Manifesto of the Students of the University of Coimbra to the Enlightened Opinion of the Country

Quental, Antero de, 1842-1891Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3

Word count: 15K words
Chapters: 2

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.Manifesto dos Estudantes da Universidade de Coimbra á opinião illustrada do paizAuthor: Quental, Antero de, 1842-1891,Language: Portuguese, Class: DP: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Spain, Portugal, Release Date: Sep 15, 2009

Editor's review

This is the Manifesto of the Students of the University of Coimbra to the Enlightened Opinion of the Country, drafted with the participation of the Portuguese poet Antero de Quental, written in nineteenth-century Portuguese and released as a public-domain ebook by Project Gutenberg. It is not a literary work but a public proclamation steeped in the spirit of its time: young students speak in a collective voice to "men of enlightenment," addressing education, society, and the direction of the nation in impassioned, sharply argumentative tones. For Chinese readers, its value is twofold: first, as a primary document for understanding nineteenth-century Portuguese social thought and the university youth movement; second, as a window onto Quental's intellectual profile beyond his identity as a poet. The original is in Portuguese, with the rhetorical habits of the nineteenth century, so readers without Spanish or Portuguese need a translation or parallel reading. It is not long, making it better suited to close reading as a historical fragment than to cover-to-cover reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying nineteenth-century Portuguese history and intellectual history
Students interested in the history of European university youth movements and public discourse
Literary researchers interested in the intellectual background of the poet Quental
Those with Portuguese language skills who want to practice close reading of the original

Not a good fit for

General readers who know no Portuguese and do not plan to use a translation
Quental readers looking for literary works or poetry
General readers seeking a systematic historical narrative rather than primary documents

Reading tips

First learn about nineteenth-century Portuguese political and social background; this makes the argument's targets easier to follow when reading the original.
Read the manifesto as a historical fragment, annotating its demands and rhetorical strategies paragraph by paragraph, rather than aiming for speed.
Read it alongside Quental's poetry to appreciate the different tones of the same author in public proclamations and poems.
Non-Portuguese readers should read the Portuguese original alongside a reliable translation, focusing on checking how key concepts are rendered.

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 manifesto a literary work?

No. It is a public proclamation issued in the name of students of the University of Coimbra, addressed to national public opinion. Quental was one of the signatories, but its genre is argumentative political writing, not poetry or fiction, so reading expectations should be set at the level of intellectual history and primary documents.

Can I read it without knowing Portuguese?

Yes, but you will need a translation or translation tools. The original is nineteenth-century Portuguese, with period-specific rhetoric and syntax, so direct machine translation may be inaccurate; reading with a reliable translation as the main text and the original as support is recommended.

Is it long? How long does it take to read?

As a student manifesto, it is limited in length and counts as a short document. But because its argument is dense and the background unfamiliar, reading it closely in two or three sessions, focusing on one theme of demand each time, is more rewarding than a single quick read.

Why is this document worth attention?

It places young students, public opinion, and national issues in a single text, making it a window onto nineteenth-century Portuguese social thought. It also shows the poet Quental's public engagement beyond literature, helping to understand the context in which his ideas took shape.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Quental, Antero de, 1842-1891 Author

Antero de Quental (1842–1891) was a Portuguese poet and thinker who holds an important place in nineteenth-century Portuguese literature and intellectual history. He is best known for his sonnets, and the works listed here—Sonetos de Anthero, Os sonetos completos de Anthero de Quental and Sonetos—show him returning to this form again and again, with a concentrated poetic thought that combines philosophical depth and lyrical tension. He also wrote reflective prose, such as Considerações sobre a Philosophia da Historia Litteraria Portugueza and Portugal perante a revolução de Hespanha, discussing Portuguese literary history and Iberian political questions, and he produced critical works on figures such as Sá de Miranda and Oliveira Martins. His poem Raios de extincta luz also appears in the collection. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so this entry confines itself to a brief account of his subjects and style.