7. Diversification and innovation

Ulmeiro was concerned with recovering forgotten classics of Camilo, Augusto Gil, António Nobre, Trindade Coelho, Raul Brandão, among others, as well as authors closer to it, such as Noémia Seixas, surrealist pioneer from whom it published a pioneering novel that explored the colonial War. For foreign authors, it is worth mentioning the re-editions of Voltaire, Hans Christian Andersen, Machado de Assis, Edgar Allan Poe, Kafka, Strindberg, Virginia Woolf, Henry Miller, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Alfonso Uribe Jaramillo and Beatriz Borovich.
    It resumed the contemporary theatre, this time only the Portuguese, through the Barca Nova collection, with plays by António Júlio Valarinho (its organiser), Jaime Salazar Sampaio, Fernando Dacosta, António Macedo, Luís Figueiredo Tomé, Orlando da Costa and, for the petitioner, Carlos M. Rodrigues, Maria Helena Ançã and António M. Pires Cabral.
    Greater innovation was the comeback to new Portuguese authors, such as Hélia Correia, Hugo Santos, José Viale Moutinho, Maria Ondina Braga, Mário Rui Cordeiro and the multi-faceted Miguel Barbosa, split between the theatre, short stories, novels, essay and detective novels by Rusty Brown (in this scope flanked by Artur Cortez/ António Modesto Navarro). It bet on Ascênsio de Freitas and on feminine poetry: Helena Malheiro, Isabel Sá, Lídia Martinez, Maria Graciette Besse, Noémia Seixas (pioneer surrealist poet from Portugal), Wanda Ramos, etc.
    It recuperated poets from innovative literary currents, such as those from the Árvore [Tree] (António Ramos Rosa, Luís Moita, Raul de Carvalho) and the Notícias do Bloqueio [News from the Blockade] groups (Luís Veiga Leitão), from Angolan poetry (António Cardoso and David Mestre) and from visual/ experimental poetry. Of this current, it edited the reference anthology Poemografias [Poemgraphies] (1986), organised by Fernando Aguiar and Silvestre Pestana and including theoretical texts by Alberto Pimenta, Ana Hatherly, José-Alberto Marques, E. M. de Melo e Castro and Salette Tavares, among others. Through an associated seal (the Folio Exemplar), it also published a book by Hugo Beja (Alguns andamentos essenciais [Some essential steps], 2013), one of the main representatives of the disintegrationist poetic movement (“desintegracionismo”). It re-edited António Nobre and Fernando Pessoa and published the entire popular poetry of António Maria Eusébio (the Calafate [Caulker]). It honoured foreign poets like Rimbaud, Jean Paul Mestas, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. It also launched new poetry by Álamo Oliveira, António Salvado, Luís Filipe Sarmento, Manuel Cintra and the editor himself.
    It also divulged the short narrative, through works by António Cardoso and Rui Sousa Coelho and the anthology Contos portugueses modernos (Modern Portuguese Short Stories), with Agustina Bessa Luís, Herberto Helder, Almada Negreiros and Miguel Torga. And also, by the return to literature for children, with Italian but also Portuguese successes, such as the 40th ed. of A criança e a vida [The Child and the Life] by Maria Rosa Colaço, and the 2nd ed. of A história do hidroavião [The History of the Seaplane], by António Lobo Antunes.
    It focused as well on Luso-African literature and essay and on the country's History, with reference works by Herculano, Antero, Oliveira Martins and Teófilo Braga.

 

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.

 

Vídeo Secção 7 | Diversificação e inovação

Video documenting section 7 of the physical exhibition, open to the public in 2019.

 

7.1-7.4

Photomontage of 4 covers of Portuguese classic books published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:
A farsa, by Raul Brandão (coll. Clássicos da língua portuguesa, no. 8, pref. Manuel Cintra, 1984); ►Primaveras românticas, by Antero (coll. Clássicos da língua portuguesa, no. 5, pref. Nuno Júdice, 1985); ►Gente do século XIX, by Trindade Coelho (coll. Clássicos da língua portuguesa, no. 12, org., pref. and notes by Viale Moutinho, 1987); ►À Lisboa das naus, cheia de glória, by António Nobre (coll. Texto e imagem, no. 1, photos of Pepe Diniz, 1993).

