4. The Ongoing Revolutionary Process (PREC), its derivatives and the post-revolution
With the overthrow of the dictatorship, a revolution took place in the publishing industry. The shop windows of the bookshops began to exhibit Marx and Sade, and were opened to many other authors, themes and genres. Ulmeiro's formula of combining literature and quality essay was taken up by new publishers, such as Vega, Fenda, Relógio D'Água and Hiena, and by the revitalized A Regra do Jogo, Centelha, etc. Other publishers focused on the essay and/or political books, or on niches. There seemed to be room for all experimentations.
Ulmeiro followed some of those dynamics, focusing on foreign contemporary theatre and children's theatre. In 1976, it published an essay on Brecht and 3 plays in the ephemeral Teatro Ulmeiro [theatre] collection, promoted by Luís Miguel Cintra and Jorge Silva Melo. In 1978 it was the turn to divulge Para um conhecimento do teatro africano [Towards a knowledge of the African theatre], by Carlos Vaz. It revealed socially committed plays by António Ferra, in 1978-79, an author linked to the diffusion of children and youth theatre in the country, with João Brites, José Gil, José Caldas, Carlos Fragateiro and Delfim Miranda. It also held children's theatre sessions at the Ulmeiro Youth Club.
It carried on supporting popular movements, now through the magazine of reflection and intervention Cidade Campo [City Countryside] (1978-79). In it a large group of experts sought to intervene in public policies of housing and urbanism.
At the end of the revolutionary period, the inept management of the now nationalised distributors, especially that of O Século group and Bloco Expresso, will cause incalculable losses to many independent publishers, from Afrodite to Vega and affecting also Ulmeiro. The considerable number of books that had been left at those distributors were not returned to them, nor were they compensated. Furthermore, there were held auctions of these books in which part of them were sold for low prices, flooding the market, devaluing these titles and compromising re-editions in the short and medium term. The critical situation of the media, especially that of the written press, and the existing heated party-political conflict led the decision-makers to neglect and mistreat this ruinous issue, which dragged on for years without any of the harmed publishers having been compensated.
This web publication had the support of CHAM (NOVA FCSH/UAc), through the strategic project sponsored by FCT (UIDB/04666/2020). This work is funded by national funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the Norma Transitória – DL 57/2016/CP1453/CT0062.
4.1 a 4.6
Photomontage of 6 book covers from Ulmeiro and Centelha, distributed and sold in the Ulmeiro bookstore [DCA JAR and Instituto Helena Greco]:
►A questão judaica, de Karl Marx (Ulmeiro, coll. Cadernos Ulmeiro, no. 10, legal deposit 1977, transl. João Fagundes, ed. and coord. by José Fortunato); ►Sobre a democracia operária e outros textos, by António Gramsci (Ulmeiro, coll. Biblioteca Ulmeiro, no. 4, 1976); ►Conselhos operários – tarefas, by Anton Pannekoek (Coimbra, Centelha, coll. Criar poder popular, no. 8, 1976, transl. Leonor Marinho Dias e Carlos Lemos); ►Colonialismo e alienação: contribuição para a teoria política de Frantz Fanon, by Renate Zahar (Ulmeiro, coll. Terceiro mundo e revolução, no. 2, 1976, transl. Amadeu Graça do Espírito Santo); ►O imperialismo e o desenvolvimento desigual, by Samir Amin (Ulmeiro, coll. Biblioteca Ulmeiro, no. 8, 1977); ►Problemas actuais do marxismo, by Henri Lefébvre (Ulmeiro, coll. Biblioteca Ulmeiro, no. 10, 1977).
4.7 a 4.12
Photomontage of 6 book covers from independent publishers and Ulmeiro, distributed and sold in the Ulmeiro bookstore [DCA CC, DCA JAR, CML-BLX and ArqOperaria]:
►MFA dinamização cultural acção cívica, de Ramiro Correia, Pedro Soldado and João Marujo (Ulmeiro, [1976]); ►Os moradores à conquista da cidade: comissões de moradores e lutas urbanas em Setúbal, 1974-1976, by Chips Dows [Charles Downs], Fernando Nunes da Silva, Helena Gonçalves and Isabel Seabra (Lisbon, O Armazém das Letras, 1977, cover by Zé D’Almeida); ►Os bancos antes da nacionalização, by António Aragão (Funchal, author ed., 1975, photo collaboration of Helmut M. Winkelmayer); ►Escravatura, by José Capela (Porto, Afrontamento, 1974); ►Criar poder popular: reflexões e documentos dum ex-militante da LUAR sobre um partido e uma prática, by Fernando Pereira Marques (Ulmeiro, 1976); ►MFA luta de classes: subsídios para a compreensão do processo histórico português, by Ramiro Correia, Pedro Soldado and João Marujo (Ulmeiro, [1976], illustr. by Lima de Freitas).
