Jorge de Sena
Jorge de Sena was a prominent Portuguese author born in Lisbon in 1919, known for his significant contributions to literature and his opposition to the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Raised in a family with a strong emphasis on education, Sena was an early reader and demonstrated a passion for writing from a young age. After initially pursuing a military career, he shifted focus to his literary ambitions, publishing his first collection of poetry in 1942 and becoming a respected literary critic. His opposition to the Salazar regime led him to exile in Brazil after a failed coup attempt in 1959, where he embraced the country's intellectual freedom and continued his writing. Later, Sena moved to the United States, where he taught at the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was recognized for his literary achievements with several prestigious awards, including the Portuguese Order of Infante D. Henrique. Sena's legacy is marked by his dual identity as a Portuguese writer and a significant figure in Brazilian literature, remembered for his advocacy for democracy and artistic expression. He passed away from lung cancer in 1978, leaving behind a rich body of work and a large family.
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Subject Terms
Jorge de Sena
- Born: November 2, 1919
- Birthplace: Lisbon, Portugal
- Died: June 4, 1978
- Place of death: Santa Barbara, California
Biography
Portuguese author Jorge de Sena was born in Lisbon in 1919, the son of a merchant marine commander and a well-educated gentlewoman, who taught him to read Portuguese by the age of three and French by age ten. Sena was solitary and bookish, and his best childhood relationship was with his maternal grandmother, who encouraged his artistic education. When Sena was fourteen, his father lost a leg and the family had to live off a small allowance from his father’s former employer.
Sena graduated from high school in 1936. Although he had begun writing, he wanted a military career and excelled at the naval preparatory course. He earned the rank of first cadet at naval school, and in 1937 he set off on his first voyage on the ship Sagres, visiting Africa, Brazil, and the Canary Islands. For unknown reasons, he was discharged suddenly in 1938.
Although his discharge was traumatic, 1938 was a productive year for Sena, who wrote 256 poems, started a novel, and completed a one-act comic play. He returned to school in late 1938, graduating in 1940 and enrolling in an engineering program in Porto, Portugal. There, he began working on the influential literary journal, Cadernos de Poesia, and met Maria Mécia de Freitas Lopes, whom he would marry in 1949. In 1939, he published his first poem in the university paper using the pseudonym Teles de Abreu, a pen name he used until 1942. Sena served in the military from 1942 until 1943 and earned his engineering degree in 1944.
In 1941, he began giving public lectures on literature and earned a reputation as a well-informed and interesting speaker. In 1942, he published his first book of poetry, and the following year he became a literary reviewer for the Lisbon newspaper, Diário Popular, eventually reviewing film, music, and theater.
In the late 1940’s, as the regular income from his engineering work gave him and his wife stability and opportunities to travel, he began to solidify his reputation as a significant literary figure. He published his third book of poetry in 1950 and became a respected translator, noted for his unusual interest in American literature.
Sena was always quietly associated with the opposition to the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, and he took part in a thwarted 1959 coup. Shortly thereafter, he exiled himself and his family in Brazil in order to escape government punishment. In Brazil, he taught at the University of Assis until 1961, when he moved to Araraquara to teach Portuguese literature. He took full advantage of Brazil’s intellectual freedom and wrote extensively, including essays opposing the Portuguese government for the Brazil-based newspaper, Portugal Democrático. Banned from Portugal in 1962, he became a Brazilian citizen but always insisted he was a Portuguese writer.
Disturbed and threatened by Brazil’s 1964 coup, Sena moved to the United States and accepted a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Although Portugal lifted his exile in 1968 and he returned as a visitor, Sena stayed in the United States. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1970, becoming head of the Spanish and Portuguese department and the interdepartmental program in comparative literature in 1974.
In 1977, he received the Portuguese Order of Infante D. Henrique and the Italian Etna-Taormina Poetry International Prize. The following year, three days after he learned he was awarded the Order of Santiago de Espada, he died of lung cancer in Santa Barbara, survived by his wife and nine children.