 

7.5

Official letter from Ulmeiro of 1984 for editorial promotion of the book Primaveras românticas [Romantic springs], by Antero de Quental [AHBPPD/ Arq. Natália Correia].

7.6

Page 6 of no. 5 of Ulmeiro jornal [Ulmeiro newspaper], 4/1985, containing the text “Clássicos da língua portuguesa” [“Classics of the Portuguese language”] [BNP].

The “classics” and other forgotten works were Ulmeiro's touchstone, which recovered texts by Camilo, Antero de Quental, Augusto Gil, António Nobre, Francisco Leite Bastos, Raul Brandão, etc. The re-edition of Nobre was made in an album with photographs by the Portuguese-American Pepe Diniz. Some of these editions required research work and resulted in useful paratexts, as in the case of Gente do século XIX [People of the 19th century], by Trindade Coelho, with organisation, preface and notes by Viale Moutinho, in 1987. This laborious 'rescue' was praised by scholars such as António José Saraiva, co-author of the influential História da literatura portuguesa [History of Portuguese Literature], in conversation with José Antunes Ribeiro, concerning the book Primaveras românticas [Romantic Springs], by Antero.

 

7.7-7.11

Photomontage of 5 covers of foreign classic books published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

O corvo e outros poemas, by Edgar Allan Poe (1ª ed., 1989, transl. Fernando Pessoa, illustr. by Lídia Martinez); ►Breve catequese para a classe oprimida, by August Strindberg (coll. Mínima, n. 22, 2003, transl. and pref. by Alexandre Pastor); ►Sátiras, by Faustino Xavier de Novais (org. and pref. by Viale Moutinho, 1998); ►Aforismos, by Franz Kafka (coll. Mínima, n. 20, 2001, transl. Madalena Almeida); ►O momento total, by Virginia Woolf (coll. Ulmeiro Universidade, n. 7, org. and introd. by Luísa Maria Rodrigues Flora, 1985).

Since the 1980s and to the present day, Ulmeiro invested on foreign classics, such as Edgar Allan Poe, August Strindberg, Faustino Xavier de Novais, Kafka and Virginia Woolf.

 

7.12-7.16

Photomontage of 5 book covers by Portuguese authors published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

A nau eléctrica, by Mário Rui Cordeiro (1984, illustr. by the author, pref. by Miguel Serras Pereira); ►A guerra do rapa-tudo, by Miguel Barbosa (coll. Imagem do corpo, n. 32, 1985); ►Até hoje (memória de cão), by Álamo Oliveira (1986, illustr. by Lud [pseud. of Ludgero Viegas Pinto]); ►Podem chamar-me Eurídice…, by Orlando da Costa (5/1985, o.v.1964, pref. by Alexandre Pinheiro Torres); ►A reconquista de Olivença, by Ascênsio de Freitas (coll. Imagem do corpo, n. 79, 2001).

 

7.17-7.20

Four photographs from the launching session of the re-edition by Ulmeiro of the book Podem chamar-me Eurídice…, with the author (Orlando da Costa), José Viale Moutinho, Cecília Barreira, José-Alberto Marques, Miguel Barbosa, among other participants (Lisbon, 1985), [Esp. JAR].

In the 1980s, Ulmeiro sought to divulge literary works representative of various currents and authors. Aside from women’s writing, it relaunched authors such as Álamo Oliveira, Ascênsio de Freitas (who had received the Vergílio Ferreira Prize in 1999) and Orlando da Costa, with the text of the play A quanto estão os cravos hoje? [How much are the carnations today?] (1984), a critical reflection on the Colonial War and its memory, and the re-edition of the portrayal of the 1960s generation, Podem chamar-me Eurídice… [You can call me Eurídice…] (original version from Arcádia, 1964). It also invested in José Viale Moutinho and Miguel Barbosa, both with a polymathic work, and helped to reveal Mário Rui Cordeiro and Hugo Santos, among others.

