São Tomé and Príncipe / All works
Poetry
Ilha de Nome Santo
Not translated into English
Francisco José Tenreiro · 1942
Synopsis
The first collection by a poet born in São Tomé and raised in Lisbon. In “Canção do mestiço”, a man of mixed race speaks of his double inheritance, black and white; “Romance de Sinhá Carlota” and “Canção de Fiá Malicha” express nostalgia for the native island; “Negro de todo o mundo” addresses Black people scattered across the world. The collection combines the social criticism of Portuguese neorealism with the pride of négritude, and makes mixed heritage an identity in its own right, between Africa and Portugal.
Context
The collection appeared in Coimbra in 1942 in the Novo Cancioneiro series, a hub of Portuguese neorealism. Inocência Mata sees in it the birth certificate of the modern literature of São Tomé and Príncipe and the book that introduced the aesthetics of négritude among African writers in Portuguese. In 1953, Tenreiro published with the Angolan Mário Pinto de Andrade an anthology of Black poetry in Portuguese. He gave no other collection in his lifetime; his later poems appeared after his death.
Who it is for
A slim collection in Portuguese, with no French translation; the poems can be read without preparation.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the poet of négritude in Portuguese, he had his portrait on a hundred-thousand-dobra banknote.
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