Chapter 14
Bárbora and Jau
Slavery in the life and poetry of Luis de Camões
This chapter examines two contrasting emotional responses to enslaved people in the writing of the
Portuguese Renaissance poet Luís de Camões. On the one hand, Bárbora, the captive woman made famous in a lyrical poem
by Camões, stands for the golden age of Portuguese discoveries and its open-mindedness towards far-off exotic
civilizations; on the other, Camões depicts Jau, the Javanese slave he owned for about a decade, in a way that
suggests social conservatism and indifference. In the nineteenth century, many Romantic authors and artists, inspired
by the figure of the noble savage and a new emphasis on emotional bonds, highlighted the importance of these two
slaves in the life of Camões.
Article outline
- Camões’s early life: Slavery and social hierarchies
- Camões and Bárbora
- Camões and Bárbora in the light of Romanticism
- Camões and Jau
- Conclusion
- Author queries
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References
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