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'Titanic Cyclops' or 'Cyclopean Titan'?: Adamastor and Gonzalo Pérez's Ulyxea and Gregorio Hernández de Velasco's Eneida

2022; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 38; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/port.2022.0000

2222-4270

Thomas Clark,

Philippine History and Culture

'Titanic Cyclops' or 'Cyclopean Titan'?:Adamastor and Gonzalo Pérez's Ulyxea and Gregorio Hernández de Velasco's Eneida Thomas Clark Abstract Although Adamastor's purpose and symbolic meaning in Os Lusíadas has provoked an array of critical responses, in terms of his mythological genealogy, he is often taken at his word and accepted as a 'Titanic' brother to the pre-Olympians. Several critics, however, relate him to the Polyphemus tradition. This article explores some of the connections that Adamastor shares with that tradition, through examples of intertextuality with two sixteenth-century Spanish translations: Gonzalo Pérez's Ulyxea and Gregorio Hernández de Velasco's Eneida. It aims to substantiate earlier, critical arguments relating to Adamastor's connections to the tradition, in particular those of Manuel de Faria e Sousa and David Quint, proposing that Adamastor should be considered as an amalgamation of the 'Titanic' and the 'Cyclopean': a 'Titanic Cyclops' or 'Cyclopean Titan'. It also aims to further the critical debate on Camões's appreciation of the Odyssey and the Aeneid, proposing the translations as possible source texts and exploring their availability to Camões, both in Portugal and during his time in Goa. Resumo Embora o propósito e o significado simbólico de Adamastor n'Os Lusíadas tenha ocasionado um leque de reflexões críticas, no que diz respeito à sua genealogia mitológica, e apesar de vários críticos o relacionarem com a tradição de Polifemo, costuma-se acreditar na sua palavra e geralmente aceitase o Adamastor como um irmão 'titânico' dos deuses pré-olímpicos. Este artigo examina algumas das ligações entre Adamastor e a tradição, através de exemplos de intertextualidade de duas traduções quinhentistas castelhanas: a Ulyxea de Gonzalo Pérez e a Eneida de Gregorio Hernández de Velasco. O artigo tem como objetivo evidenciar os argumentos críticos existentes relacionados com as ligações de Adamastor com a tradição, especialmente os de Manuel de Faria e Sousa e os de David Quint, e propõe que o Adamastor se deva considerar uma amalgamação do 'titânico' e do 'ciclópico': um 'ciclope titânico' ou um 'titã ciclópico'. Além disso, o artigo visa desenvolver o debate crítico referente ao apreço de Camões pela Odisseia e pela Eneida, sugerindo que as traduções sejam fontes possíveis do seu conhecimento e examinando a sua disponibilidade a Camões, tanto em Portugal como durante o seu tempo em Goa. Keywords Adamastor, Gonzalo Pérez, Ulyxea, Gregório Hernández de Velasco, Eneida, Odyssey, Aeneid Palavras-chave Adamastor, Gonzalo Pérez, Ulyxea, Gregório Hernández de Velasco, Eneida, Odisseia Having manifested from an ominous cloud and threatened of future shipwreck and deaths (v. 37–48), in canto v, stanza 49, of Os Lusíadas, Adamastor is interrupted by Vasco da Gama, who boldly asks 'Quem és tu?' [Who are you?], and, in response, the figure offers an explanation of his history and origins (v. 50–51), from which several conclusions can be drawn: he called himself Adamastor; he is part of the Cape of Good Hope; as one of the 'filhos aspérrimos da terra' [Earth's rugged sons], he appears to share a bloodline with Enceladus, Aegaeon/Briareus, and the Hundred Hander; and he fought in a war against the Olympian gods.1 However, little more can be said for certain about Adamastor, and, consequently, he is often taken at his word and accepted as a 'Titanic' brother to the pre-Olympians. Yet, there is also good reason to associate him with the classical Polyphemus. Luís de Oliveira e Silva, for example, remarks that Adamastor represents Homer's encounter between Odysseus and Polyphemus.2 Meanwhile, Américo da Costa Ramalho notes that Adamastor relates to the Polyphemus of Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as the Polyphemus of Homer and Virgil, because of the terror that he instils in the sailors, and to Theocritus's Cyclops, because of the indifference that Thetis shows him.3 Similarly, Clive Willis suggests that 'the role of Adamastor was doubtless suggested by that...