Bello Vázquez, Raquel. "Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires: EighteenthCentury Theatre in Portugal as a Case Study". Portuguese Studies, vol. 27, n. 1, 2011,
96-107.
Ideological Meanings through
Paratextual Repertoires: Eighteenth-Century
Theatre in Portugal as a Case Study
Raquel Bello Vázquez
We present here a study of the field of theatre in Portugal in the late eighteenth
century, focusing especially on the detection of ideological meanings through
paratextual repertoires significant for understanding the position and function
developed by theatre in the cultural field. This means that politically or morally
loaded ideas can be found in literary texts or, in this case, in theatrical plays
or performances through elements of repertoire relating to the structure of
the product, the conditions of its production, release or performance that do
not explicitly relate to a moral or political pattern. The traditional analysis of
literary products has mainly focused on what is said, but we think that how it is
said is relevant as well. A connection can be traced between the literary and the
historical tools of analysis through these paratextual elements of repertoire.
The link between theatre and ideology, and the specific role of theatre as a
political tool, is soundly established and has been studied frequently. For the
Portuguese case, the political aspects of eighteenth-century doctrinaire writers
have been evident not only to modern critics like Carvalho and Cruz,1 but
to classic nineteenth-century authors such as Garrett.2 In addition, systemic
theories have identified the importance of various kinds of elements of reper­
toire, such as composition patterns, political ideas, etc. Previous studies have
successfully looked for ways to identify, organize and work with ideas detected
through texts.3 What we want to explore through this article, however, is the
relevance of extending the detection of ideas beyond the textual resources,
posing the hypothesis that in certain circumstances powerful meanings are
carried by means of paratextual elements and not only, or even in the first place,
by the textual elements of repertoire.
1
Mário Vieira de Carvalho, ‘Trevas e luzes na ópera de Portugal setecentista’, Vértice, 27
(1990), 87–96; Duarte Ivo Cruz, ‘O teatro português do pré-romantismo ao ultra-romantismo:
dramaturgia, sociologia, debate de ideias (1733–1869)’, in Romantismo: da mentalidade à
criação artística (Sintra: Instituto de Sintra, 1986), pp. 342–82; and História do teatro português
(Lisbon: Verbo, 2001), pp. 91–119.
2
Almeida Garrett, Correspondência inédita do arquivo do Conservatório (1836–1841), ed. by
D. I. Cruz (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda, 1995).
3
R. L. I. Samartim, ‘O processo de construçom do sistema literário galego entre o franquismo
e a transiçom (1974–1978). Margens, Relaçons, estrutura e Estratégias de planificaçom cultural’
(unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2010), pp. 47–65.
Portuguese Studies vol. 27 no. 1 (2011), 96–107
© Modern Humanities Research Association 2011
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
97
We name those ‘paratextual elements’, using Genette’s denomination, and
Alvarado’s development of it, as a starting point and as a proposal to be discussed.4
As is well known, Genette called general attention to the study of paratexts
(‘author’s name, a title, a preface, illustrations’) as elements (metaphorically called
‘thresholds’) which ‘enable[s] a text to become a book and to be offered as such
to its readers, more generally, to the public’.5 Alvarado, developing and adapting
Genette’s work, pays special attention to verbal and iconic paratexts, focusing
on the book as an object, but her approach, understood as the environment
surrounding the text — author’s and editor’s choices as to illustrations, graphics,
covers, etc. — can be useful for our own work.
In line with the development of the systemic theories, we consider that the
study of both ‘textual’ and ‘paratextual’ elements should be conducted at the same
level, and we establish a boundary between them only in order to underline the
importance of the latter, but with the aim of avoiding this boundary in practical
work. Our ultimate purpose is to identify those elements of the repertoire
that are specifically relevant for the study of the literary field in the eighteenth
century, because this exploration will have consequences for the collection and
further treatment of information for the development of our research.