4.13 a 4.18
Photomontage of 6 book covers from independent publishers, distributed and sold in the Ulmeiro bookstore (Diabril, Forja, Afrodite, Arcádia, Vega e Escorpião), [BNP, DCA PPM]:
►O jardim das delícias ou «o jardim perfumado para a recreação do espírito», by Xeique Nefzavi (Lisbon, Diabril, coll. Grandes Clássicos do Erotismo, no. 1, 1975); ►Mário e Isabel, by Mário Henrique Leiria (text) and Isabel Lobinho, drawnings (Lisbon, Forja, coll. Erótica, no. 1, 1975); ►A filosofia na alcova, by Sade (2nd ed., Lisbon, Afrodite, 1975, transl. Manuel Joäo Gomes, illustr. by Martim Avillez); ►Os 120 dias de Sodoma ou a escola da libertinagem, by Sade (Lisbon, Arcádia, 1975, vol. 1, transl. Manuel Joäo Gomes); ►A experiência demoníaca, by Ernest de Gengenbach (Lisbon, Vega, 1976); ►Homossexualidade, opressão e liberdade sexual, by Guy Hocquenghem (Porto, Escorpião, coll. Eros e política, no. 14, transl. Rosa Matos).
During the revolutionary period (or PREC - Processo Revolucionário Em Curso / Ongoing Revolutionary Process), the publication of essays on political and social themes, etc., was reinforced. It was a peculiar time of liberation, at various levels, fluctuating a lot between Marx and Sade. On the friezes above, there is a sample of some of these books, including works on the new political-military power (the MFA, or Movimento das Forças Armadas / Armed Forces Movement), popular, anti-colonial or exiled political activism (such as LUAR - Liga de Unidade e Acção Revolucionária / Revolutionary League of Unity and Action), theoretical texts of various Marxist tendencies and approaches, eroticism, and which were edited, sold and/or distributed by Ulmeiro. A questão judaica (The Jewish question) and MFA dinamização cultural (MFA cultural dynamization) introduces José Fortunato (alias, JAR) as liteary editor, besides publisher. O livro de Aragão, distributed by Ulmeiro, is a unique work that resorted to the visual poetry to make a political satire on private banking and excessive greed, a theme that cyclically resurfaces.
4.19 a 4.24
Photomontage of 6 book covers from independent publishers, distributed and sold in the Ulmeiro bookstore (Vega, Fenda, Relógio D'Água, A Regra do Jogo, Centelha e Hiena), [BNP; DCA PPM]:
►A borboleta na gaiola, by Luis Filipe Costa (Lisbon, Vega, 1984, illustr. by Vítor Paiva); ►Fenda. Magazine Frenética, no. 1 (1979); ►A rebelião das massas, by Ortega y Gasset (Lisbon, Relógio D'Água, 1986); ►A outra guerra: narrativa, de Fernando Pereira Marques (Lisbon, A Regra do Jogo, coll. Ficções, no. 11, 1982); ►O cú através dos tempos, by Léo Campion (Coimbra, Centelha, 1982; transl. Eurico Tiago); ►7 manifestos Dada, by Tristan Tzara (Lisbon, Hiena, 1987, drawnings by Francis Picabia, transl. José Miranda Justo).
Since the revolutionary period and until the early 1980s, Ulmeiro's formula of quality literature and essays was further developed by new or revitalised publishers, such as Vega (1976), Fenda (1979), Relógio D'Água (1983), Hiena (1986), Centelha and A Regra do Jogo, among others.
4.25-4.26
Newspaper article “Editores compram seus próprios títulos no leilão do Século”, s.a., Diário de Lisboa, 18/6/1985, p. IV-suppl. 7.7 [DCA DM] and editorial article “carta aos leitores: escândalo do século”, by JAR, Sobreviver, 2nd series, no. 4, 3/1986, p. 2 [BNP].
The mismanagement of the nationalisation of the distributers Bloco Expresso and Sociedade Nacional de Tipografia (the latter being linked to the O Século newspaper group) prejudiced many independent publishers and bookshops and was reported in press articles, such as this one from Diário de Lisboa, which has a quite explicit pre-title: “Uma feira do livro paralela e «escandalosa»” (“A parallel and «scandalous» book fair”). Ulmeiro was one of the most affected publisher-bookshops, which JAR [José Antunes Ribeiro] denounced in the editorial of his magazine.
4.27 a 4.30
Photomontage of 4 covers of Ulmeiro theatre books [DCA JAR]:
►Ah Q: tragédia chinesa baseada em Lu Sun, by Bernard Chartreux and Jean Jourdheuil (Ulmeiro, coll. Teatro Ulmeiro, no. 1, 1976, illustr. by Cristina Reis, transl. by Luísa Neto Jorge); ►Fanshen, adapt. by David Hare (Ulmeiro, coll. Teatro Ulmeiro, no. 2, 1976, illustr. by Cristina Reis, transl. by Jorge Silva Melo); ►Sobre Brecht, by Mário Sério (coll. Biblioteca Ulmeiro, no. 5, 1976); ►Para um conhecimento do teatro africano, by Carlos Vaz (1978, 2nd ed. 1999).