 

7.21

Newspaper article “Montedemo e Incontáveis vésperas. O fantástico e o quotidiano. Duas escritas de qualidade” [“Montedemo and Countless Eves. The fantastic and the everyday. Two quality writings”], Ulmeiro jornal, no. 1, 2/1984, p. 1 [BNP].

 

7.22-7.24

Three photos of the launching session of the book Montedemo, by Hélia Correia, with the author, the publisher, Fernando Dacosta and other participants (Lisbon, Centro Cultural dos Trabalhadores da Companhia Nacional de Navegação [Cultural Centre of the National Navigation Company’s Workers], 16/12/1983), [Esp. JAR].

 

7.25

Newspaper article “Lançamentos/Labirintos do corpo” [“Launchings/Labyrinths of the body”], Sobreviver, 2nd series, no. 6, 5-6/1986, p. 15 [DCA JAR].

Photo-report of the launching session of the book Labirintos do corpo [Labyrinths of the body], by Maria Graciette Besse, with the author, the bookseller Lúcia Ribeiro, the writers Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, Casimiro de Brito and Ramos Rosa, among other participants (Lisbon, Livrarte, 5/1985).

 

7.26

Photo of the launch session of the book A morte das Imagens [The death of images], by Helena Malheiro, with the publisher, the author and the writer and university professor David Mourão-Ferreira (Lisbon, Livrarte, 1986), [DCA JAR].

7.27-7.31

Photomontage of 5 book covers by new Portuguese women writers published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

Montedemo, by Hélia Correia (1983, cover by Ana Leão); ►Estátua de sal, by Maria Ondina Braga (1983, cover by Ana Leão); ►Restos de infantas, by Isabel de Sá (1984, cover by Graça Martins); ►Labirintos do corpo, by Maria Graciette Besse (1986, cover by António Pimentel over image of Antoni Taule); ►A morte das imagens, by Helena Malheiro (1986).

 

7.32-7.33

Cover of the book Angústia em Pequim, by Maria Ondina Braga (coll. Imagem do Corpo, no. 19, illustr. by António Pimentel, 1984) and photograph of the launching session of the referred book (Lisbon, 1984), with the author and other participants [DCA JAR].

 

7.34-7.36

Photomontage of 3 book covers by Portuguese women poetesses published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

Isabel, Isabel, Isabel, by Noémia Seixas (1983, pref. by Maria Isabel Barreno, cover by Carmen); ►Beethoven sob, by Noémia Seixas (1989, illustr. by Estúdio Gr.ª Ulmeiro); ►Cartas de Pedro e Inez, by Lídia Martinez (1994, illustr. by the author).

The publishing and launching of the novels Montedemo and Incontáveis vésperas [Countless eves] consecrated one of Ulmeiro's great ventures, women's writing. For its presentation were invited, respectively, the writer Fernando Dacosta and Teresa Santa Clara Gomes, co-founder of the catholic movement GRAAL, former member of the government in the mandates of Nobre da Costa and Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, and former member of parliament for the UEDS (União de Esquerda Socialista Democrática / Union of the Democratic Socialist Left). In the 1980s Ulmeiro gave voice to a new generation of women writers, who encompass a plurality of themes, from analysing the Chinese Cultural Revolution (in Angústia em Pequim [Anguish in Beijing]) to the emancipation of women and intimate and experiential expression, particularly in the poetry of authors such as Helena Malheiro, Isabel de Sá, Lídia Martinez, Maria Graciete Besse, Ondina Braga and Wanda Ramos. In this compilation was included Isabel, Isabel, Isabel, by Noémia Seixas, perhaps the first work by a women novelist to talk about the Colonial War, by an admitted surrealist pioneer.

 

7.37

Newspaper article “Boas notícias para Cortez” [“Good news for Cortez”], s.a., Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias, year 6, no. 213, 8/10/1986, p. 23 [BNP].

