A play for Luís de Camões: “What Will I Do with This Book?”

Abstract

In this article, whose title was suggested to me by José Saramago’s “Poema para Luís de Camões” (Probably Joy, 1970), I try to understand the image of Camões that Saramago presents to us in this play (an image that is neither idealized nor univocal) and how he constructed it ideologically (structured in his conception of the author and in his non-mechanistic historical materialist view). I explore these issues in terms of forms of expression and content, examining how he uses a “natural”, dynamic and dialectical dialogue, rewriting history using a plural perspective of literary and epic theater criticism, in conjunction with more traditional dramaturgical analysis.