We have chosen Lisbon theatres in the second half of the eighteenth century
because of their dual dimension as places of culture and places where socializing
took place. Theatre can and must be focused from multiple points of view in order
to achieve a comprehensive study of all its functions in the field of culture, in
addition to the field of power. From the possible focal points, the one chosen for
this research was perhaps the most literary. Three particular elements are given
here by way of illustration: (1) the importance given by political elites to theatre
on account of the attitude of D. José to theatrical spectacles, and the relationship
between actors and the nobility; (2) the opinion of theatre critics on the quality
of plays; and (3) censorship decisions on the plays submitted for performance on
the stage. Other elements could be studied from this point of view, such as the
design of the theatres, selection of the audience, etc., but we consider that the
three elements mentioned are the easiest to trace for the Portuguese case and are
sufficient to establish a hypothesis. Through these examples, we will try to show
the relevance of the formal repertoires mentioned above, both as a critical tool
and in the contemporary interpretation of theatre in Portugal in the second half
of the eighteenth century.
Previous works on theatre by other researchers have produced evidence that
supports our research, using case studies from different times and places. A
brief review of some aspects of those works, focusing on the relation between
4
Gérard Genette, Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, trans. by Jane E. Lewin (Cambridge:
University Press, 1997); first published as Seuils (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1987). Maite Alvar­
ado, Paratexto (Buenos Aires: EUDEBA, 1994).
5
Genette, p. 1.
98
Raquel Bello Vázquez
theatre and the field of power through its formal elements, will help to focus the
discussion.
For the eighteenth century in particular, Ellison, analysing Rousseau’s position
taken on theatre, maintains that
At the heart of Rousseau’s attack on the modern city — its public life
and corruption of self and expression — is a critique of its manners or
conventions of appearance. These were codes of speech and dress that
bridged stage and street in urban public life. His critique of these codes is
rooted in his metaphor of the city as a theater. In the Paris of his day there
was a link between stage and street, city and theater. The capital city was
essentially theatrical in nature and the theater was a form of public life.
Public life was a separate and distinct realm of urban social life, governed by
its own unique codes.6
Beyond Rousseau’s positions, which are not the focus of our discussion here,
the importance of Ellison’s remarks resides in the explicitness of the relation
between the theatre critic and the critic of public life, and the understanding
that codes used in theatre also have a meaning in civic life, extending far beyond
the idea of a simple metaphor. Ellison refers particularly to Rousseau’s attack on
theatrical performances and on every expression of what is called ‘public life,’
which is understood by the philosopher as fakery and pretension. Particularly
relevant is Rousseau’s warning of the dangers posed by theatre to women’s
position in society, and the seductive attraction that actresses’ lives can exert on
bourgeois women.7
As pointed out by Ellison, the peril of the theatre resides not only in its
contents, but in the opportunities to see and to be seen, as well as the ability
to generate behavioural patterns that reach far beyond the plots of the plays.
Indeed, the contents of the plays are not even mentioned, because the real peril
(from Rousseau’s point of view) is in the very trappings of the theatre: clothes,
socializing, exhibition, the legitimization of actresses as professionals. Not
even the most ‘decent’ play can avoid this environment, which facilitates the
propagation of patterns seen as politically or morally loaded.
Moreover, according to Berlanstein in his research on ‘Women and Power in
Eighteenth-Century France: Actresses at the Comédie-Française’,8 there were
two main arguments working against theatre in France during this period: one
was the alleged immorality of actors and, more especially, actresses; the other
was the organizational structure of Companies (referring particularly to the
Comédie-Française). The Comédie recognized equal rights for all its members,
both men and women. As Berlanstein shows, the role of women both in theatre
6
Charles E. Ellison, ‘Rousseau and the Modern City: The Politics of Speech and Dress’,
Political Theory, 13: 4 (1985), 497–533 (p. 499).
7
Ellison, pp. 516–17.
8
Lenard R. Berlanstein, ‘Women and Power in Eighteenth-Century France: Actresses at the
Comédie-Francaise’, Feminist Studies, 20: 3 (1994), 475–506.
