Antero Tarquínio de Quental

Quental, Antero Tarquínio de 

Born Apr. 18, 1842, in Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands; died there Sept. 11, 1891. Portuguese public figure, poet, and critic.

Quental studied law in Coimbra from 1858 to 1864. A republican by conviction, he was influenced by the anarchist ideas of M. A. Bakunin. He helped to form the Portuguese section of the First International (founded in 1872). Quental propagandized his social views in publicistic articles, written in 1865–66, and in Lectures on Democracy (1871). In the articles “The Value of Literature and Official Literature” (1865) and “Good Sense and Good Taste” (1865) he stressed the lofty social purpose of literature and formulated the principles of realistic art. Writing in the romantic style in some of his early works (for example, the narrative poem To Beatrice, 1863, and the collection of poems Romantic Springtimes, 1872), Quental called for a revolutionary struggle in the collection Modern Odes (1865; second supplementary edition, 1875) and in the Complete Collection of Sonnets (1860–84, published 1886). From 1871 to 1873 he was in exile in the USA. His last works are full of pessimism and mysticism (the cycle Sorrowful Poems, 1892).

WORKS

Cartas, 2nd ed. Coimbra, 1921.
Prosas, vol. 1–3. Coimbra, 1923–31.
Sonetos. Lisbon [1962].

REFERENCES

Aleksandrova, F. F. “Odes Modernas’ Antero de-Kentala.” Nauchnyi biulleten’Leningr. gos. un-ta, 1947, nos. 14—15.
Carreiro, J. B. Antero de Quental, Subsidios para a sua biografía, vols. 1–2. Lisbon, 1948.
Nogueira, C. Antero de Quental: Esboço para a sua biografía político-social. Lisbon, 1950.
Brasil, R. Antero, vate da humanidade. Santarém, 1956.

Z. I. PLAVSKIN