Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This dissertation aims mainly to make a comparative study of the renaissance and baroque aesthetic resources in epics, using, therefore, The Lusiads (1572), which is a heroic poem on the Portuguese maritime expansion, and Paradise Lost (1667), by John Milton, better known and studied as a protestant humanist epic about the fall of the first human couple. The main theoretical basis for this study is the formulations of Gilbert Highet (1954), Anazildo Vasconcelos da Silva (1984, 1987, 2007) and Christina Ramalho (2013) on the epic genre and the classical tradition. There were also major contributions to this work: Joaquim Nabuco (1872), Bowra (1950), Metzer and Coogan (2002) and Saraiva and Lopes (2010). The aspect of comparison between the works is the permanence of classical mythology in the literary plan of the works. Therefore, it was adopted Hesiod (1995, 1996) as a mythographic source, because of the educational intentions of his works. The Lusiads are considered, according to the theory of literary speech and semiotization of Anazildo Vasconcelos da Silva, a renaissance epic and, thus it contains the reference to authors, works and pagan mythology present in the classic epic model (Iliad, Odyssey), besides the balance between thought and emotion and the formulation of universalizing concepts. While Paradise Lost is understood as a work of baroque epic model, which proposes the projection of the poetic persona in the narrative, the narrator as agent of the character subjective logic and sentimentalization of the epic proposition. Although, both have what Gilbert Highet calls classic influence. In other words, they are impregnated by classical thought, whose presence in the body of the poems varies in strength, importance and penetration. Consequently, this research will specifically treat the ways how the classic influence manifests in Camões and John Milton epics. / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal fazer um estudo comparado dos recursos estéticos em épicos renascentistas e barrocos, utilizando-se, para tanto, das obras Os Lusíadas (1572), poema heroico de Camões sobre a expansão marítima portuguesa, e Paraíso Perdido (1667), de John Milton, mais conhecida e estudada como uma epopeia humanista protestante sobre a queda do primeiro casal humano. A base teórica principal para esse estudo são as formulações de Gilbert Highet (1954), Anazildo Vasconcelos da Silva (1984, 1987, 2007) e Christina Ramalho (2013) a respeito do gênero épico e a tradição clássica. Também foram contribuições importantes: Joaquim Nabuco (1872), Bowra (1950), Metzer e Coogan (2002) e Saraiva e Lopes (2010). O aspecto de comparação entre as epopeias da era moderna é a permanência da mitologia clássica no plano literário das obras. Para tanto, adotou-se Hesíodo (1995, 1996) como fonte mitográfica, tendo vista as intenções didáticas de suas obras. Os Lusíadas é considerada, segundo a teoria da semiotização literária do discurso de Silva, uma epopeia renascentista e, portanto, apresenta referências a autores e obras e à mitologia pagã presentes no modelo épico clássico (Ilíada e Odisseia), além do equilíbrio entre pensamento e emoção e a elaboração de conceitos universalizantes. Já Paraíso Perdido é entendida como uma obra do modelo épico barroco, que propõe a projeção do eu-lírico no relato; o narrador como agente de uma lógica subjetiva do personagem e a sentimentalização da proposição épica. Contudo, ambas apresentam o que Gilbert Highet chama de influência clássica. Em outras palavras, são obras impregnadas pelo pensamento clássico, cuja presença no corpo dos poemas varia em força, importância e penetração. Por conseguinte, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo específico tratar dos modos como a influência clássica se manifesta nas epopeias de Camões e John Milton.

From the viewpoint of classical reception studies, I am asking what contemporary British art (by, for example, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, and Mark Wallinger) has to do with the classical tradition – both the art and literature of Greco-Roman antiquity. I have conducted face-to-face interviews with some of the leading artists working in Britain today, including Lucas, Hirst, Wallinger, Marc Quinn, and Gilbert & George. In addition to contemporary art, the thesis focuses on Greco-Roman art and on myths and modes of looking that have come to shape the western art historical tradition – seeking to offer a different perspective on them from that of the Renaissance and neoclassicism. The thesis concentrates on the generation of artists known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, who came to prominence in the 1990s. These artists are not renowned for their deference to the classical tradition, and are widely regarded as having turned their backs on classical art and its legacies. The introduction asks whether their work, which has received little scholarly attention, might be productively reassessed from the perspective of classical reception studies. It argues that while their work no longer subscribes to a traditional understanding of classical ‘influence’, it continues to depend – for its power and provocativeness – on classical concepts of figuration, realism, and the basic nature of art. Without claiming that the work of the YBAs is classical or classicizing, the thesis sets out to challenge the assumption that their work has nothing to do with ancient art, or that it fails to conform to ancient understandings of what art is. In order to do this, the thesis analyses contemporary works of art through three classical ‘lenses’. Each lens allows contemporary art to be examined in the context of a longer history. The first lens is the concept of realism, as seen in artistic and literary explorations of the relationship between art and life. This chapter uses the myth of Pygmalion’s statue as a way of thinking about contemporary art’s continued engagement with ideas of mimesis and the ‘real’ which were theorised and debated in antiquity. The second lens is corporeal fragmentation, as evidenced by the broken condition of ancient statues, the popular theme of dismemberment in western art, and the fragmentary body in contemporary art. The final chapter focuses on the figurative plaster cast, arguing that contemporary art continues to invoke and reinvent the long tradition of plaster reproductions of ancient statues and bodies. Through each of these ‘lenses’, I argue that contemporary art remains linked, both in form and meaning, to the classical past – often in ways which go beyond the stated intentions of an artist. Contemporary art continues to be informed by ideas and processes that were theorised and practised in the classical world; indeed, it is these ideas and processes that make it deserving of the art label.