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
99
and in salons could be understood as a sign of a certain kind of feminine
power, due to conditions — noted by Norbert Elias four decades ago9 — that
were directly linked to the social structure of the ancien régime, conditions that
could not survive the process of consolidation of the ‘public sphere.’ Indeed,
Berlanstein attributed Rousseau’s attacks on theatre to the performance of
powerful women on the stage and to the reality of powerful women in the
company management.10
In Mabel Berezin’s work on the functions of theatre during the fascist dictator­
ship in Italy, we find more evidence of the concerns of policy and idea-makers
with the companies’ structure.11 Here, she shows that Mussolini’s government
was concerned not with the plots of plays, but in applying fascist ideology to
the organization of the companies. They realized that filling the plots with
fascist slogans or topics was useless, but that they could perform commercial
plays through highly disciplined companies, which would be more effective in
promoting fascist values. One of Berezin’s main conclusions was that ‘the formal
properties of a cultural product — the performance dimension of theater —
convey meaning, in this instance fascist ideology, even when the content of a
cultural product — text of a play — does not.’12
The specific case of eighteenth-century Portuguese theatre has frequently
been identified as politically connoted. In accordance with enlightenment think­
ing, and since it is a field highly dependent upon the field of power, most of the
doctrinal texts on theatre produced during the eighteenth century underline
its function as a ‘school of the people.’13 We can find this approach in Verney,
Freire, Garção, the founding statement of the Sociedade para a Subsistência
dos Theatros Publicos, in Araújo, Roussado, Figueiredo, and Morato.14 On the
9
Norbert Elias, La sociedad cortesana, trans. by Guillermo Hirata (México, DF: Fondo de
Cultura Económica, 1982), p. 260; first published as Die höfische Gesellschaft (Darmstadt:
Hermann Luchterhand Verlag GmbH u. Co Kg, 1969).
10
Berlanstein, p. 493.
11
Mabel Berezin, ‘Cultural Form and Political Meaning: State-subsidized Theater, Ideology,
and the Language of Style in Fascist Italy’, The American Journal of Sociology, 99: 5 (1994),
1237–86. The concept of ‘idea-makers’ was developed by Itamar Even-Zohar, ‘Idea-Makers,
Cultural Entrepreneurs, Makers of Life Images, and the Prospect of Success’, in Papers in
Culture Research (2005).
12
Berezin, p. 1280.
13
For an overview of this topic, see Marie-Noëlle Ciccia: Le Théâtre de Molière au Portugal: au
XVIIIe siècle de 1737 à la veille de la révolution libérale (Paris: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,
2003), pp. 51–71; and V. Anastácio, ‘O teatro como “escola dos povos” ’, in Maria Alexandra
Trindade Gago da Câmara and Vanda Anastácio, O teatro em Lisboa no tempo do Marquês de
Pombal (Lisbon: Museu Nacional do Teatro, 2004), pp. 17–37.
14
L. A. Verney, Verdadeiro método de estudar, para ser util á Republica, e á Igreja: proporcionado
ao estilo, e necesidade de Portugal exposto em varias cartas, escritas polo R.P. *** Barbadinho
da Congregasam de Italia ao R.P. *** Doutor da Universidade de Comimbra (Valença: Officina
de Antonio Balle, 1747). F. J. Freire, Arte poetica ou regras da verdadeira poesia (Lisbon: Off.
de Francisco Luiz Ameno, 1748). A. J. Saraiva, Obras completas de Pedro António Correia
Garção (Lisbon: Livraria Sá da Costa, 1958). Sociedade estabelecida para a subsistência dos
100
Raquel Bello Vázquez
other hand, nineteenth-century liberal literature, assuming a critical point of
view, underlines the links between politics and theatre in the previous century,
as can be seen in Braga and Garrett, the two authors who most shaped opinions
towards eighteenth-century theatre.15 More recent works, too, explore the
ideological dimension of theatre, either in general (Carreira, Carvalho, Cruz,
Câmara, Lousada),16 or through individual authors (Almeida, Ciccia).17
Having established this connection, our concern is how we can detect the
relevant elements of repertoire for its study.
The well-known link between the sub-field of theatre and the field of power
is especially interesting in Portugal during the third quarter of the eighteenth
century. After the death of D. João V, his son D. José (1750–77) showed an
undoubted interest during the first years after his coronation in promoting opera
performances in Portugal and in building a magnificent opera house. This does
not mean that opera was a new product or an innovation in Portugal, but D. João
and D. José clearly chose different symbols to epitomize their administrations.
