O montado desmontado: Uma paisagem acontecendo do nascer da Lua ao pôr do Sol

Abstract

This paper intends an approach to the “montado” landscape of Alentejo based on perceptions, attitudes and values conveyed by literary representations. The aim is to articulate perspectives and experiences collected in literature with some theories of contemporary thought about nature and landscape. The “montado” cultural landscape is analysed from various points of view, in several literary excerpts of different authors, under different moments of the night/ day cycle. What we propose in this article is, therefore, a journey through literary perceptions of the “montado” as a lived space, as a place experienced and presented by writers and poets, a walk happening in the landscape as an aesthetic experience. From an initial collection of dozens of literary excerpts that mention the landscape of “montado”, we selected some excerpts (from the 19th century to the 21st) of Portuguese authors with some biographical link to Alentejo. Among the excerpts in which it is possible a geo-reference to the Alentejo territory, we chose those in which it is referred, explicitly or implicitly, the moment in the night/day cycle.