Bernardo Santareno

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Bernardo Santareno , actually Antonio Martinho do Rosario , (born November 19, 1924 in Santarém , † August 30, 1980 in Carnaxide, Lisbon ) was a Portuguese playwright, translator, poet and psychiatrist . He is considered one of the most important Portuguese playwrights in the 20th century.

Life

Antonio do Rosario gave himself the good-sounding stage name Bernardo Santareno , probably in the hope of success abroad. In Santarém, his hometown, he attended elementary school and high school. He studied medicine in Coimbra and passed his medical exam as a psychiatrist in 1950. Despite his numerous dramatic works, he was dependent on a job to earn his living and worked as a psychiatrist in various health institutions in Lisbon until his death.

A street is named after him in Santarém and Oeiras , Amadora and Almada , and even a square in Lisbon.

In his hometown of Santarém there has been an Instituto Bernardo Santareno since 2009 , which deals with the development of the author's life and work and annually awards one of the most important playwright prizes in Portugal: the Prémio Bernardo Santareno .

Bernardos Santareno's homosexuality permeates many of his works, but is housed “discreetly” so that it does not become flashy and can only be recognized by the initiated. He was one of the regulars of the legendary Lisbon gay bar Pastelaria Paradiso , which was the only halfway legitimized gay hangout in the city from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.

Santareno died on August 30, 1980 at the age of only 55 in a small community outside Lisbon.

Between Marxism and Criticism - the work of Santareno

His first book, a volume of poetry, was published in 1954, the first pieces appeared in 1957. His drama is influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Peter Weiss .

As a translator, he translated the work of André Gide into Portuguese. He has written about 15 plays, one of them with autobiographical references. Many pieces fell under the censorship of the Salazar regime because they were considered too socially critical and could only be performed after the Carnation Revolution or only in communist-socialist countries.

A total of around six of his plays were filmed in Portugal. Two of his plays have been translated into English, one into Spanish. Due to his strongly socialist-Marxist work, Santareno was unable to achieve any successes in Western countries except in Portugal, which explains why the author has remained almost unknown in Germany.

In his work he was directed against all forms of oppression and discrimination, be it from a racial, economic, gender, social or sexual point of view.

It was primarily two plays that made Santareno one of the most important dramatists of the twentieth century in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution:

His work O Judeu , written in 1966, was only allowed to be performed in 1981 due to censorship. Today it is the deposit copy in secondary schools in Portugal and deals with the life of the Jewish-Portuguese poet António José da Silva , known as O Judeu, who was murdered by the Inquisition, and the Inquisition in Portugal under the aspect that Santareno strongly criticized the Catholic Church , suppressed the Portuguese state and the hypocrisy of Jews and others, as well as the mercilessness of the inquisitors to refuse da Silva's pardon. He also tried to build a bridge to the then current Portuguese politics, which he accused of similar references.

The play The Treason of Father Martinho. Dramatic narrative in two acts , published in 1969, banned by the censors; First performed in Havana , Cuba , 1970, and for the first time in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution in 1974. The piece is based on a true incident that happened this way. The place and protagonists were invented or changed, but the core of the story actually happened: A Catholic priest comes to a small village and fights against the social injustice of the farm workers, especially against the local landowner . The priest is blackened and receives no backing from the superior bishop, on the contrary, one wants him to leave the community. The population, however, does not give in, speaks to the bishop and tries to protect the priest. Meanwhile, the landowner calls in armed forces against the striking workers, who also advance and even kill two workers. Then the figure of the padre disappears from the piece and the viewer is offered various options for an end. The play is a sharp criticism of the Catholic Church and the system of large landed property in Portugal.

Work (selection)

  • A morte na raiz, 1954, poetry.
  • Romances do mar, 1955, poetry.
  • Os olhos da vibora, 1957, poetry.
  • Nos mares do fim do mundo, short stories, 1959.
  • O Duelo, 1961, play.
  • O Judeu, (The Jew), 1966, performed in 1981, play.
  • O inferno (The Inferno), play, 1969.
  • A traicao do padre Martinho. Narrativa dramatico em dois actos. (The betrayal of Padre Martinho. Dramatic story in two acts), 1969, first performance: 1970 in Havana, Cuba, first performance in Portugal: 1974, play.
  • 45 anos de idade, (45 years old), (autobiographical drama), 1974, play.
  • Os Marginias eo revolucao (The marginalized and the revolution), last work, play, 1979.

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personal data
SURNAME Santareno, Bernardo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosario, Antonio Martinho do (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese playwright, translator, poet and psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Santarém (Portugal) , Portugal
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1980
Place of death Carnaxide, Lisbon