The former was prone to staging big ecclesiastical performances, with music
played in the cathedral (sé) of the Archbishop Patriarch of Lisbon, and at Palace
spectacles,18 while the main focus of activity during the first years of José’s
reign was the building of the Opera House.19 His interest can be interpreted as
Teatros Públicos da Corte: Instituição da Sociedade estabelecida para a subsistencia dos theatros
públicos da Corte, Regia Typ. Silviana, 1771. L. A. d. Araújo, Historia critica do theatro na qual
se tratão as causas da decadencia do seu verdadeiro gosto, traduzida em portuguez, para servir
de continuação ao theatro de Manoel de Figueirdo, e offerecida a ElRei nosso senhor D. Pedro
III, Regia Officina Typografica, 1779. F. L. Roussado, Dissertação historica, e critica sobre as
representações theatraes, Officina Nunesiana, 1799. Manuel de Figueiredo, Theatro, 14 vols
(Lisbon: Impressão Régia, 1804–1810). F. M. T. de Aragão Morato, Memoria sobre o theatro
portuguez, lida na Assembléa pública de 24 de Junho de 1817 (Lisbon: Academia das Ciências
de Lisboa, 1817).
15
Teofilo Braga, Historia do theatro portuguez, Imprensa Portugueza-Editora, 1870–71, vol.
v: A baixa comedia e a opera (século XVIII). Garrett, in several places, particularly p. 29 (on
censorship), p. 58 (about the kind of plays to be put on the stage), and p. 70 (on the causes for
plays being excluded by censorship: topics against morals, religion or political institutions, but
also ‘if they are not written in current and clear Portuguese’).
16
Laureano Carreira, O teatro e a censura em Portugal na segunda metade do século XVIII
([Lisbon]: Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda, 1988). Maria Alexandra Gago da Câmara,
Lisboa: Espaços Teatrais Setecentistas (Lisbon: Horizonte, 1996). Maria Alexandre Lousada,
‘Espaços de sociabilidade em Lisboa: finais do século XVIII a 1834’ (unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, 1995).
17
Maria João Almeida, O teatro de Goldoni no Portugal de Setecentos (Lisbon: Imprensa
Nacional–Casa da Moeda, 2007).
18
Angela Delaforce, Art and Patronage in Eighteenth-Century Portugal (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 282. Manuel Carlos de Brito, Opera in Portugal in the
Eighteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989): ‘The reform of musical
institutions itself was largely connected with the reform of the religious cult [...]. The king [...]
tried to invest as much as he could in the religious establishment in general and in his own
Royal Chapel in particular’ (p. 5).
19
Nuno Gonçalo Monteiro, D. José (Lisbon: Círculo de Leitores, 2006), p. 63.
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
101
a simple way of enlarging the social life of a court that lacked dynamism and
a facility for conducting political relations — a good example of this is seen in
correspondence sent by D. Mariana Vitória of Bourbon to her family in Spain.20
But it is difficult to understand that this was the sole reason which drove D. José
to put theatre at the centre of his policy in those early years of his reign, labelled
by Monteiro as ‘The Opera Years’.21
Moreover, the interest in theatre shown by D. José and his wife D. Mariana
Vitória cannot be reduced to the building of the great Opera do Tejo opera
house (so called because of its location by the river Tagus in Lisbon). In the first
few years of José’s reign, another theatre, the public Theatro da Rua dos Condes
(located in the downtown area of the city) was rebuilt. The Condes theatre was,
with the Bairro Alto public theatre, the most important theatrical space in terms
of audience. Among the audience of both theatres urban middle classes could
be found side by side with nobles and even the king. Evidence of the familiarity
of nobles with performers can be found in several documents, such as the
correspondence of the countess of Vimieiro,22 or the correspondence of Gaubier
de Barrault, referred to by Brito.
