"This collection brings together textual commentaries on thirty representative works of literature in Portuguese - either complete poems or extracts from longer works - ranging from the medieval lyric of the 13th century, through the poetry and drama of the Portuguese Renaissance, the great Realist novels of the nineteenth century, early twentieth century Modernism and post-1974 writings through to the present day, while also including examples of 19th- and 20th- century Brazilian literature. The authors chosen - poets, dramatists and novelists - are generally regarded as iconic writers, and the three most famous canonical Portuguese authors (Luis de Camoes, Fernando Pessoa, Jose Saramago) are featured, but the texts selected for commentary strike a balance between a focus on well-known and lesser-studied works. All the primary texts are reproduced in Portuguese, sometimes in original editions, with English translations added for the majority. The contributors variously explicate and contextualise the works they present, some focusing on hidden meaning, others on philological aspects of editing, others on their historical, intellectual and philosophical context, and others still on the process of translation itself. All, however, aim to develop the art of reading, for the benefit of scholars and students alike. Stephen Parkinson and Claudia Pazos Alonso are members of the Sub-Faculty of Portuguese at Oxford University, and editors of the Companion to Portuguese Literature (Tamesis, 2009)."