Linked to contemporary theatre, and following the essay O teatro, a crítica e a sociedade (The theatre, the criticism and the society), by Adolfo Gutkin (Cadernos Peninsulares coll., no. 5, 1971), Ulmeiro launched the Teatro Ulmeiro collection in 1976, promoted by Luís Miguel Cintra and Jorge Silva Melo. In it the publishing house revealed two plays by foreign playwrights. Also that year Ulmeiro published an essay on Brecht and shortly afterwards he embraced African theatre, in an innovative work by Mário Sério.
4.31 a 4.35
Photomontage of 4 covers of Ulmeiro’s theatre and children’s books [DCA JAR]:
►Zé Pimpão, João Mandão e os sapatos feitos à mão, by António Ferra (coll. Teatro Ulmeiro. Nova Série, no. 1, 1978); ►A canção de começar, by António Ferra (coll. Teatro Ulmeiro. Nova Série, no. 2, 1979); ►A tartaruga Pacholas e os direitos da criança: banda desenhada para ler e pintar, by Albertina Apolónia, Ana João and Filomena Semedo (Ulmeiro, 1979); ►Como se fazem os bébés, by Marcella Bacigalupi et al. (illustr. by Emanuele Luzzati, transl. by António José Massano, 1975); ►Era uma vez uma ilha... onde as crianças construiram a escola nova, de Marcella Bacigalupi et al. (coll. Para ler para fazer no. 2, 12/1975, illustr. by Roberto Ravazzi, transl. by António José Massano).
Within the scope of its care for the children, Ulmeiro published new children's plays (staged by the Teatro de Animação de Setúbal), by António Ferra, didactic books and books on education for citizenship. It also held children's theatre sections, at the Ulmeiro Youth Club, where it also exhibited films of Charlot on Saturday mornings.
4.36 a 4.39
Covers of the only 2 issues of Cidade Campo [City Countryside] magazine and pages 101 and 115 of no. 2 (editor and publisher JAR, distributor Ulmeiro, nos. 1 and 2, respectively 2/1978 and 1979), [Esp. JAR].
The subtitles sum up well the project of this magazine, already then in contradiction to the prevailing official practice: Cadernos da habitação ao território e Movimento Popular e Prática Urbanística em Portugal [Notebooks on Housing and Territory and Popular Movement and Urban Planning Practice in Portugal]. It received contributions from many of the leading names in new post-dictatorship architecture and urbanism, such as Alexandre Alves Costa, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Nuno Portas, Carlos Guimarães, Eduardo Souto Moura and Manuel Correia Fernandes. It was continued by Sociedade e Território: revista de estudos regionais e urbanos (Society and Territory: Regional and Urban Studies Journal), published by Afrontamento, a publishing house from Porto distributed by Ulmeiro.
4.40 a 4.43
Pages 44-45 and 50-51 of no. 2 of the magazine Cidade Campo [City Countryside] (editor and publisher JAR, distributor Ulmeiro, 1979), [Esp. JAR].
Analytical text (profusely illustrated with photographic reproductions) on the initiatives of the social movements which intervened in the main Portuguese cities during the PREC [Processo Revolucionário Em Curso / Ongoing Revolutionary Process], in favour of the right to housing, the right to a place and the right to the city, among other human rights claimed at the time.
4.44
Cover of the book Mundo rural, que desenvolvimento? [Rural World, What Development?], by Movimento Solidariedade Rural (Ulmeiro, coll. Biblioteca Ulmeiro, no. 17, 1984), [DCA JAR].
Minutes book of the meeting with the same name held in Coimbra on 6/1983 and which then gave rise to the Movimento de Solidariedade Rural [Rural Solidarity Movement], of Christian orientation and connected to integrated development.
4.45
Cover of the book Peste malina, of Ivone Chinita (Ulmeiro, 1983), [DCA JAR].
Posthumous book by Ivone Chinita with 14 testimonies of women from different social strata and regions (including her own), in which are predominant the themes of childhood and adolescence, sexuality and the transformations brought by the 1974 revolution in the life of women in Portugal. It was the result of more than three years of interviews to dozens of women regarding their feminine condition, then the heir to a castrating and patriarchal upbringing. The author, who was a Base - FUT (Frente Unitária de Trabalhadores / Workers United Front) activist and partner of Azorean poet J. H. Barros Santos, also published Digo fome [I say hunger] (Angra do Heroísmo, Gávea-Glacial, 1970), Relatório fragmentado [Fragmented report] (Angra do Heroísmo, Degrau, 1974), Mulher em horas de ponta [Woman in rush hours] (Lisbon, Edições Maria da Fonte, 1979), Outra versão da casa (Another version of the house] (Lisbon, Edições Base, 1980) and A espera [The wait] (which was part of «Tudo bem?» [«Everything alright?»], published in Açores newspaper, 1983, and staged by A Barraca theatre group).
See next section: 5. Anti and post-colonialism and new forms of intervention >>