In the first case, the Countess of Vimieiro, Teresa de Mello Breyner (one of the
Queen’s ladies and a playwright herself, although she published anonymously),
describes her relationship with the Portuguese singer Luísa Todi and her
husband, the Italian musician Francesco Saverio Todi: ‘Estimo m.to a fortuna da
Todi que eu conheço m.to bem selhe fallares, e ao [...] do marido dalhe recados
meus’ [I really admire the success of Sra. Todi, whom I very well know. If you
ever talk to her or [...] to her husband, give them my regards]. She also shows
familiarity by way of a joke: ‘dize ao marido que quero saber se tem achado a
cabeça por esse mundo’ [tell her husband that I want to know if he finally found
his head anywhere in the world].23
In the second one, Barrault, an ally of the Marquis of Pombal and translator
of some of Camões’ texts into French, tells the Count of Oeiras (Pombal’s son)
of an incident that occurred in 1770 during an opera performance at the Bairro
Alto theatre. Barrault mentions here a list of noble and court characters present
at the performance, also suggesting a close relationship between performers and
the noble audience:
Nous rentrames, le Ministre et moi, dans la loge de M.de Votre mere, ou nous
trouvames tous les Ministres Étrangers, M.r Manuel Bernardo de Melo et le
Comte d’Alvizan a qui M.de se tuoit de dire qu’il falloit relacher Todi et le
20
Caetano Beirão, Cartas da Rainha Dona Mariana Victoria (Lisbon: Emp. Nac. de
Publicidade, 1936), pp. 137–245.
21
Monteiro, pp. 57–76.
22
Transcribed and published by Raquel Bello Vázquez in ‘Uma certa ambiçaõ de glória:
trajectória, redes e estratégias de Teresa de Mello Breyner nos campos intelectual e do poder
em Portugal (1770–1798)’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universidade de Santiago de
Compostela, 2005).
23
Bello Vázquez, ‘Uma certa ambição de gloria’, p. ccxciii. Author’s translation.
Raquel Bello Vázquez
102
pauvre Comte se tuoit de repondre qu’il en savoit pas ou il étoit, mais il avoit
beau juré et protesté.24
[The Minister and I entered your mother’s box, where we found all the
foreign ministers, M. Manuel Bernardo de Melo and the Count of Alvizan to
whom Madame never stopped saying that they needed to calm down Todi,
and the poor Count never stopped replying that he didn’t know where he
was, but he swore and protested in vain.]
This proximity between aristocracy and performers can be seen as evidence
of the involvement of elite groups with theatre and opera. Theatre (as literary
text and as performed spectacle), as well as music, takes up a large part of the
aristocracy’s time and concerns. Taking this into account, the investment made
in theatre by a part of those social and political elites is more understandable.
Furthermore, pedagogical discussions on theatre are well known, and can
be found in the cited eighteenth-century Portuguese authors. Other elements,
connecting politics, behaviour and morals, can be traced through a series of
examples given below.
A perusal of the best-known Portuguese theatre authors and critics from
this period reveals elements regarding the structural aspect of the performance,
and shows great concern for how those elements could interfere with the
performance of a play and with the lessons the public could extract from it. Luís
António de Verney, for instance, takes a hard line over what can be shown on
the stage, and what cannot, in his main work Verdadeiro Método de Estudar [The
True Method of Education]:
A Comédia é imitasam do-natural, e todos sabem isto: e asim nam se-devem
introduzir coizas que desmintam o que é Comédia. Muitas vezes ve-se voar
um omem, na corda: outras vezes um diabrete vivo desce do teto, prezo
por-uma corda: parecem-me os bonifrates do-Prezepio, que tem um arame
na cabesa. Tambem aquilo de introduzir um Rei, e Rainha em uma camera,
rodiados de soldados armados; ou aquilo de dar uma batalha sobre o teatro,
nada tem de verosimel: Porque nem o Rei, quando está falando com a
Rainha, tem as guardas de corpus na mesma sala: nem uma batalha se-pode
dar, em quatro palmos de terra. Um bom Poeta dará melhor ideia de uma
Armada, ou batalha, com uma famoza descrisam; e poderá com ela inspirar,
sentimentos mais grandes, e nobres; do que com aqueles acidentes exteriores
e improprios daquele lugar.25
[Comedy is an imitation of nature, and everybody knows this; because
of it, nothing must be introduced that contradicts what comedy is. Very
often a man can be seen flying, on a rope: on other occasions, a living little
devil comes down from the ceiling secured by a rope; they look to me like
the puppets in Nativities, which have a wire attached to their heads. And
the practice of introducing a King and a Queen in a chamber surrounded
by armed soldiers, or of performing a battle on the stage, has nothing
24
Brito,
25
pp. 179–81.
Verney, i, 223.