 

7.38

Advertising for the crime fiction collection of Ulmeiro, Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias, year 6, no. 213, 8/10/1986, p. 23 [BNP].

 

7.39

Newspaper article “Porque escrevo e gosto de romances policiais” [“Because I write and like detective novels”], by Artur Cortez, Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias, year 6, no. 224, 10/20/1986, p. 26 [BNP].

 

7.40

Invitation to the launch session of the book O pântano, by Modesto Navarro, with presentation by José Manuel Mendes and musical performance by Carlos Paredes (Ulmeiro, [1986]), [Esp. JAR].

 

7.41

Cover of the book A morte do artista: tráfico de diamantes Luanda-Lisboa, of Artur Cortez, Lisbon, Ulmeiro, coll. Ulmeiro policial, no. 1, 1984, illustr. by João Carlos Albernaz [DCA JAR].

 

7.42

Newspaper book review “Rusty Barbosa ao ataque”, by C[arlos] T. F[rias], Jornal de letras, artes e ideias, ano 6, nº. 213, 4-10/8/1986, p. 12 [BNP].

 

7.43-7.44

Cover of the books Crimes à rédea solta and Crimes no espaço, of Rusty Brown (coll. Ulmeiro policial, respectively ns. 6 and 8, 1986 and 1988, illustr. by João Carlos Albernaz), [DCA JAR].

 

7.45

Chronicle “Welcome, Rusty!”, inserted in the newspaper article “Quando Camilo andava de paquete”, by Fernando Assis Pacheco, O Jornal, 10/25/1985, p.8-suppl. Caderno 2 [HM/CML].

 

7.46-7.47

Cover and photo of the book launch session Traga uma orelha de Pedro Sanches, by Jacinto Rego de Almeida, published by Associação Cultural Espaço Ulmeiro and Edições Fénix, 2019, and presented by professor Luísa Coelho (Lisbon, Palácio Baldaya, 28/3/2019), [DCA DM].

The crime fiction was a sub-genre on which Ulmeiro invested little but correctly, through two Portuguese authors who would impose themselves. Firstly, António Modesto Navarro, who under the pseudonym of Artur Cortez quickly became a cult author (even attracting the attention of English students and professors). His crime fictions dealt with burning issues of the current day and were inspired by traumatic episodes from his personal life, including the Colonial War, as he relates in testimony to JL. The other strong name was Rusty Brown, pseudonym of Miguel Barbosa, also a praised author, as in the chronicle of the reporter-writer Fernando Assis Pacheco, in his famous column Bookcionário, of the weekly journal O Jornal. In 2019, José Ribeiro has resumed crime fiction by launching Traga uma orelha de Pedro Sanches [Bring an ear of Pedro Sanches], a novel by Jacinto Rego de Almeida that addresses the violent and unequal Brazil of today.

7.48-7.51

Photomontage of 4 book covers by Portuguese playwrights published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

Conceição ou um crime perfeito; A jornada; O viajante imóvel, by Jaime Salazar Sampaio (coll. Barca Nova, no. 1, 1980); ►O artilheiro; A terra, by António Júlio Valarinho (coll. Barca Nova, no. 2, 1980); ►O cavalo mágico. História da Inês e da Ana. Crispim, o grilo mágico, respectively by Carlos M[anuel] Rodrigues, M. Helena Ançã and António M[anuel] Pires Cabral (coll. Barca Nova, no. 3, 1980, graphic dir. and cover by João Carlos Albernaz, drawnings by Margarida Pinto and Maria José Almeida); ►Um jeep em segunda mão. A súplica[. Um suicídio sem importância], by Fernando Dacosta (1st ed., coll. Barca Nova, no. 5, 8/1982, cover by João Carlos Albernaz).

