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THE TEAM
CONTACT
From the very first scientific publications, Luís de Albuquerque also wrote on the most diverse subjects, from Angola's economy to the potential of nuclear energy, from literary criticism (especially poetry) to notes and comments on the most diverse topics: a newly released book or an engineers' congress, sports and Olympism, cinema, or the problems of primary education. One senses an immense and insatiable curiosity for all aspects of the reality that surrounded him, and an irresistible desire to intervene through writing: it is not by chance that he defined himself as a graphomaniac.
The vast majority of these texts appeared in the Vértice journal, a quasi-unofficial body of the Portuguese neo-realism movement, which brought together a significant number of Coimbra intellectuals who opposed the ruling regime, among whom were some of his friends, such as Egídio Namorado. He was also close to other important literary figures, such as Vitorino Nemésio, a frequent visitor to the house, and Vergílio Ferreira, who left him the (unpublished) manuscript of his first novel. Vértice experienced difficulties due to its political alignment, with several authors banned from signing their names on their articles, as was the case of Luís de Albuquerque, who used five pseudonyms in addition to unsigned articles to write entire issues of the journal between the late 1940s and early 1950s.
There is no use seeking an enclosed logic in the use of these alter-egos, but one of them (J. Sousa Mendes) was clearly his favourite when writing on cultural topics in general and historical themes in particular. On multiple occasions, articles in newspapers or other widely circulated media anticipated the publication of longer texts, or disseminated results already presented in scientific articles and books. This was especially the case with the series of articles on various themes related to the Portuguese navigations, published in the newspaper O Comércio do Porto, later collected in a book (Crónicas de História de Portugal [Chronicles of Portuguese History], 1987).
