The poet Eugénio de Andrade (1923-2005) highlights that “Secret words come, full of memory”. Building by words: a constant battle for poets, prose writers, playwrights and essayists. Words have an operative effect on each object, giving it a concrete identity and thus describing complete landscapes. Furthermore, words can create a full fictitious world, either in a broader dimension (“countryside” / “city”) or in a more intimate one (“house” / “home” / “dwelling”). The social ties created by and through words can occur in public spaces like cafés, churches, libraries, guilds, hotels and villas, in towns, cities and countries. Novels such as Os Maias (1888), by Eça de Queiroz, cannot function without these same spaces for the development of the characters' social relationships. 

The colloquium's theme has a decidedly interdisciplinary focus, seeking to foster moments of discussion and shared reflection on how Portuguese and foreign writers have approached and theorised concepts like “countryside”, “city”, “building”, or “architecture” always in narrow contact with society. 

In the year that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Eugénio de Andrade, a skilled builder of spaces with words, we will recall texts like Relação de casas boas e más para juízo dos Arquitectos Carlos Loureiro e Pádua Ramos, without forgetting names and outstanding works of the Portuguese cultural landscape like Eça de Queiroz (A Cidade e as Serras, 1901) or Aquilino Ribeiro (A Casa Grande de Romarigães, 1957. Similarly, we cannot forget to mention authors who are perhaps less well-known, like Manuel Ribeiro (1878–1941), who, with his work A Catedral (1920), played a significant role in the debate about nationalist architectural restoration in Portugal during the first half of the 20th century.

The colloquium will also welcome proposals centred on the dialogues between literature and architectural heritage ideology, as perceived through the minds of international authors like Thomas Hardy (How I built myself a House, 1865), Federico Garcia Lorca (The House of Bernarda Alba, 1936), Italo Calvino (The Invisible Cities, 1972), not to mention authors from the American continent like Edgar Allan Poe (The Fall of the House of Usher, 1839), Thoreau (Walden, 1854) or even the Chilean Pablo Neruda (“Oda al edifício”, in Odas Elementales, 1954).

This is an initiative of the Research Line number 3 “Aesthetic and Artistic Traditions in Portuguese and European Culture”, and Research Line 5 "Modernities" within the scope of Group 4 (Portuguese and European Literatures and Cultures). It will be promoted by the Center for Lusophone and European Literature and Cultures (CLEPUL) of the School of Arts and Humanities of Lisbon University, aiming to link its researchers with the international academic community. 

Organizing Committee

Patrícia Monteiro (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Fernando de Moraes Gebra (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Cristiana Lucas (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Joana Balsa de Pinho (ARTIS-IHA | CLEPUL | FLUL)

Madalena Costa Lima (ARTIS-IHA | CLEPUL | FLUL)

Porfírio Pinto (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Rui Costa (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Susana Alves-Jesus (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Scientific Committee

Clara Moura Soares (ARTIS – IHA | FLUL)

Cristina Firmino Santos (UÉ)

Dionísio Vila-Maior (Uab)

Glória Marques Ferreira (University of Jakarta | Indonesia)

Marília Futre Pinheiro (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Mário Vitor Bastos (CLEPUL | FLUL)

Nélia Cruz (FLUL)

Serafina Martins (CLEPUL | FLUL)

There will not be chronological delimitations, instead, we welcome submissions that highlight different writers’ viewpoints (some of them also architects) on the subjects of architectural heritage, as well as similarities and differences in space representations, according to the following topics:

•     Architecture theory or utopia;

•     Space building in literature and arts;  

•     House representations in European Literature;

•     Countryside representations in European Literature;

•     City representations in European Literature;

•     Arts dialogues between the countryside and the city. 

PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN A WORD DOCUMENT STATING THE FOLLOWING:

•  Title (Times New Roman, font 14);

• Name of the author or authors and their respective institutional affiliations (Times New Roman, font 12);

• Abstract between 150 and 250 words, accompanied by 3 keywords, separated by semicolons (Times New Roman, font 12);

• Biographical note on the author(s), not exceeding 250 words, concerning at least one personal publication (Times New Roman, font 12).

• All proposals must be submitted to the email construirporpalavras@gmail.com

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for submission of proposals: 18 September 2023

Notification of results: 30 September 2023

FEES

Participant with presentation: 30.00 eur.

Attendance: 20.00 eur.

Free admission for CLEPUL integrated researchers and collaborators.