Through the collection Barca Nova (1981-84) Ulmeiro intended to create a contemporary “popular library of Portuguese playwrights”. In it were published plays by António Júlio Valarinho (its organiser and which were prized by the Secretary of State for Culture), Jaime Salazar Sampaio, António Macedo, Luís Figueiredo Tomé, and for the little ones a book with three plays, by Carlos M. Rodrigues, Maria Helena Ançã and António M. Pires Cabral. It also integrated the play «Um jeep em segunda mão» [«A second hand jeep»] (in the homonymous book), by Fernando Dacosta, a play “that RTP did not promote” (quote from the author on the back cover), despite having awarded it the RTP Award, probably for denouncing the aftermath of the colonial war, a sensitive subject for the time. The last play published, A quanto estão os cravos hoje? [How much are the carnations today?] by Orlando Costa, advanced towards an analysis of the revolution and was staged by the Seiva Trupe Company. The collection was dedicated "to Fiama Hasse Pais Brandão to whom an unforeseen situation forced her to resign (although temporarily) as co-director" (quote from Valarinho).

 

7.52

Invitation by Ulmeiro to debate the book Um jeep em segunda mão [A jeep in second hand], with the presence of the author, the publisher and Manuel Alegre, Medeiros Ferreira, Cesário Borga, António Lobo Antunes, Santos Barros, Fernando Assis Pacheco, João de Melo, Augusto de Carvalho and Wanda Ramos (C.ª Nacional de Navegação headquarters, Lisbon, 18/12/1982), [DCA JAR].

 

7.53-7.56

Photomontage of 4 book covers by Portuguese poets published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

Mágico Novembro, by Raul de Carvalho (coll. Imagem do Corpo, no. 3, 1982, cover by João Carlos Albernaz); ►Livro da paixão, by Luís Veiga Leitão (1986); ►Poesia, liberdade livre, by António Ramos Rosa ([2nd ed.], 1986, o.v.1961, illustr. by João Carlos Albernaz, pref. Fernando J. B. Martinho); ►Cidade sem tempo, by António Luís Moita (1985).

 

7.57

Page 13 (poem “Mediadora da escrita”) from the book Mediadoras, by António Ramos Rosa (1985), [DCA JAR].

 

7.58-7.63

Photomontage of 6 book covers by Portuguese writers published by Ulmeiro and by Vega [DCA JAR]:

O difícil comércio das palavras, by José Antunes Ribeiro (Ulmeiro, 1984, cover and illustrs. by Figueiredo Sobral); ►Cantador de Setúbal, by António Maria Eusébio, o Calafate (Ulmeiro, 1985, vol. 1); ►O banqueiro anarquista, by Pessoa (Ulmeiro, 1987, 3rd ed. 1997, illustr. by Mário Botas); ►O aprendiz de ventos, by Hugo Santos (Vega and Ulmeiro, 1992); ►Dizer e simplesmente, by Jean Paul Mestas (Ulmeiro, coll. Mínima, 1996); ►Largas vias, by António Salvado (Ulmeiro, 2000).

Poetry became a strong area of Ulmeiro’s catalog in the 1980s, starting with the poems of singer-songwriters such as Zeca and José Barroso and continuing with the group of the magazine Árvore, with Raul de Carvalho, Luís Moita and António Ramos Rosa. Most of these covers are by João Carlos Albernaz. It continued with works by the publisher himself (the featured one has illustration by Figueiredo Sobral), by António Maria Eusébio (Calafate) and by Pessoa (with O banqueiro anarquista [The anarchist banker], illustration by Mário Botas). It also launched works by Luís Veiga Leitão, Jean Paul Mestas, Hugo Santos and António Salvado. Poesia, liberdade livre [Poetry, free liberty] is a book of essays by Ramos Rosa recovered in 1986 and whose original version had been published in 1961 (by Moraes), with studies on the poetry of Casais Monteiro, Jorge de Sena, Natércia Freire, Alexandre O'Neill, Egito Gonçalves, Pedro Tamen, Herberto Helder and José Gomes Ferreira, expanded in the new edition with a preface by Fernando J. B. Martinho.

