Littoral

José Sobral de Almada NegreirosProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 5.4K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Litoral by José de Almada NegreirosAuthor: Almada Negreiros, José de, 1893-1970,Language: Portuguese, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 29, 2007

Editor's review

A literary work by Almada Negreiros, a pioneer of Portuguese modernism, released free in electronic form by Project Gutenberg as an early experimental text in Portuguese-language literature. Negreiros was both a writer and a visual artist, and his writing often carries a distinct modernist sense of rhythm and formal experimentation; Litoral embodies this tendency to cross the boundary between literature and art. For readers studying Portuguese modernism, Iberian literature, or the early twentieth-century European avant-garde, this text offers direct access to a primary source. The Gutenberg edition has the advantage of being easy to obtain, search, and cite, making it suitable as supplementary reading for academic study or literary research. Note, however, that the book is in the original Portuguese and belongs to early modernism, so its language is distant from contemporary Portuguese; non-Portuguese readers will need a translation or parallel reading. It is not a popular narrative work but a literary text that demands close reading and background knowledge; readers should understand its formal experiments in the historical context of Portuguese modernism.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and graduate students studying Portuguese modernist literature
Learners of Portuguese who wish to engage with literary texts in the original
Readers interested in the early twentieth-century European avant-garde art movements
Teachers who need a free electronic text for teaching or citation

Not a good fit for

General readers without the ability to read Portuguese
Readers expecting a plot-driven popular novel or light reading
Beginners with little patience for modernist formal experimentation

Reading tips

First learn about Portuguese modernism and Negreiros's artistic background, then proceed to close reading of the text.
Portuguese learners may read alongside a translation or annotated edition to lower the language barrier.
Place the text in the context of the early twentieth-century European avant-garde and attend to its experiments in form and rhythm.
Use the search function of the Gutenberg electronic edition to mark keywords for repeated study.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Portuguese or English?

Litoral is in the original Portuguese; Project Gutenberg lists its language as Portuguese. Non-Portuguese readers will need a translation or parallel reading, and English-language readers should not open it expecting English.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides a free electronic text that is easy to download, search, and cite, suitable for academic support and teaching. This edition is a public-domain ebook without modern annotations or an introduction, so readers must supply background materials themselves.

What background knowledge is needed to read this book?

It is advisable to understand the basic outlines of the Portuguese modernist movement and Negreiros's interdisciplinary practice as both writer and artist. Without this background, the text's formal experiments may seem difficult to grasp; readers may begin with an introduction to the relevant literary history.

Comments

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About the author

José Sobral de Almada Negreiros Author · Portuguese · 1893–1970

José de Almada Negreiros (1893–1970) was a Portuguese painter, poet and writer, and a central figure of the Portuguese modernist movement. Born in São Tomé and Príncipe, he later became active in Lisbon's literary and artistic circles, co-founding the magazine Orpheus with Fernando Pessoa and Mário de Sá-Carneiro, thereby promoting Portuguese modernist literature and art. His work spans painting, poetry, fiction and manifestos, with representative titles including the Anti-Dantas Manifesto, A Scena do Odio, K4 O Quadrado Azul and A Engomadeira. His writings often draw on Lisbon's urban life, displaying bold linguistic experimentation, irony and avant-garde sensibility. The library holds eight of his works, covering fiction, manifestos and texts related to art exhibitions, which reflect his cross-disciplinary practice. Public information on the details of his life and education is limited.