Professor and essayist Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva is the winner of the 2020 Camões Prize, announced today by the Minister of Culture, after a jury meeting. For 12 years, he was vice-rector of the University of Minho (UMinho).
The Camões Prize for Literature in Portuguese was instituted by Portugal and Brazil in 1988, with the aim of distinguishing an author “whose work contributes to the projection and recognition of the literary and cultural heritage of the common language”.
It was attributed for the first time, in 1989, to the writer Miguel Torga. In 2019, the award distinguished Brazilian musician and writer Chico Buarque, author of “Leite Derramado” and “Budapeste”, among other works.
The 2020 Camões Prize told Lusa today that it refuses to write according to the new orthographic agreement, considering that it resulted in a “disfigured language”.
“The new spelling agreement has rules that are in urgent need of revision. Its application results in a disfigured language in its Latin and Romanesque roots ”, he said.
For this reason, and for “cherishing the Portuguese language”, Vítor Aguiar e Silva continues to write according to the orthographic agreement of 1945.
“I have just released a book with almost 600 pages, entitled ‘Winter Harvest’, and do not see a word written there under the new agreement,” he stressed.
Vítor Aguiar e Silva was one of the signatories of the Petition in Defense of the Portuguese Language, Against the Orthographic Agreement, which since May 2, 2008 has collected more than 128 thousand signatures.
“I heard about the award from the Minister of Culture, who called me around 7:15 pm to give the news. I was so moved that even now I don’t know how to explain what I felt, ”he said.
In his opinion, the award was the “crowning of a lifetime” of teaching and research in the fields of Portuguese language and literature and Camonian studies ”.
Essayist and university professor, Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva was born in Penalva do Castelo, in the district of Viseu, in 1939.
At the University of Coimbra, he obtained all his degrees and academic degrees and was a full professor at the Faculty of Letters until 1989, the year in which he requested a transfer to the University of Minho.
At this university, he was a full professor at the Institute of Letters and Human Sciences, founded and directed the Center for Humanistic Studies and the journal Diacrítica.
He also served as vice-chancellor, from June 1990 to July 2002, when he retired.
The Camões Prize for Literature in Portuguese was instituted by Portugal and Brazil in 1988, with the aim of distinguishing an author “whose work contributes to the projection and recognition of the literary and cultural heritage of the common language”.
It was attributed for the first time, in 1989, to the writer Miguel Torga. In 2019, the award distinguished Brazilian musician and writer Chico Buarque, author of “Leite Derramado” and “Budapeste”, among other works.
UMinho expresses “joy” for the award of the Camões Prize to one of its greatest
The rector of the University of Minho, Rui Vieira de Castro, said today that the award of the Camões 2020 Prize to Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva is a “reason for rejoicing and great joy” for that academy.
Speaking to Lusa, Rui Vieira de Castro added that it is a “very deserved recognition” for someone who was “absolutely remarkable in the evolution of literary studies and the theory of literature in Portugal”.
“He is one of the most eminent professors at the University of Minho, he is one of our greatest, the award of the Camões Prize is for us a reason for rejoicing and great joy”, he said.
The award of the Camões 2020 Prize to professor and essayist Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva was announced today by the Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, after a jury meeting in Lisbon.
Vítor Aguiar e Silva was chosen in recognition of the “transversal importance of his essay work” and his “active role in matters of Portuguese language politics and the canon of Portuguese language literatures”, reads the statement released by the jury of 32nd edition of the Camões Prize.
Essayist and university professor, Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva was born in Penalva do Castelo, in the district of Viseu, in 1939.
At the University of Coimbra, he obtained all his degrees and academic degrees and was a full professor at the Faculty of Letters until 1989, the year in which he requested a transfer to the University of Minho.
At this university, he was a full professor at the Institute of Letters and Human Sciences, founded and directed the Center for Humanistic Studies and the journal Diacrítica. He also served as vice-chancellor, from June 1990 to July 2002, when he retired.
The Camões Prize for Literature in Portuguese was instituted by Portugal and Brazil in 1988, with the aim of distinguishing an author “whose work contributes to the projection and recognition of the literary and cultural heritage of the common language”.
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