 

7.64-7.67

Photomontage of 4 book covers by new and consecrated Portuguese authors published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]: ►Fernando Pessoa contra o Homem-Aranha e outras istórias, by Rui Souza Coelho (coll. Imagem do Corpo, no. 37, 1986); ►Contos portugueses modernos, of Agustina Bessa Luís, Herberto Helder, Almada Negreiros and Miguel Torga [bilingual anthology (Portuguese and German)]; ►A casa de mãezinha: cinco estórias incompletas de mulheres, by António Cardoso (Lisbon/ Luanda, Ulmeiro/ INALD, 1980, coll. Obras de António Cardoso, no. 1, graphic arrangement by António Domingues, cover by José Rodrigues); ►Hotel Graben, by José Viale Moutinho (coll. Imagem do corpo, no. 63, 1998). Another area of relevant production was the short narrative, with unrepeatable works such as Fernando Pessoa contra o Homem-Aranha e outras istórias [Fernando Pessoa against Spiderman and other stories], by Rui Souza Coelho (1986), Contos portugueses modernos [Modern Portuguese tales], with Agustina Bessa Luís, Herberto Helder, Almada Negreiros and Miguel Torga and A casa de mãezinha [The home of mom], by António Cardoso, with graphic design by António Domingues and cover by José Rodrigues.

 

7.68-7.72

Cover and pages 16-19 of the book A criança e a vida [The child and the life], by Maria Rosa Colaço, 1st ed., Lisbon, ITAÚ, 1966 [DCA JAR].

 

7.73

Cover of the book A criança e a vida, by Maria Rosa Colaço, 40th edition, Lisbon, Ulmeiro, 1996 [Esp. JAR].

In children's literature, Ulmeiro published the 40th edition of A criança e a vida [The child and the life], by Maria Rosa Colaço, a work that had been launched by José Ribeiro in Itaú, in 1966.

 

7.74

Newspaper article “800 anos de história com Herculano, Antero de Quental e Oliveira Martins” [“800 years of history with Herculano, Antero de Quental and Oliveira Martins”], Ulmeiro jornal, no. 3, 5/1984, p. 3 [BNP].

 

7.75-7.76

Photomontage of 2 book covers by Portuguese thinkers from the 19th century published by Ulmeiro and by Vega [DCA JAR]:

História do romantismo em Portugal, by Teófilo Braga (1984); ►Portugal nos mares, by Oliveira Martins (1988, vol. I).

In order to understand the history of the country there was a re-edition of reference works on the 19th century, such as Alexandre Herculano, Antero de Quental and Oliveira Martins, by great scholars. They were published in the collection Oitocentos anos de História [Eight hundred years of History], directed by Rui d'Espiney and by JAR. Within the scope of the specialised literary history, it was re-edited an important title by Teófilo Braga, História do romantismo em Portugal [History of Romanticism in Portugal], in the collection Ulmeiro Universidade [Ulmeiro University].

 

7.77-7.79

Photomontage of 3 book covers about Cape Verde published by Ulmeiro [DCA JAR]:

Contribuição para o estudo da cultura caboverdiana, by João Lopes Filho (1983); ►Vozes da cultura cabo-verdiana: Cabo Verde visto por cabo-verdianos, compil. by João Lopes Filho (1998, cover and illustrs. by César Fidalgo); ►Cabo Verde (aspectos sociais, secas e fomes do século XX), by António Carreira (2nd revised ed., 1984).

One of the areas reinforced by Ulmeiro in the 1980-90s was Luso-African literature and essays. In this context, and in addition to literary works (shown in other sections), it published essays on Cape Verdean society and culture, such as Cabo Verde (aspectos sociais, secas e fomes do século XX) [Cape Verde (social aspects, droughts and famines of the 20th century)], by António Carreira, and several works by João Lopes Filho, which include testimonies of several personalities from this country. It has also published books on Angola (such as Uma perspectiva etnológica da literatura angolana [An ethnological perspective of Angolan literature] by José Carlos Venâncio, 1993) and on Mozambique, being important to mention for this country the denunciation work Quem matou Samora Machel? [Who killed Samora Machel?], by Álvaro Belo Marques (1987).

 

See next section: 8. Neighbourhood bookshops. The prescription-free antidepressant >>