The justifications provided by CP in the afore- mentioned Advertência [Foreword] to explain the delays and irregular ities in the publication of his História da Literatura Portuguesa [History of Portuguese Literature] are well-founded. As the sole full professor at his Faculty for many years, he bore the responsibility of overseeing junior professors. In addition to supervising dozens of undergraduate theses, CP also guided doctoral dissertations that would transform the understanding of Portuguese literature. Ofélia Paiva Monteiro, Vítor Aguiar e Silva, Aníbal Pinto de Castro, and Aida Fernanda Dias are among those who benefited from his mentorship during the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed, ranging from the Late Middle Ages (Aida Dias) to Romanticism (Ofélia Monteiro) and including Mannerism and the Baroque (Aguiar e Silva), the dissertations supervised by CP were unified by a clear historiographical reconceptualisation. Beyond studying texts and historical-cultural contexts, the framework also encompassed the analysis of poetic codes. Within this precise domain lies the doctoral research undertaken by Aníbal Pinto de Castro.

This scientific and pedagogical ambition (referenced in several of his prefatory texts) also led CP to pursue an institutional commitment of a different nature, founding and directing the Centro de Estudos Românicos [Centre for Romance Studies] and the Revista de História Literária de Portugal [Journal of Literary History of Portugal] (1962). The short lifespan of the journal (only three issues were published at irregular intervals) reflects the difficulty of assembling workgroups within Portuguese universities capable of undertaking large-scale projects. This challenge, among other factors, contributed to the relatively limited number of published works by CP and other university professors of the same era, as well as the interruption of several commendable and ambitious projects.

Primary references : Fialho de Almeida I. Introdução à sua estética . Coimbra, Coimbra Editora, 1945.; História da Literatura Portuguesa, Primeiro volume (séculos XII a XV), Coimbra, Edições Quadrante, 1947 (2ª edição, revista, Coimbra, Edições Atlântida, 1959); Gente Grada , Coimbra, Livraria Atlântida, 1952; Escritos Diversos , Coimbra, Acta Universitatis Conimbrigensis, 1972.

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