Auto da Feira

by Gil Vicente

Leitura recomendada para o 10.º ano de escolaridade.

Auto da Feira
Imagine-se a vida enquanto uma feira, um mercado livre, onde se compram e vendem vícios e virtudes, juntamente com tecidos, frutas e bugigangas de toda a variedade. Quem será atraído à tenda do Tempo para comprar as "mercadorias d’amor e rezão, justiça e verdade, a paz desejada"? E quem preferirá as "artes de enganar" que o Diabo tem para vender?…
Esta é uma alegoria da vida construída por Gil Vicente, tão atual na sua intenção satírica, mesmo passados 500 anos…

Genres: Plays, Portuguese Literature, Classics, Portugal

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1526

About the author

Gil Vicente, called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus" and often referred to as the "Father of Portuguese drama." Vicente worked in Portuguese as much as he worked in Spanish and is thus, with Juan del Encina, considered joint-father of Spanish drama.

Vicente was attached to the courts of the Portuguese kings Manuel I and John III. He rose to prominence as a playwright largely on account of the influence of Queen Dowager Leonor, who noticed him as he participated in court dramas and subsequently commissioned him to write his first theatrical work.

He may also have been identical to an accomplished goldsmith of the same name, creator of the famous monstrance of Belém, and master of rhetoric of King Manuel I.

His plays and poetry, written in both Portuguese and Spanish, were a reflection of the changing times during the transition from Middle Ages to Renaissance and created a balance between the former time of rigid mores and hierarchical social structure and the new society in which this order was undermined.

While many of Vicente's works were composed to celebrate religious and national festivals or to commemorate events in the life of the royal family, others draw upon popular culture to entertain, and often to critique, Portuguese society of his day.

Though some of his works were later suppressed by the Inquisition, causing his fame to wane, he is now recognised as one of the principal figures of the Portuguese Renaissance.

More information at Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Bernardo Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

17 páginas e mesmo assim não me consegui forçar a ler até ao fim. Eu adoro ler, e gostei de quase todos os livros que tive de ler na escola, mas pus-me a pensar que se me fizessem ler isto, seria uma tortura. Não quero ser muito mau, porque isto tem 500 anos, mas vou ter de ser. Isto parecia as notas que escrevo no telemóvel às 4 da manhã quando acho que tenho boas ideias para letras de música e no dia a seguir tenho de as apagar, e nem com uma legião de professores de português a tentar espremer significado daqui conseguiriam obter muita coisa.

Mas, sinceramente, o facto de ter estado doente na cama quando estava a ler isto pode contribuir para a minha impressão deste "livro".

[Mar Matias · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time that I've read one of Gil Vicente's plays. I imagine it to be due to the lack of edition, but I considered it a complicated reading. Thanks to that, I will probably be re-reading it in order to obtain a better understanding of the piece.

  For now I will say this : Thanks to the writing's time of the piece, it presents literary aspects of hard assimilation.

  It seemed to me like a piece with "a lot to say"; It is a piece that requires some research to understand certain piece's aspects and obtain a deeper interpretation. Though that would depend on the reader's repertory.

  It possesses a whole bunch of social and religious references to the author's period. Therefore, in spite of the relevance from its discussions being timeless, it is a piece to be thought out of the reader's time context.

  This particular edition hasn't been adapted to the brazilian Portuguese, or even to the contemporary grammar of the language. So its grammar was, at least to me, a linguistic challenge.

  Despite the language's hardness and the cultural references hidden in plain sight, I actually got very interested in the story.

  The characters possessed a vivacity which I haven't expected, but very well written by the author. Even though I wasn't able to "connect" myself with the characters, I could see them in front of me. Considering the piece's not-so-accessible language, it is an impressive fact. Justifying the renoum of Gil Vicente's name in theater and in Portuguese literature.

[Carlota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma obra de uma fase madura de Gil Vicente. Surpreendeu-me, a nível de escrita está incrível e a crítica religiosa, assim como as analogias e os duplos sentidos estão no seu melhor (do que já li do autor). A ironia, essa continua destemida e certeira!
A presente edição está bastante bem conseguida, desde as anotações ao contexto histórico, assim como as perspetivas de outros autores que vão surgindo na Primeira Parte.

E, termino este ciclo de Gil Vicente em 2022; último livro do ano! Espero continuar a ler mais da sua obra.

[Simão Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tour pela história da literatura portuguesa:

>Época clássica: Período Renascentista (teatro vicentino)

[Ana Machado · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apesar da história ser muito interessante, não acho que seja a leitura por prazer, mas sim uma leitura para críticas profundas. Um livro que deveria ser obrigatório em aulas de Português.