Spanking Florbela: AdíliaLopesanda Genealogy ofFeminist Parody inPortuguese Poetry ANNA KLOBUCKA ThepoetAdíliaLopeshasbecomean increasingly prominent presence on thePortuguese literary scenesince1985whenherfirst volumeofpoetry, Urnjogo bastanteperigoso,was published.In 1999 her fourteenth collectionof verse,FlorbelaEspanca espanca, appeared. It is hardly surprising thattheprovocative wordplay ofthevolume'stitle shouldlend itself to paraphrase incritical commentary, as demonstrated bytheessay readbyOsvaldoManuelSilvestre atthebooklaunchofLopes'scollection, which wassubsequently published intheonlinejournalCiberkiosk.1 Inhis 'AdíliaLopesespancaFlorbelaEspanca',Silvestre placedthemetaphor of flagellation in a variety of figurative arrangements at thecentreof the poet'screative practice by,as histitleindicates, transferring thepunitive and/orsexuallyperverseagencyfromFlorbela'shands into Adilia's. Without ascribing excessivesignificance to whatsomemaydismissas a mererhetorical flourish, we shouldnotethatone oftheimplications of Silvestre's critical maneuver istodenyorquestion Florbela'sownputative proclivity to spanking, as postulated byAdíliaLopes's title.His gesture mimics thus,mutatis mutandis, a verdict on Florbela'spoetry expressed nearlya century earlierbyRaul Proença,a well-established writer and brother of one of Florbela'sfather's friends, who in 1916 offered an encouraging assessment ofthepoemsby'MrEspanca'sdaughter': Quantoà filha doSr.Espanca naosepodedizer queespanque a poesia.Pelocontrario: tembastante talento e promete. Ascomposiçoes quemeenviou naosao só verso, sao também poesianasuamaior parte. Creioquedaráalguma coisasecontinuar e sese for purificando dosvicios inerentes aosprincipiantes.2 In theremaining fifteen yearsof herlifeand work,Florbelaeffectively continued towrite, torefine herpoeticdiscourse, andtosteer clearofany such textualbehaviouras mightencourageaccusationsof 'spanking poetry':on the contrary, she cultivated it withutmostrespectand a reverent dedication towhatsheregarded as itstranscendent mission, while never attempting todeviate from theformally conservative mouldofneoRomantic sonnet. Eveninthetriumphant hourofCharneca emFlor,freed fromthe complexof derivative inferiority with regardto her male 1Osvaldo Manuel Silvestre,'Adília Lopes espanca Florbela Espanca', Ciberkiosk,8 (2000), http://www.uc.pt/ciberkioslc/arquivo/ciberkiosk8/livros/adilia.html 2 FlorbelaEspanca, Obras Completasde Floréela Espanca, Cartas 1906-1922,6 vols (Lisbon: Dom Quixote,1986),v, 164. ADÍLIA LOPES AND A FEMINIST PARODY I9I predecessors andcontemporaries, whichoften vexedherimagination and lyric discourse inwaysbothpainful andfruitful, Florbelaalwaysviewed theexerciseof poetry froma perspective thatwas at once humbleand spiritually elevated. Infact, herworshipful approachonlyintensified inher lastvolumeofverse,as itbecameslantedtowardsthepoet'sapotheotic self-inclusion in thesacredsphere, withsuchsonnetsas 'Mais alto' and 'Crucificada'.3 In an oppositionalcounterpoint to thetwo declarations citedabove, which,in spiteof theirdistinct contexts, perspectives, and degreesof explicitness, both qualifyFlorbela as someonewho, contrary to the implication ofhersurname and,moreimportantly, notwithstanding the acknowledged transgressive thrust ofmany ofherpoemsofunprecedented female affirmation, does notspankpoetry or itsreaders(whichis to say, does not traumatize, violatetendersensibilities, engagein offensive or painful behaviour), Adilia'sversehas oftenbeendescribed in terms that emphasize theshockvalueofherdiscursive performances, encompassing boththepoet'spage-bound published verseand herpublicappearances. The shockeffect maybe 'mild'- witness Hugo Williams'stestimony in theTimesLiterary Supplement, following an international gathering of poetsat theUniversidade de Coimbrain 19954- or in all probability acute,as in thecase oftheopeningpoemofFlorbelaEspancaespanca, withitsnotorious first linesparaphrasing Florbela'sembrace ofamorous abandon ('Quero amar | amarperdidamente'): 'Eu quero foderfoder| adiadamente'.5In thisarticleI intendto take thisinitialcontrasting juxtaposition ofthetwowriters, bracket chronologically, as itwere,the trajectory ofPortuguese women'spoetry in thetwentieth century, along withAdilia's parodiestudyof Florbela'slyricaldiscoursein her 1999 3 On thesubjectofFlorbela'snegotiationof intertextual influence and of herown statusas a woman authoraspiringto affirm herself withregardto themale-identified canon ofPortuguese poetry,see in particularClaudia Pazos Alonso, Imagensdo Eu na Poesia de Florbela Espanca (Lisbon:IN-CM, 1997);EmmaBrech, *"Amo-temais,quando estouso": Fantasyand Femininity in thePoetryof AntonioNobre and FlorbelaEspanca', PortugueseStudies,15 (1999), 130-39; Maria Lucia Dal Farra,'A Interlocuçaode Florbelacom a Poeticade AméricoDuräo', Coloquio/ Letras,132-33 (1994), 99-110; and Anna Klobuclca,'On ne naîtpas poétesse:a aprendizagem literariade FlorbelaEspanca', Luso-BrazilianReview,29 (1992), 51-61. On thesignificance of Florbela's lyricexpression in the context of twentieth-century Portuguesepoetry see the provocativeessaybyJoaquimManuel Magalhäes, 'Demasiado poucas palavrassobreFlorbela', in Rima pobre. Poesia portuguesade agora (Lisbon: Presença, 1999), pp. 18-30. Florbela's equivocalstatusvis-à-vis theliterary and criticalcanon ofPortuguese modernity is corroborated byherabsencefrom therecently publishedUr-anthology oftwentieth-century poetry inPortugal, O Séculode Ouro, ed. byPedroSerraand Osvaldo Manuel Silvestre (Lisbon:Cotovia,2002). As Williamswrote,commenting on thestagingofAdilia's reading:'Is sheserious?Arewe to takeherblack,housewifely skirt, neatshorthairand embroidered blouseat facevalue?Shereads herpoems in a prim,schoolgirlish way,butthereis something goingon herewhichleaves her straight-faced crowdsmilingin mildshockand me re-evaluating myreadingwardrobe.This is whatI call Performance Poetry'(myemphasis).'Freelance',TimesLiterary Supplement, 30June 1995. AdiliaLopes, Obra (Lisbon:Mariposa Azual,2000),p. 401. 192 ANNA KLOBUCKA collection, as a pointofdeparture fora re-examination of genealogical (dis) continuity...