The colloquium on the author of the novel ‘Um Amor Feliz’ begins with José Carlos Seabra Pereira, who holds a doctorate from the universities of Poitiers (France) and Coimbra, and currently teaches at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra and the Catholic University. He will discuss ‘The Joyful Tears of Eros and the Gnostic Desire of the Spirit in David Mourão-Ferreira’, followed by Paula Morão, emeritus professor of FLUL, who will address the writer as a poetry critic.
The former president of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Artur Anselmo, will present the talk ‘David Mourão-Ferreira, Master and Disciple’, while poet Fernando Pinto do Amaral will offer a “retrospective look” at the author of ‘Tempestade de Verão’ (1954). Helena Buescu, an expert in the fields of Comparative and Portuguese Literature, will today explore the writer’s role as a translator.
Today will also feature Fátima Marinho, retired professor from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, presenting ‘The Dangerous and Seductive Game of Essential Places’, followed by musicologist Rui Vieira Nery’s discussion on the role of the author of ‘Abandono’ (‘Fado Peniche’, by Alain Oulman) in the poetic renewal of Fado.
The day concludes with a performance by a yet-to-be-announced fado singer who has incorporated the poet into their repertoire, according to the organization.
On Thursday, the panel of researchers includes Teresa Martins Marques, Daniel-Henri Pageaux, José Manuel Vasconcelos, Elisa Rossi, and Cristina Pimentel, among others, covering topics such as ‘David Mourão-Ferreira in the Steps of Pessoa’, his “French readings”, and the “places of Antiquity” in his poetry. Joana Machado will speak on the “classical echoes” in his work.
In the afternoon, his son, producer David Ferreira, will reflect on the “close memories” of his father, with the colloquium concluding with Arnaldo Saraiva, emeritus professor at the University of Porto, presenting ‘And Yet, All Life, / What Was Not Even Dreamed Would Stay’ (Joyous Memory of a Master and Friend).
David Mourão-Ferreira, born in Lisbon in 1927, graduated in Romance Philology from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon, where he later taught.
He actively collaborated with newspapers and magazines, including the former Diário Popular and Seara Nova, and was one of the founders of the Távola Redonda magazine.
He was a regular presence on television, hosting programs such as ‘Hospital de Letras’ and ‘Imagens da Poesia Europeia’.
In 1965, after protesting against the enforced closure of the Portuguese Writers’ Society, he was removed from his television and state radio (RTP and Emissora Nacional) roles, as well as from official teaching.
Despite being unanimously proposed in 1967 by the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Arts of Lisbon to resume teaching, he only returned to academia in 1970, successively receiving appointments as invited assistant professor, extraordinary professor (1975), and from 1990, as guest full professor.
After the April 25, 1974 revolution, he directed the evening daily A Capital and served twice as Secretary of State for Culture between 1976 and 1979.
David Mourão-Ferreira collaborated with composer Alain Oulman and Amália Rodrigues, producing fados such as ‘Maria Lisboa’, ‘Madrugada de Alfama’, and ‘Anda o Sol na Minha Rua’, in addition to ‘Abandono’, among others.
Simone de Oliveira, Mercês da Cunha Rêgo, Celeste Rodrigues, Carminho, Mariza, and Camané are other interpreters of his poetry.
At the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he was director of the Itinerant and Fixed Libraries Service from 1981, director of the Cultural Bulletin, and the magazine Colóquio/Letras, from 1984, until his death in 1996.
Literarily, he debuted in 1950 with ‘A Viagem’. Throughout his career, he authored over 20 titles including poetry, essays, short stories, and a sole novel ‘Um Amor Feliz’ (1986), which earned him several awards, including the Grand Prize for Fiction from the Portuguese Writers’ Association.
The author of ‘As Lições do Fogo’ (1976) was also honored with the Ricardo Malheiros Prize (1959), the Critics’ Prize (1980) by the Portuguese Literary Critics Association, and both the Grand Prize for Fiction and D. Diniz and City of Lisbon prizes, all in 1986. He received the P.E.N. Club Fiction Prize in 1987 and the Career Prize from the Portuguese Society of Authors in 1996.
In 1981, the Portuguese state awarded him the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Sant’Iago da Espada, and in 1996, he was elevated to Grand Cross of the same Order.
David Mourão-Ferreira was born in Lisbon in 1927, where he passed away in 1996 at the age of 69.
