Professor Adriana Vazquez will deliver a lecture entitled De Bello Brasilico: Lusophone Epic and Poetic Potentialities on Thursday, April 13 at UC Davis’ Department of Classics.
Abstract: The neoclassical poetic production of the Brazilian colonial period saw the publication of two epic poems: the O Uraguai of José Basílio da Gama (1769) and the Caramuru of José de Santa Rita Durão (1781). My presentation asks how these epic poems can be construed as episodes of an unrealized epic poetic cycle revealing the poetic potentials signaled within the texts themselves. In addition, I will discuss how, applying Stephen Hinds’ conception of the ‘virtual Latin diptych’, both poets engage virtual Latin versions of their poems, necessitating a new method of receptive reading.
