Among the many consequences of Spain's annexation of Portugal from 1580
to 1640 was an increase in the number of Portuguese authors writing in
Spanish. One can trace this practice as far back as the medieval period,
although it was through Gil Vicente, Jorge de Montemayor, and others
that Spanish-language texts entered the mainstream of literary
expression in Portugal. Proficiency in both languages gave Portuguese
authors increased mobility throughout the empire. For those with
literary aspirations, Spanish offered more opportunities to publish and
greater readership, which may be why it is nearly impossible to find a
Portuguese author who did not participate in this trend during the dual
monarchy.
Over the centuries these authors and their works have been erroneously
defined in terms of economic opportunism, questions of language loyalty,
and other reductive categories. Within this large group, however, is a
subcategory of authors who used their writings in Spanish to imagine,
explore, and celebrate their Portuguese heritage. Manuel de Faria e
Sousa, Ângela de Azevedo, Jacinto Cordeiro, António de Sousa de Macedo,
and Violante do Céu, among many others, offer a uniform yet complex
answer to what it means to be from Portugal, constructing and claiming
their Portuguese identity from within a Castilianized existence. Whereas
all texts produced in Iberia during the early modern period reflect the
distinct social, political, and cultural realities sweeping across the
peninsula to some degree, Portuguese literature written in Spanish
offers a unique vantage point from which to see these converging
landscapes. Being Portuguese in Spanish explores the cultural
cross-pollination that defined the era and reappraises a body of works
that uniquely addresses the intersection of language, literature,
politics, and identity.
