Baltasar Lopes da Silva ( Caleijão, São Nicolau, 23 April 1907 - Lisbon, Portugal, 28 May 1989) was a writer, poet and linguist from Cape Verde, who wrote in both

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Cape Verdean Creole Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is also called or by its native speakers. It is the native creole language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by t ...

. With Manuel Lopes and Jorge Barbosa, he was the founder of ''

Claridade ''Claridade'' (Portuguese for "light") was a literary review inaugurated in 1936 in the city of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. It was part of a movement of cultural, social, and political emancipations of the Cape Verdean soc ...

''. In 1947 he published '' Chiquinho'', considered the greatest Cape Verdean novel and '' O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde'' which describes different dialects of creoles of Cape Verde. He sometimes wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Osvaldo Alcântara. ''Ressaca'', his work of poems can be found on the CD ''

Poesia de Cabo Verde e Sete Poemas de Sebastião da Gama ''Poesia de Cabo Verde e Sete Poemas de Sebastião da Gama'' (''Poetry of Cape Verde and Seven Poems by Sebastião da Gama'') is a collection of poems released in a CD by Afonso Dias and other "guests" (Carlos Germano, Luís Vicente, Mina Andala ...

'' by

Afonso Dias Afonso Dias is a Portuguese singer, musician, poet and actor. He was deputy of the Constitution Assembly of 1975/76 under the Popular Democratic Union (Portugal) (later, he did not exercise in other political offices). In music, he was one of ...

Biography

Baltasar Lopes da Silva was born in the village of Calejão on the island of São Nicolau in Cape Verde on April 23, 1907. He attended the seminary in Ribeira Brava in his native island. He later headed to Portugal and studied at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

. When he was at Lisbon, Baltasar Lopes studied with the most important writers and authors of the Portuguese culture including

Vitorino Nemésio Vitorino Nemésio Mendes Pinheiro da Silva (19 December 1901, in Praia da Vitória – 20 February 1978, in Lisbon) was a Portuguese poet, author and intellectual from Terceira, Azores, best known for his novel ''Mau Tempo No Canal'', as well ...

and

Luís da Câmara Reis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

. He graduated with degrees in Law and Romance Philology, he was one of the excellent students at the university. Afterwards, he returned to Cape Verde and was professor at

Liceu Gil Eanes Liceu Velho is a building in the eastern part of the city centre of Mindelo, Cape Verde. It is situated on Praça Dr. Duarte Silva,

Career

Baltasar Lopes, with the collaboration of other writers, such as Manuel Lopes, Manuel Ferreira,

António Aurélio Gonçalves António Aurélio Gonçalves, better known as Nhô Roque (25 September 1901 – 30 September 1984), was a Cape Verdean writer, critic, historian and professor. Life Gonçalves was born in the city of Mindelo, capital of the island of São Vicen ...

Francisco José Tenreiro Francisco José Tenreiro (20 January 1921 – 1963) was a São Toméan geographer and poet who lived during the colonial era. He was taught at the Overseas Political and Social Sciences Institute, now known as the Instituto Superior de Ciência ...

, Jorge Barbosa, and Daniel Filipe, founded the Cape Verdean journal ''

'' in 1936. ''Claridade'' published essays, poems, and short stories. Its contributors wrote about the problems of their society, such as drought, famine, and emigration, bringing clarity to the study of Cape Verdean reality, especially with regard to the most disadvantaged social groups. In 1947, Lopes published his first book, the novel ''Chiquinho''. ''Chiquinho'' describes in detail the customs, people, landscapes, and social problems of Cape Verde in early twentieth century. It is a coming-of-age novel about the people of Cape Verde and the step that many Cape Verdeans had to take to achieve a better life: emigration. The novel is organized into three parts: * 1. "Childhood" (Infância), in which the protagonist Chiquinho lives with his family and community in the village of Caleijão on the island of São Nicolau and learns his first letters. * 2. "São Vicente," in which ''Chiquinho'' continues his education in high school on the island of São Vicente, where he meets new friends and his first love Nuninha. ''Chiquinho'' and his classmates found the Grémio, an association and a journal that is very similar to ''Claridade'', in the sense that it attempts to change the social environment of the archipelago. * 3. "The Waters" (As Águas), the third and final part of the novel, in which ''Chiquinho'' returns to his island and becomes a teacher. This part is focused on the calamity of drought, a major problem in Cape Verde, which results in famine and many deaths. At the end of the novel, ''Chiquinho'' emigrates to the United States with the hope of a better life.

Family

Baltasar Lopes da Silva belonged to a family of great literary figures of Cape Verde including

and poet José Lopes da Silva.

Works

* '' Chiquinho'' (1947) * ''A Caderneta'' * ''Cabo Verde visto por Gilberto Freyre'' 'Cape_Verde_Visited_by_Gilberto_Freyre''.html" ;"title="Gilberto_Freyre.html" ;"title="'Cape Verde Visited by Gilberto Freyre">'Cape Verde Visited by Gilberto Freyre''">Gilberto_Freyre.html" ;"title="'Cape Verde Visited by Gilberto Freyre">'Cape Verde Visited by Gilberto Freyre''(1956) * '' O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde'', a description of the Cape Verdean creole language (1957). * ''Antologia da Ficção Cabo-Verdiana Contemporânea'' [''Contemporary Anthology of Cape Verdean Fiction''] (1961) * ''Cântico da Manhã Futura'' (1986), volume of poetry published under the name Osvaldo Alcântara * ''Os Trabalhos e os Dias'' (short stories, 1987)

Legacy

Av Baltasar Lopes Silva (S Vicente, Cabo Verde)

A street named after the writer (Avenida Baltasar Lopes da Silva) is located in the north of

Mindelo Mindelo is a port cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook ...

slightly northeast of the city center. He was featured on a Cape Verdean $500 escudo note which was issued between 1992 and 2000. On the back is Ilhéu dos Passaros and its ships.

References

Bibliography

* Leão Lopes ''Baltasar Lopes 1907-1989'',

University of Rennes 2 Rennes 2 University (UR2; french: Université Rennes 2) is a public university located in Upper Brittany, France. It is one of the four universities in the Academy of Rennes.The two others are: UBO ( Brest), Western Brittany, and UBS in Lorient ...

, 2002, 3 volumes, pgs. 22, 151, 281 (doctorate thesis in Portuguese, published in 201

External links

Baltasar da Silva Lopes on britannica.comBaltazar Lopes da Silva
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes da Silva Baltasar 1907 births 1989 deaths Cape Verdean male writers Linguists from Cape Verde Writers in Cape Verdean Creole People from São Nicolau, Cape Verde 20th-century linguists Migrants from Portuguese Cape Verde to Portugal