Fradique Mendes intelectual: o papel do escritor e a intervenção nos limites da história em Nação crioula de José Eduardo Agualusa

Abstract

The values that symbolize the Portuguese Realism of the second half of the XIX century advocate that literature and other artistic manifestations should represent people’s lives and the problems that Portugal has gone through. These principles grounded the creation of Carlos Fradique Mendes, a character who denounces the problems of lusitanian society. He appears in poems by Antero de Quental, Jaime Batalha Reis and Eça de Queirós, especially, in the latter's epistolary novel by Eça de Queirós, A Correspondência de Fradique Mendes, at the end of this century. However, this character reappears in late XX century literary production in the Nação Crioula, of the angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa, a novel also epistolary that presents new adventures that rewrite fictional and historical accounts between Portugal, Angola and Brazil. Thus, both Eça and Agualusa deal with social, political and economical problems of in their countries, and literature becomes predominantly interventionist. Meanwhile, while the Fradique of Eça turns to the European space, Fradique of Agualusa is worried about Angola's problems (and of Brazil), defending human freedom and facing slavery, which attests to its intellectual role.