author
José Agostinho de Macedo
1761–1831
A fiercely combative voice in Portuguese letters, he wrote poetry, criticism, and political prose with a sharp edge that made him famous in his own lifetime. His career moved between the church, public controversy, and literary ambition, leaving behind a body of work as restless as his reputation.
3 Audiobooks
Sermão contra o Filosofismo do Seculo XIX
by José Agostinho de Macedo
Epistola de Manoel Mendes Fogaça Dirigida de lisboa a hum amigo da sua terra, em que lhe refere como de repente se fez poeta, e lhe conta as proezas de hum rafeiro.
by José Agostinho de Macedo
Newton: Poema
by José Agostinho de Macedo
About the author
Born in Beja in 1761, José Agostinho de Macedo became a Portuguese poet and prose writer who was also closely tied to religious life. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes him as a didactic poet, critic, and pamphleteer, while Wikipedia also notes his work as a priest and writer.
His life appears to have been unusually turbulent. Britannica says he took Augustinian vows in 1778 and, because of his difficult temperament, spent time in prison and was repeatedly moved from one religious community to another. That volatility seems to have shaped both his public image and his writing, which is often remembered for its harsh, satirical, and polemical tone.
Macedo died in 1831, but he remains a notable figure in Portuguese literary history for the intensity of his criticism and the force of his personality. He is often remembered less as a quiet man of letters than as a writer who turned argument itself into a literary style.