The Cowboy's Monologue

Gil VicenteProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 9.5K 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.Monólogo do Vaqueiro by Gil VicenteAuthor: Vicente, Gil, 1470?-1536?,Language: Portuguese, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jan 2, 2008

Editor's review

Monólogo do Vaqueiro is one of the earliest surviving plays by the Portuguese dramatist Gil Vicente. Built around a cowherd's monologue, it preserves the vivid immediacy of early sixteenth-century Iberian colloquial drama. Vicente is often regarded as the founder of Portuguese theater, and this short play, compact in length and steeped in rustic speech and folk wisdom, offers Portuguese literary scholars a view of dramatic forms before the Golden Age while allowing general readers to experience the unadorned appeal of a stage monologue. Written in Portuguese in archaic style, it poses certain difficulties for non-native readers, yet precisely for this reason it serves as an accessible introduction to the origins of Portuguese literature. Readers may treat it as a short play to be read aloud, savoring the character's simplicity and humor through the rhythm of the voice, or read it alongside other works by Vicente to observe how he handles religious and secular subjects.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers learning Portuguese who wish to encounter early Portuguese literary texts in the original
Scholars and students of Iberian theater history and late medieval literature
Theater enthusiasts who enjoy monologue-form short plays and are willing to try classical texts
Collectors of public-domain e-books and followers of Project Gutenberg resources

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Portuguese at all who need a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer modern plot-driven fiction and lack patience for classical dramatic forms
Beginners who need detailed annotations and scholarly introductions to understand the original text

Reading tips

Read through once to feel the colloquial rhythm of the monologue; there is no need to verify archaic spellings word by word.
Follow along with a Portuguese reading or recording to sense the theatrical quality of Vicente's play.
Look into Gil Vicente's life and the background of sixteenth-century Portuguese theater before a close reading.
Read alongside the author's religious short plays to compare his treatment of secular and religious subjects.

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

What level of Portuguese is needed to read this book?

The original is early sixteenth-century Portuguese, with spelling and syntax that differ from modern usage. Intermediate or higher reading ability in Portuguese is recommended, or reading with annotations and a translation for comparison. Complete beginners will find it quite difficult.

What is Gil Vicente's place in literary history?

Vicente is one of the most important early playwrights in Portugal, active in the early sixteenth century. His works include religious plays and secular comedies, his language stays close to popular speech, and he had a pioneering influence on later Portuguese theatrical tradition.

Is this version a translation or the original?

This e-book is published by Project Gutenberg and marked as Portuguese; it is a public-domain electronic text of the original, with no Chinese translation or scholarly annotations, so readers should prepare their own supplementary materials.

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About the author

Gil Vicente Author · Portuguese · 1465–1536

Gil Vicente (c. 1465–c. 1536) was a Portuguese playwright and poet, honored as the "father of Portuguese drama." He served for a long time at the courts of Manuel I and John III, writing some forty-four plays in both Portuguese and Spanish; his representative works include the Monólogo do Vaqueiro, the Auto da Barca do Inferno, and the plays collected in Four Plays of Gil Vicente. Drawing mainly on religious subjects and court festivities, his works blend pastoral, allegorical, and satirical styles in a lively, colloquial language. They reflect the social life of Renaissance Portugal and laid the foundation of a national Portuguese theater, leaving a lasting influence on later Iberian drama. Public information on his early life and education is limited.