P.I.: Paula Mendes Coelho


In its different implementation phases, “Around Symbolism: Literature and Art” is a project that aims to promote deep reflection and as broad as possible a debate, in order to reassess this complex movement which crossed continents and touched almost all literature and other forms of art between the end of  XIXth and the first decades of the XXth centuries. Beyond baudelairean “correspondences”, which founded a practical, modern poetics, much beyond the question of music (Verlaine, but especially Mallarmé), the intention is to re-evaluate the diverse and original theoretical contributions of often minor authors, and of different languages ​​and cultures, in order to proceed with the “dismantling” of the common misconceptions that literary history and criticism have generally perpetuated (ie. the relations between Art and History, between Modern and New, the systematic confusion between Decadence / Decadentism and Symbolism …). Given the colossal expansion of aesthetic perception caused by Symbolism through its most diverse manifestations and facets (poetry, theater, plastic arts, music …), the impact of this international and cosmopolitan movement, whose influence extends to the present day, will be re-evaluated in the context of its invaluable contribution to the theory and revolutionary transformation of modern art.


Paula Mendes Coelho (CEC-FLUL)
Ana Isabel Vasconcelos (Centro Estudos Teatro-FLUL)
Bruno Henriques (CEC-FLUL)
Cristiana Vasconcelos Rodrigues (CEC-FLUL)
Luis Carlos Pimenta Gonçalves (IELT)
Maria do Carmo Mendes (Univ. Minho)
Sandra Leandro (Univ. Évora)