THELEME aims at developing research that will address all kinds of relationships between the artistic practices, in particular literature and other art forms, but will also focus on relationships between arts and sciences and the arts and culture. The Group is currently involved in two projects: “Interarts” project, of a more general nature, and “Tetra” project, which deals with specific issues. The former reflects upon the concept of art in general, taking into account the status and functions of art (and the arts), namely its aesthetic function, as well as intersemiotic links. The latter, in turn, tackles the characteristics of a specific art form – theatre – and its relations particularly with literature by means of translation, in order to contribute to a history of theatre translation in Portugal and ultimately of theatre practice and reception in Portugal.
The Group’s current activities include organizing conferences – some of them as joint ventures with other institutions – on topics relevant to the field and leading to the publication of the proceedings, critical editions of previously unpublished texts, publication of collections of essays and of music CDs. We will also develop and update an on-line database in which all the information gathered will be available from the inception of the project on theatre translation.
The main objectives for this project are to publish two forthcoming books: Kelly Basílio (ed.). [forthcoming]. «Romances de Alcácer Quibir». Vol. 12, «ACT», coordinated by H. Buescu and J. F. Duarte. Lisbon: Colibri; Kelly Basílio and Helena Buescu (eds). [forthcoming]. «Poesia e arte. A Arte da poesia (Para Manuel Gusmão)». Lisbon: Caminho. At the same time, we wish to set up a new thematic line of research on “Naturalism(s)”. It aims at revisiting the concept of “naturalism” from a double perspective: across discourses, allowing for a study of the link-ups between literature, the arts, science, and philosophy, and across history, from Antiquity to our time. It is expected that the outcome of the project’s activities will include a collection of essays in the series of textbooks that started out with "A Floresta Encantada" and "Concerto das Artes", and the organization of a conference plus the publication of the Proceedings.
