A Lost Códex of José de Santa Rita Durão The Portuguese Translation of Voltaire’s Essay on Epic Poetry (Lisbon, 1783)

Abstract

This article reveals the existence of an eighteenth-century manuscript codex containing a Portuguese translation of Voltaire’s (1694-1778) Essay sur La Poésie Épique (1727), which provided the basis for the emergence of comparative literature in the Western. The translator remained anonymous, but the use of material bibliography as a research method, combined with the consultation of other eighteenth-century manuscripts and printed matter held in archives and libraries in Portugal and Brazil, revealed that the codex, submitted to the Real Mesa Censória in 1783, was produced by José de Santa Rita Durão, one of the most important authors of the second half of the 18th century and expands knowledge about literary studies in Portugal in that period. The codex presents, in addition to the unknown translation, unpublished author notes by the poet from Minas Gerais, which add new information about the thought and work of the author of Caramurú (1781).

Keywords:
Manuscript; Brasiliana; Literature