Authors

Portuguese · 1842–1891

Antero de Quental

Antero de Quental was the central figure of the Portuguese Generation of 1870 — the group of intellectuals who attempted to modernize Portuguese culture through literature, philosophy, and political engagement. His Sonetos (collected 1861-1890) are the greatest sonnet sequence in the Portuguese language: philosophical, pessimistic, and of formal perfection. He organized the famous Conferências do Casino in Lisbon (1871), which aimed to bring Portuguese culture into contact with European positivism and socialism. He suffered from severe depression throughout his life and died by suicide in Ponta Delgada at forty-nine.