A Research And Study On The Macao Portuguese Literary Writers And Their Works In The 16～(th) To 20～(th) Century

Title: A Research and Study on the Macao Portuguese Literary Writers and their Works in the 16~ to 20th Century Content: Macao is a small place with a long history. Owing to her history, many Portuguese writers arid poets lived in Macao, either temporarily or permanently. They left behind a number of precious works that extraordinarily pictured stories and events happened in Macao during the past four hundred years. Up to now in Macao or outside Macao, however, research on Macao Portuguese literature, especially of those written in Chinese, is still very rare. In order to fill this gap as early as possible, and perhaps to correct some of the prejudices in this area, I have tried my best in the recent years to collect data for the research, and this dissertation is a preliminary step to this great subject. From reading this valuable, historical literature on the people, events, custom, and also on the ways of life in that special historical period of time, we can perceive the particular feelings the Portuguese writers had. This study aims at 揹iscovering?the unique significance of the Portuguese works in the context of Macao literary history, or even in the regional meaning of world literary history from the 16th to 20th century. As a result, we shall have a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of Macao抯 historical as well as cultural heritage, including literary works. This dissertation first chooses, chronologically, some major literary heritages or other related works produced by the Portuguese writers of Macao. In the context of the history of Macao, it then analyzes culturally the writers?subjective feelings and literary records of Macao抯 social development in the last four hundred years. In doing so, it improves our understanding of the real meaning of Macao抯 history as well as culture, and even of Macao抯 significance in world modern history. Macao Portuguese writers, according to thefr personal histories, their historical background or their length of staying in Macao, can be divided into three different categories: 1) 揟he Group of Suzerain-Colony? formed by Portuguese writers who stayed in Macao for a relatively short time, features with exotic style of description. 2) uThe Group of Sinicism? consisted of Portuguese writers who lived in Macao for a long time, is deeply influenced by oriental culture. 3) 揟he Group of the Macanese?consists of Eurasian writers. This research, a panoramic look on Macao literature in between the 16il~ and the 20th century, concludes that there are findings to show that Portuguese works of Macao has a strong local color, and they reflect a significant influence of Chinese culture. It verdicts the great impact of Chinese cultural influence and the Chinese-Portuguese intercultural exchange or even integration that cultivates the diversities as well as uniqueness of Macao literature, both in Chinese and Portuguese. Therefore, any writing on the history of Macao literature should carefully include Macao Portuguese literature in its overall academic view, so as to enrich the worldwide uniqueness of Macao literary legacy.