ABSTRACT
A key symbol in the official projection of Portuguese national identity is the sixteenth-century poet Luis de Camoes. Camoes as a symbol of Portuguese national identity is largely a creation of the nineteenth century, particularly of the Romantics in the early decades and, later, of the intellectuals of the so-called 'generation of 1870'. In particular, the tercentenary in 1880 of Camoes's death provided an opportunity, skilfully exploited for propaganda purposes by the republican movement, to organise national festivities and to elaborate and strengthen the symbolism invested in the figure of the poet. This chapter examines how the 1880 version of Camoes relates to questions of national identity posed by the age-old fear of Spain, the ambivalent special relationship with Britain, and the beginning of a new phase of European imperialism in Africa. The cultivation of national feeling in the tercentenary involves a theme of betrayal, and identifies an enemy within — who does not share the ‘sentimento nacional’.