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
103
convincing about it: because the King, when he is talking to the Queen, does
not have his bodyguards in the same room: nor can a battle be fought over
four feet of ground. A good poet will give a better idea of a fleet or a battle
with a memorable description, and with it he will be able to inspire grander
and nobler feelings than by those incidents that are alien and inappropriate
to that place.]
Verney’s defence of verisimilitude shows more than the typical respect for the
Aristotelian model. We are not arguing that specific ideological concerns could
necessarily be traceable through this particular quotation, but rather that it can
show what great concern there was to control every step of the performance, as
we shall see with the examples that follow.
Manuel de Figueiredo, one of the eighteenth-century authors who wrote
the most for and about theatre, in the shape of both plays and theoretical
dissert­ations, is also concerned with the structural aspects of theatre, such
as the linguistic model,26 the quality of the performers, and the coherence
of the characters shown on the stage, referring in particular to stagehands
cited by their Spanish names: ‘metesillas’ [‘chair pullers’] and ‘sacamuertos’
[‘corpse draggers’].27 Just like Verney’s intervention, Figueiredo shows us how
eighteenth-century authors devote much effort to detailing what can or cannot
be done onstage. In addition, Figueiredo introduces an important element in his
critique, the attack on a ‘Spanish theatrical model,’ constantly under fire because
of its continued dominance over the Portuguese stage some decades after the
disappearance of Spanish political dominion over Portugal.28
The Real Mesa Censória [Royal Board of Censorship] provides new elements
for sustaining that structural aspects of theatre were important for promoting
ideological repertoires. The fact is that the Mesa was an institution of the field
of power directly interfering in the field of culture by focusing on ideological
control of cultural products. As is well known, the Mesa, established in 1768 to
control the publication of books, was also responsible for examining all texts
intended for the stage. In this discussion we use Laureano Carreira’s work, in
the absence of our own, in reviewing the censorship documents preserved in
the Torre do Tombo (the Portuguese National Archive), but we refer to Ciccia
and Almeida for specific analysis of the treatment by the Censors of Molière
and Goldoni, respectively. Carreira’s volume collects some censorship reports
specifically devoted to theatrical plays. These documents show the censors’
interest in controlling the linguistic model, the theatrical genre, or the profile
26
Figueiredo, vol. ii (1804), p. 349.
27
‘Discurso,’ a preface to the play As
28
irmans; Figueiredo, vol. vi (1804), no pagination.
For an overview of the theatrical repertoires in the second half of the eighteenth century,
see Raquel Bello Vázquez, ‘Theatrical Repertoires in Portugal: Conflict and Circulation (1737–
1793)’, in A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula, ed. by Fernando Cabo
Aseguinolaza, Anxo Abuín González and César Domínguez (Amsterdam: John Benjamins,
2010), pp. 614–29.
104
Raquel Bello Vázquez
of the city and the audience meant to attend the performance. We pick three
expressive examples:
A sua tradução não é fiel nem boa. Em muitas partes não chegou o tradutor
a perceber o sentido do original; em outras traduziu o natural e o simples
de que o autor abunda, e que todos nele reconhecem, por um modo que o
deixou não só baixo, mas desprezível; e seria bem que a primeira tragédia de
um tão célebre autor só se imprimisse em Portugal bem traduzida.29
[The translation is neither faithful nor good. In many places the translator
did not even grasp the original sense; in others he has translated the natural
and simple style in which the author excels, acknowledged by everyone, in
a way that makes it seem not only low but despicable. It would be as well if
the first tragedy of such a famous author were to be printed in Portugal only
in a good translation.]
