Publications

A indócil liberdade de nomear analyses the satirical wordplay of names characteristic of medieval Galician-Portuguese troubadour poetry. Exploiting the obscene, derogatory potential of proper names, the poets of the Cantigas de escarnho e maldizer (‘Songs of Scorn and Mockery’) transformed interpretatio into damnatio to brilliantly parodial effect and directed it against a range of targets. Carlos Paulo Martínez Pereiro’s new study (complete with full poetry texts) illustrates the matchless imagination and insidiousness of the Galician troubadours’ response to the Shakespearean puzzle: ‘What’s in a name?’

A indócil liberdade de nomear was awarded the Espiral Maior Essay Prize in 1999.