuel Severim de)
VARIOS Discursos Políticos. Fielmente reimpressos por Joaquim Francisco Monteiro. Lisboa: Na Offic. de Antonio Gomes, 1791.

A-Z8, [ ]; [6], 362, [2] pp.; 155 mm.

Second edition of a very important work, founder of “17th-century Camonian criticism” through the text entitled “Life of Luís de Camões”, written by Manuel Severim de Faria, an unavoidable figure of Portuguese literature in the 17th century, recognized as one of the greatest authorities prestige within the Portuguese intelligentsia. Educated at the home of one of his uncles, he entered the University of Évora, obtaining a master's degree in Arts and a doctorate in theology. He took office as canon of the Cathedral in 1608 and in 1618 was responsible for organizing the Chapter Archive. With a prominent position, it seems to have built a vast archaeological collection and an important library. This is one of his main works. Consisting of seven “speeches”, it would have been written during the early years of the 1620s and recited in one of the literary academies in Évora that he founded. Among the seven texts, the biographies of Diogo do Couto and João de Barros stand out, the title “Of the parts that there must be in language to be perfect, and how Portuguese has them all and some with eminence of others languages” and, the aforementioned text about Camões. In this, he makes an apology for Camões' superiority, responding to those voices that censored linguistic deviations and the inclusion of pagan gods in Os Lusíadas. In a way not attempted until then, it resorts to the poem to characterize the poet's biographical traits and defends the epic character of the poem. According to Severim de Faria, teaching and aesthetic pleasure are the main characteristics of epic poetry and this is fully achieved in Os Lusíadas. Severim de Faria’s theses, presented in this work, gave rise to “an intense literary controversy that ran through the early decades of the 18th century, laying the foundations for a future activity of literary criticism in Portugal.” [cf. Dictionary of Luís de Camões].

¶ Inocêncio, 6, p. 106; Dicionário de Luís de Camões; JUROMENHA, Visconde de, Obras de Luís de Camões, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional, 1860, v. 1, p. 318