In this text, the censors Fr João Baptista de S. Caetano, Fr Joaquim de Santa Ana e
Silva and Fr Manuel da Ressurreição — the two first of them identified by Ciccia
as belonging to the six more important censors of the Mesa30 — are assessing the
play Atreo e Tieste by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, a well-known French author
from the first half of the eighteenth century whose plays are mainly based on
classical themes. At the beginning of the report, they display great admiration
for both the author and the original play, asserting even that the starring role of
Atreo is ‘a coisa melhor que tem aparecido sobre o teatro’ [the best thing that
has appeared on the stage], besides what seems a profound knowledge of the
text. As can be seen, the major problem for the performance of Atreo e Tieste is
not the topic of the play or the ideological treatment this topic deserves, or even
possible manipulations of the plot or the original ideology of Crébillon’s play,
but solely the linguistic ‘quality’ of the translation. When the censors claim that
the translator ‘did not even grasp the original sense of the text’ we can see that
the charge is not about manipulation, but in misunderstanding due to a lack
of linguistic skills, and the reduction of its ‘simple’ and ‘natural’ expression to
the ‘low’ and ‘despicable.’ Maybe it is not too speculative to conclude that the
censors are condemning a lack of cultural capital in the anonymous translator,
acting more as the guardians of an alleged literary quality than of the morals
of authors and audiences. In addition, Ciccia reaches similar conclusions in
the chapter devoted to the analysis of the censorship process suffered by the
play Tartuffe by Molière, very meaningfully entitled ‘L’Utilisation politique de
Tartuffe: une entreprise antijésuitique’ [The political use of Tartuffe: an antiJesuitical undertaking].31
In the same censorship report, there is a more interesting development on the
appropriateness of the content of the play for Portuguese people:
29
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais — Torre do Tombo [IANTT]/RMC, Censuras, 1770, n.º
85; apud Carreira, pp. 236–37.
30
Ciccia, p. 195.
31
Ciccia, pp. 195–221.
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
105
Enquanto à sua representação, mais me parece própria para um país em
que prevaleça uma democracia decidida, do que uma monarquia regulada.
Julgo-a arriscada para se representar diante de um povo que muitas vezes
não é capaz de distinguir entre um monarca e um tirano. Ela foi representada
dezassete vezes em Paris, mas o autor não teve muita razão para se gloriar do
sucesso; uma grande parte do povo lhe julgou o coração tão mau como o de
Atreo. Pelo que me parece que ainda permitindo-se a impressão de alguma
tradução de Crébillon, que fosse boa para o uso e ensino de alguns leitores, se
não devia pôr no teatro, donde se devem alongar os motivos dos escândalos
ainda dos pusilâmes.32
[Concerning its performance, it seems to me more appropriate for a country
with a decided democracy than a regulated monarchy. I thought it unsafe
to be performed in front of a people very often incapable of distinguishing
between a monarch and a tyrant. It was performed seventeen times in Paris,
but the author had little reason to be vain about its success; a great part of
the people considered his heart as mean as Atreo’s. It seems to me that even
allowing for the publication of a good translation, suitable for the usage and
teaching of some readers, it should not be put on the stage, where any cause
for scandal should be avoided, even among the pusillanimous.]
As can be seen, it is not, in the last analysis, a problem concerning the prestige
of the author or the play, or the ideological content itself that are jeopardizing
publication of the play, but the social profile of the Portuguese audience, in
the opinion of the censors. Theatrical spectacles must be a way of amusing or
teaching people (as proposed by authors such as Figueiredo, for instance) but
never an excuse for social disorder or for questioning the legitimacy of the
monarchy. If we consider the social profile of readers vs. theatrical audience, it
becomes plausible that the proposal of the censors is a class screening, founded
on the belief that only the higher classes were capable of understanding complex
political processes. It is the same screening that operated in the concession of
licences for reading forbidden books.
Let us look finally at one more censorship report, this time written by Fr
Inácio de S. Caetano, who prevented the comedy Contra amor não há engano
[There is no deceiving love] by José Francisco de Azevedo from being printed in
1769. Once more, the argument focuses not on the morals or ideology of the play,
but on explicit formal issues of the play:
Nem o verso, nem os conceitos valem nada, e está feita no estilo das
espanholas, que são o riso da gente erudita, e nada boas para os costumes
[...]. Se algum engenho português se quiser aplicar ao cómico, deve propor-se
outros modelos, e não as comédias espanholas.33
[Neither the verses, nor the ideas are of any merit, and it is done in the style
of the Spanish [comedies], which are laughable to erudite people, and not
at all good for morals [...]. If any Portuguese talent should wish to devote
32
IANTT/RMC,
33
Censuras, 1770, n.º 85, apud Carreira, pp. 236–37.
IANTT/RMC, Censuras, 1769, n.º 104, cens. n.º 1, apud Carreira, p. 275.
Raquel Bello Vázquez
106
himself to comedy, he should try other models and not Spanish comedies.]
