Insights into Contemporary Portuguese Literary Journalism: The Crónicas of José Luís Peixoto

• Autor(a) principal: Amorim, Rita
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Baltazar, Raquel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/29333
• topic: José Luís Peixoto; Literary Journalism; Portuguese Crónicas; Identity.

This essay analyzes the crónicas of José Luís Peixoto, a contemporary Portuguese writer and journalist. Peixoto uses the first-person singular and plural to immerse himself for weaponized narrative in the service of a stronger social realism. Full of intimacies that accentuate feelings and emotions, Peixoto’s crónicas draw a vivid picture of the current plight of Portuguese people in the twenty-first century, raise awareness to their harsh social conditions, and cast criticism on the ineffectiveness of politicians who are generally considered the culprits for the enduring financial crisis. Writing in a rich poetic, yet realistic style, Peixoto deals with issues of poverty, aging, and the passing of time, the inevitability of death, and the incalculable loss of family and friends. Offering a humanistic analysis of the Portuguese identity, his crónicas are everyday, real-life encounters intertwined with rich imagery of local places and peoples, smells, and colors. Peixoto’s detailed personal descriptions of the social, cultural, and political environment reveal a literary and subjective nature that is as if the reader were inside the writer’s mind.