“As musas peninsulares nasceram irmãs”. Spanish Golden Age Literature in Portugal: Revista Peninsular (1855–56)

Abstract

The article analyzes the reception of Spanish Golden Age literature in nineteenth-century Portuguese press, focusing on the Revista Peninsular (1855–56) as a vehicle for the construction of a peninsular and/or national literary identity. The literary content of 24 issues published can be grouped into two main categories: on the one hand, nostalgia, often accompanied by a critique of the contemporary literary scene; on the other, critical studies of specific genres, which involve a journey through Peninsular literary history and contribute to the processes of canon formation and the construction of a shared literary imaginary. The pages of the Revista Peninsular, far from constructing a political Iberism, aim to shape a symbolic and affective Iberism, in which literature–especially Golden Age literature– acts as a mediating space between past and present, Spain and Portugal, memory and future projection.