Iberianism and Portuguese Poetry in Majorca

Ponent (1956-1974)

Abstract

The Ponent journal was published between 1956 and 1983, and played a key role in establishing links in the arts between Majorca and Portugal. The poet and pedagogue Llorenç Vidal was the editor-in-chief. Born in Santanyí, Vidal was a great scholar and promotor of non-violence and pacifist approaches in pedagogy. In its initial period, up to 1974, the journal published original and translated texts by great Portuguese writers such as Manuel de Seabra and Fèlix Cucurull. Volume 16 of the La Font de les Tortugues collection (an offshoot of Ponent) published the key work Poetes portuguesos d’ara I (1961) that included poems by José Gomes Ferreira, Domingos Monteiro, Natércia Freire and Carlos de Oliveira–four Portuguese poets linked to the prevailing neorealism or social realism at the time. This article looks into who they were, what aesthetic they followed and who translated their works. It also contextualises the Catalan Iberian federalism trends of the time in order to understand and validate the period– a precedent today’s strong tradition of translation between Majorca and Portugal, reflected by translators such as Gabriel de la S.T. Sampol and Perfecto Cuadrado’s artistry.