In 1871, the revolutionary Portuguese poet Antero de Quental and his Geração de 70 compatriots Eça de Queirós, Oliveira Martins, and others organized the Democratic Casino Conferences in Lisbon, building upon progressive issues from the polemical Questão Coimbrã in 1865. This public lecture series challenged the Portuguese government and condemned the backward Portuguese society and its cultural elite. After five of ten scheduled lectures, the conservative government banned the events, yet their influence would be felt throughout the Iberian Peninsula for decades. This article illuminates Quental’s legacy as a poet, philosopher, and spiritual leader of his Iberian generation. It explores critical commentaries in the early 1880s by renowned Spanish writers Leopoldo Alas (nicknamed Clarín) and Juan Valera, who foregrounded Quental’s spiritual poetry as a potential solution for what they viewed as the paucity of socially-engaged verse in Spain. Their reviews pointed to Quental as a prophet of what Valera called a poetic nueva religión that could guide Iberians facing impending fin-de-siècle literary and sociopolitical crises.

Obras desconocidas de Juan Valera

Poetic Prophecy of a nueva religión Antero de Quental’s Reception in Nineteenth-Century Spain

Publicada poco despues del Desastre del 98, la ultima novela de Juan Valera, Morsamor, ha sido considerada por un amplio sector de la critica como un texto regeneracionista. Sin embargo, no solo el mismo autor niega tal proposito en su novela, sino que el argumento de la misma es, de todos los de las novelas de Valera, el mas fantasioso y desconcertante. En el presente trabajo, analizo el discurso orientalista en la obra de Valera y muestro como Morsamor reune toda una serie de temas que interesaron al autor a lo largo de su vida. Asimismo, argumento que el viaje del protagonista de la novela por las religiones orientales tiene como proposito explicar la oposicion entre la cristiandad y el islam, al mismo

Obras desconocidas de Juan Valera

Citations

Poetic Prophecy of a nueva religión Antero de Quental’s Reception in Nineteenth-Century Spain

Aspectos del Orientalismo en la obra de Juan Valera