The Lament of Maria Parda

Gil VicenteProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 12K 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. Pranto de Maria Parda by Gil Vicente. Author: Vicente, Gil, 1470?-1536? Language: Portuguese. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: May 4, 2007

Editor's review

Pranto de Maria Parda is a work by the Portuguese playwright Gil Vicente, written in Portuguese and provided as a public-domain e-book by Project Gutenberg. Vicente was an important early figure in Portuguese drama, and his works often depict everyday life through colloquial dialogue and satire. This play centers on a lamenting monologue by a character named Maria Parda and has the flavor of a folk farce. It is short, and its language preserves early Portuguese features, making it a good introductory text for understanding early Iberian drama and the roots of Portuguese literature. Don't aim for word-for-word precision; grasp the character's situation and the satirical tone first, then use notes to understand old spellings and expressions. For Portuguese learners, it is engaging material for encountering classical Portuguese; for general readers, it is a small window into sixteenth-century Portuguese social customs.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced Portuguese learners wanting to engage with classical Portuguese texts
Teachers and students studying early Iberian drama and literature
Readers interested in Portuguese social customs and folk farce
Readers doing comparative drama or European literary history reading

Not a good fit for

General readers who read only Chinese and do not engage with original Portuguese
Beginners with no Portuguese who cannot yet read the original
Readers expecting a long plot or modern novel-style narrative

Reading tips

Read a background introduction first to understand Gil Vicente's era and dramatic style before entering the text.
On the first pass, grasp the character's emotions and the satirical tone; on the second, look up old spellings and unfamiliar words.
Read the dialogue passages aloud to feel the colloquial rhythm of early Portuguese and the stage feel of folk farce.
Read alongside other short plays by the same author to observe similarities and differences in characterization and satire.

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 language is this book in, and what Portuguese level is needed?

It is in the original Portuguese and preserves early Portuguese spelling and expressions; an intermediate or higher reading level is recommended. Beginners can read a translation or background introduction first, then compare with the original to get a feel for the style, rather than reading closely sentence by sentence from the start.

Is it long? What is it mainly about?

It is a short play centered on the lament of the character Maria Parda, with folk-farce and satirical coloring. It does not rely on a complex plot but on monologue and an everyday atmosphere, making it suitable for close reading as a short text.

Can I understand it without knowing Portuguese history?

You can read it, but your grasp of the satire will be reduced. It helps to first learn about the social background and dramatic tradition of Gil Vicente's time, then read the text, to better appreciate its teasing of the customs and figures of the day.

Any advice for reading the e-book?

Public-domain e-books tend to have plain layouts; use reading software with a dictionary and adjustable font size. Mark old spellings and skip them at first, then deal with them together after a full read, so individual words don't disrupt overall understanding.

Comments

Find this book

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

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.