Repensar o Quinto Império a partir de Eduardo Lourenço e Fernando Pessoa

We rethink one of the most prominent identity myths in Portuguese culture – the Fifth Empire – starting from Eduardo Lourenço’s interpretation of national mythology and Pessoa’s contribution to it, and revisiting Pessoa’s theory of the Fifth Empire from there. In critical dialogue with the two authors, and exploring the narrative and imagery of its biblical textual source, we propose a multidimensional reading of the fifth imperial theme that results in a profound transformation of the way it is considered, in which the appropriateness of the very designation ‘Empire’ is questioned. A trans-imperial thought of the Fifth Empire responds to the challenge, formulated by Pessoa and Lourenço, of reinventing a new meaning for Portuguese culture and nation.