Consensus and Debate in Salazar's Portugal. Visual and Literary Negotiations of the National Text, 1933-1948

摘要

In many respects, the Salazarist New State (Estado Novo) in Portugal (1933-1974) developed its self-image and legitimacy through a simple and effective idea: the regime should be the starting point of a new social and moral order capable of placing Portugal once again in the true line of its history. After the failure of the liberal experiences, and of the growing sense of decadence in the nineteenth century, the nation recovered, from the hand of Antonio Oliveira Salazar, its true nature and pride. In order to accomplish this goal, the New State prepared and produced an official discourse about the immemorial Portuguese nation that included art and culture as relevant tools of re-nationalisation. In other words, the New State developed a national text in which the Portuguese could read the past, the present and the future of their country.