The Power of the Image in the Work of Lídia Jorge

A pioneering first in the English language. This is a wonderfully subtle, multifaceted study of the image in the work of one of Portugal’s greatest writers. Admirable for its depth of analysis and breadth of coverage, this is a real gift for new learners of Portuguese and established scholars alike.

(Hilary Owen, University of Oxford)

The present collection of essays, produced by some of the best scholars who have dealt with Lídia Jorge’s work, should be of great help to English readers not familiar with the original language of a compelling, engaging writer deeply concerned with the world she lives in and the future of us all.

(Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, Brown University)

As Aristotle has written, the image is at the core of the soul’s language. Indeed, given its significant potential and capacity for revelation - heightened in a society dominated by visual culture - the image would seem to be key to reflecting, critically and creatively, on humanity and on history itself.

Lídia Jorge has asserted several times that her writing has always taken as its starting point a powerful and inspiring image, which concentrates the various meanings and reflections that she intends to explore while also dispersing these across her texts. Radiating from the initial image, Jorge manages to develop a gaze which is simultaneously critical, thorough and informative. Scholars point out that whenever language opens to universal images and mythologies capable of conveying visions of clarity, the subversive power of beauty is re-asserted. This power is confirmed and examined from different points of view and theories in this volume.

Nazaré Torrão is a lecturer at the University of Geneva. She holds a PhD in comparative literature (literary space and national identity) and is a researcher in contemporary literature from Portugal, Mozambique and Angola. She is Director of the Lídia Jorge Chair, Camões Institute and University of Geneva, and editor of the electronic journal Língua-lugar: Literatura, História, Estudos Culturais.

José Cândido de Oliveira Martins is Associate Professor at the Catholic University of Portugal. He holds a PhD in Humanities (theory of literature) and is a researcher in Literature and Culture Studies at the Research Center for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies. He is the editor of several books on themes of Portuguese and comparative literature. In recent years he has served as the editor of Plataforma 9 and a member of the board of the AIL (International Lusitanists Association).