Editing Luís de Camões (section)

== Expansion of fame beyond Portugal ==
According to [[Monteiro Lobato|Monteiro]], of the great epic poets of the west, Camões remains the least known outside his homeland and his masterpiece, Os Lusíadas, is the least known of the great poems in the style. However, from the time he lived and throughout the centuries after Camões was praised by several non-Lusophone luminaries of Western culture. [[Torquato Tasso]], who claimed that Camões was the only rival he feared,<ref>''N'este seculo não tenho senão um rival que me possa disputar a palma, &c.'' — Tasso, citado em ''Obras de Luiz de Camões'', Vol. 1. Imprensa nacional, 1860, p. 157</ref> dedicated a sonnet to him, [[Baltasar Gracián]] praised his sharpness and ingenuity, as did [[Lope de Vega]]. [[Cervantes]] – stated that he saw Camões as the "singer of Western civilization."<ref>Cervantes, citado em ''Livro comemorativo da fundação da cadeira de estudos camonianos''. Imprensa da Universidade de Lisboa, 1927, p. 137</ref> He was an influence on the work of [[John Milton]] and several other English poets, [[Goethe]] recognized his eminence, [[Sir Richard Burton]] considered him a master,<ref>Monteiro, George. ''The presence of Camões: influences on the literature of England, America, and Southern Africa''. University of Kentucky Press, 1996, pp. 1-3</ref> [[Friedrich Schlegel]] called him the ultimate exponent of creation in epic poetry,<ref>Chaves, Henrique de Almeida. "Luís Digno Apolo e Digno Homero: Camões entre belo e sublime, de Torcato Tasso a Leonardo Turricano; paralelismo mítico e recuperação romântica". In: Soares, Maria Luísa de Castro. ''Tendências da Literatura: Do Classicismo ao Maneirismo e ao Barroco e sua Projecção na Actualidade''. Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 2009, p. 118</ref> opining that the "perfection" [Vollendung] of [[Portuguese poetry]] was evident in his "beautiful poems,"<ref>Cochran, Terry. ''Twilight of the Literary: Figures of Thought in the Age of Print''. Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 121</ref> [[Alexander von Humboldt|Humboldt]] regarded him as an admirable painter of nature.<ref>Ribeiro, José Silvestre. ''Os Lusiadas e o Cosmos: ou, Camões considerado por Humboldt como admirável pintor da natureza''. Imprensa Nacional, 1858, pp. 2-3</ref><ref>Humboldt disse serem ''Os Lusíadas'' o "poema do mar"; ver Peixoto, Afrânio. ''Ensaios camonianos''. Imprensa da Universidade, 1932, p. 23</ref> [[August-Wilhelm Schlegel]] wrote that Camões, by itself, is worth entire literary works.<ref>Saraiva, António José & Lopes, Óscar. ''História da Literatura Portuguesa''. Porto Editora, 6ª edição, p. 333</ref>
[[File:Philip II of Spain portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|Philip II of Spain]]
Camões' fame began to spread across Spain, where he had several admirers since the 16th century, with two [[translation]]s of Os Lusíadas appearing in 1580,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Anunciação|first1= C.|last2= Severino|first2= C. |title="Os Lusíadas – símbolo nacional de duas culturas" in Carmen Mª Comino Fernández de Cañete, Maria da Conceição Vaz Serra Pontes Cabrita y Juan M. Carrasco González (ed.), CRISIS Y RUPTURA PENINSULAR - III Congreso Internacional de la SEEPLU. |publisher=Universidad de Extremadura |year=2014 |isbn=978-84-697-1337-2 |location=Cáceres |pages=133–147}}</ref> the year of the poet's death, possibly printed at the behest of [[Philip II of Spain]], who at the time was also the king of Portugal. In Luis Gómez de Tápia's edition, Camões is already mentioned as "famous", and in Benito Caldera's he was compared to Virgil.<ref name="Spina & Bechara, pp. 23-25">Spina & Bechara, pp. 23-25</ref> In addition, the king granted him the honorific title of "Prince of the Poets of Spain," which was printed in one of the translations. Philip was perfectly aware of the advantages of using an already established culture for his own purposes rather than suppressing it. As the son of a Portuguese princess, he had no interest in annulling the Portuguese identity or its cultural achievements, and it was to his advantage to assimilate the poet into the Spanish orbit, both to ensure his legitimacy as sovereign of the united crowns, and to enhance the brilliance of Spanish culture.<ref>Bergel, Antonio J. Alías. "Camões laureado: Legitimación y uso poético de Camões durante el bilingüismo ibérico en el período filipino". In: ''Espéculo — Revista de estudios literarios'', 2009; XIV (42)</ref>

Soon his fame would reach [[Italy]]; Tasso called his work "cult and good" and by 1658 Os Lusíadas would be translated twice, by Oliveira and Paggi.<ref name="Spina & Bechara, pp. 23-25"/> Later, associated with Tasso, it became an important paradigm in Italian [[Romanticism]]. By this time in Portugal, a body of exegetes and commentators had already been formed, giving the study of Camões great depth. In 1655 Os Lusíadas arrived in England in Fanshawe's translation, but would only gain notoriety there about a century later, with the publication of William Julius Mickle's poetic version in 1776, which, although successful, did not prevent the emergence of another dozen English translations until the end of the 19th century.<ref>''Os Lusiadas: Antologia''. Atelie Editorial, 1973, p. 25</ref><ref>Monteiro (1996), ''The Presence of Camões'', p. 89</ref> It arrived in [[France]] at the beginning of the 18th century, when Castera published a translation of the epic. Voltaire criticized certain aspects of the work, namely its lack of unity in action and the mixture of Christian and pagan mythology, but he also admired the novelties it introduced in relation to other epics, contributing powerfully to its popularity. [[Montesquieu]] stated that Camões' poem had something of the charm of the Odyssey and the magnificence of the [[Aeneid]]. Between 1735 and 1874 no less than twenty French translations of the book appeared, not counting numerous second editions and paraphrases of some of the most striking episodes. In 1777 Pieterszoon translated Os Lusíadas into Dutch and by the 19th century, five more partial translations had appeared.<ref name="Spina & Bechara, pp. 23-25"/><ref>De Vries, Eti. "Os Lusíadas na Holanda: a história da recepção entre 1572-1900". In: ''Estudos de Língua e Cultura Portuguesas'', Jun/2007</ref>