S. Caetano’s attack focuses on the Spanish literary model, expressing a concern,
shared by some of the most important theatrical authors of the time, at the
absence of a Portuguese pattern for theatrical literature. The following year, the
same S. Caetano forbade the publication of another comedy, Selva de Diana
[Forest of Diana], which a certain Manuel Coelho Amado was wanting to print,
arguing that it is ‘uma daquelas más produções com que o génio castelhano
corrompeu os seus teatros, e que hoje se abominam em toda a Europa’ [is one of
those bad productions with which the Castilian genius corrupted his stages, and
which are now abominated all over Europe].34
As we see in these three examples, the censors focus on what may be called
‘literary issues’, by which is understood the issues relating to internal repertoires
of the literary field. The censorship reports talk about the translators’ skills, the
profile of the audience, etc., even when it is the ideological content that leads to
the prohibition of a play. This is the same kind of concern found in the examples
quoted from Figueiredo, Verney and others. With this selection, we do not wish
to say that problems of paratexts are the only, or even the major, concerns for
theatrical authors at that time in Portugal, but that their function should be
reviewed.
Discussion
As shown by previous writings on theatre for different periods, but principally
focusing on the later eighteenth century, evidence exists of the importance
of paratextual elements, which we have defined as ‘repertoires relating to the
structure of the product, the conditions of its production, release or performance
that do not explicitly relate to a moral or political pattern’, for the ideological
interpretation of the play by censors and playwrights, and for the chances of the
plays being performed or printed.
This issue may be especially remarkable in theatre over and above other genres
or spectacles, both because of its dual position as part of the literary field and
as a public performance, and its function as one of the most important places
for socializing in eighteenth-century Portugal. However, more research must be
done to verify the hypothesis of the importance of those ‘paratextual elements’
in other artistic fields. Our conclusion is that, because the ideological load of
formal elements is less explicit, authors, censors or even policy makers (as in
the Italian case cited) could come to the conclusion that they would be more
efficient in conveying ideological patterns. What our research did not show was
to what extent this interpretation was shared by consumers (readers, audience),
nor to what extent its efficacy could be assessed. Future research might thus be
focused on discovering the impact that such a strategy might have had, by testing
34
Ibid.
Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires
107
this issue on more contemporary audiences, or by looking at other examples that
are better documented (through private documentation such as correspondence
or diaries), or by trying to find other evidence of the situation in Portugal.
A plausible hypothesis, derived from the initial analysis of the censorship
reports, is that paratextual elements have an important function in screening
audiences: the more complex the set of paratextual elements, the more restrictive
the audience profile. We can see this at work in the censors’ references to the
quality of the language or the translations, or to the ability of the audience to
understand and assume the ideology of the text, as was underlined in Almeida,
or in Bello Vázquez.35 In a society with extremely limited access to education,
normative rules regarding the quality of the orthography, the convenience of a
specific topic for a specific audience, and other similar paratextual repertoires
establish a social boundary that is difficult to cross for newcomers to the field
from lower classes, or producers with poor connections with the higher classes.
If the main concept in Genette and Alvarado is that the paratext can be
studied as a way to better understand the text, our conclusion is that under
certain circumstances, such as those detected in the eighteenth-century subfield of theatre, paratextual elements of repertoire are both a ‘threshold’ and a
boundary, contributing to the process of selection both of the audience intended
for every product and the producers allowed to participate in the field.
For future research, the importance of those formal elements resides in the
fact that they can be useful in identifying various strategies in artistic fields, and
can also help to explain the degree of success enjoyed by such strategies in many
different fields.
Grupo Galabra
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
This article forms a part of the following projects: ‘Portuguese Women Writers’ (PTDC/
CLE-LLI/108508/2008) and ‘Contributos para o estudo do período ilustrado en Galiza.
Levantamento de documentación primaria e bibliografía’ (INCITE08PXIB204051PR). Part of
the present research was founded by a grant from the Special European Fund and the Dirección
Xeral de Investigación Desenvolvemento e Innovación of the Galician government.
35
Almeida, p. 242; Raquel Bello Vázquez, ‘As versons ilustradas da Osmia: Dous modelos
de mulher, duas propostas sociais de classe’, Quadrant, 22 (2005), 87–99’ and ‘Theatrical
repertoires in Portugal’.