24 de Setembro de 2019.
Há 240 milhões de anos separou-se do mega continente Gondwana; há 100 milhões de anos começou a colidir contra o sul do continente europeu. Quebrou-se e afundou-se. Restam apenas algumas rochas à superfície para contar a sua história. Depois de uma longa viagem pela história geológica da região do Mediterrâneo, uma equipa de investigadores conseguiu descobrir um continente “perdido”, actualmente enterrado sob os pés do Sul da Europa. Foi baptizado “Grande Adria” e, há 140 milhões de anos, tinha o tamanho da Gronelândia. Disponibilizado online no início deste mês pela revista científica Gondwana Research, este é o resultado de mais de dez anos de estudo de uma equipa formada por investigadores de vários países. Foi uma “grande quantidade de trabalho”, […]
23 de Setembro de 2019.
How can we ensure the future of the European Project in the coming decades? Firstly, I doubt that there will be a European Project for my grandchildren (if I have any at all?) The problem is divided into certain reasons of why there might not be a future. If I were to have grandchildren and they were British citizens (unless I marry a someone from the EU 27 or if my children marry someone from the EU) then I do not think they will have access to European Citizenship. Brexit is the reason for this. My grandchildren would not be concerned necessarily with the European project because I believe that the UK by my estimations and how things are going […]
21 de Setembro de 2019.
Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’. So said Robert Schuman in his famous declaration, launching the European integration project on 9 May 1950. Almost 70 years on, his words are as true as ever. The solidarity between Europe’s people and nations must constantly be adapted to deal with the new challenges posed by a changing world. What can I do for the future of the European Union to survive and grow in the coming decades? What can I do, as a member and citizen of the European Union that at the time of emerging denominations such as the […]
20 de Setembro de 2019.
A Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro (LPCC) está a angariar voluntários. A LPCC é uma organização da sociedade civil com vários objetivos dirigidos para a problemática da doença oncológica. A efetividade da sua ação advém, por um lado, da fundamental acção do seu Voluntariado, que intervém quer na comunidade, quer na humanização da assistência ao doente oncológico e, por outro, das contribuições recebidas através de donativos que permitem custear os aspectos materiais de apoio ao doente e o desenvolvimento das iniciativas de promoção da saúde e de prevenção da doença. Junte-se a esta causa, tornando-a maior e mais abrangente, no objectivo de fazer da luta contra o cancro um exemplo nacional de entreajuda e de solidariedade. Realize a sua inscrição para […]
19 de Setembro de 2019.
With Brexit, the refugees all over Europe and the climate change big things are happening as I write. The next Elections to the European Parliament are held from the 23rd till the 26th of May 2019. Especially, at the moment it is really important to go voting. To create a Europe where we would like to see our grandchildren grow it is urgent to go to these elections. But not only vote which is an important task what everyone of us should to, but also to start thinking about the environment. People of Europe have one of the biggest ecological footprints all over the world. Something, what we shouldn’t be proud of. It would not be hard to reduce that! […]
17 de Setembro de 2019.
An underestimated and too little appreciated German author. Wolfgang Koeppen was born in 1906, in a small city called Greifswald. Having a restless childhood in terms of many relocations, he quit school before graduating because of financial reasons. This, however, didn’t keep him from secretly visiting lectures at the university, especially concerning German philology. Although wanting to be a director, he ended up being a prompter, usher, and actor. Just as dramatic as his life has been proceeding, so was the situation in Germany. Having lived through two World Wars, Koeppen must have seen a lot of brutality and inhumanity. He manages, like nobody else, to process his emotions about these happenings in a trilogy of novels. The first of […]
15 de Setembro de 2019.
Robert Burns his country’s most influential and celebrated writer. Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, in 1759, he was the eldest of seven children. He was raised in poverty and the difficult farming lifestyle took a toll on his physical health. Despite his poverty, he still gained an education through his father, a local minister and eventually, he was sent to a school for three days a week. After farming for years he began writing and wrote some of the most famous poems in Scot’s language. He died in 1796. A poem of his I read in school at the age of 11, it is possibly his most famous, Tam O’Shanter. First published in 1791 it tells a story of man’s return […]
13 de Setembro de 2019.
A Polish writer of science fiction, philosopher and futurologist. Lem was born in Lviv to a family of a laryngologist. Between 1940 and 1941, after the occupation of Lviv by Soviet troops, he was not allowed to study at Lviv Polytechnic, as he wished, and due to his father’s connections was accepted to study medicine at the Lviv Medical Institute. In 1946 Lviv was no longer on Polish soil and Lem, like many other Poles, was resettled to Krakow where he took up medical studies at the Jagiellonian University. He received a certificate of completion of studies, nonetheless refused to take the final exams in order to avoid obligatory military service. Lem made his literary debut in 1946 with a […]
11 de Setembro de 2019.
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was a French writer from the 18th century. His masterwork is the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, published in 1782. Today, there are several cinematographic adaptations of the book. For a long time considered as scandalous and immoral, the novel was until recently read behind closed doors. It deals with the libertine sexuality of two nobles, la Marquise de Merteuil et le Marquis Valmont, in the time of the coming Revolution. Scholars often highlight how common and ‘normal’ was the life of Laclos. He was a good husband, a good father, and a successful officer. So, a lot of questions abound about how he could have written such an audacious and blazing novel and how paradoxical […]
9 de Setembro de 2019.
A prolific observationalist of the changing nature of the early 20th Century. George Orwell, whose real name is Eric Arthur Blair was born in India in 1903. He was the son of a lower civil servant who was serving in India. As a boy, he was very academic and was able to get into prestigious schools back in England. He joined the Imperial Police in Burma, but soon became disparaged as he realized how much the Burmese detested living under British rule. This experience would lead to him releasing one of his great novels, Burmese Days. After resigning from the police, Orwell went to immerse himself with the lower classes in Paris and London working as a dishwasher and picking […]
4 de Junho de 2018.
Sé parish is considered to be the second oldest quarter in Funchal. The Sé parish is located between the Cathedral and Ribeiro de João Gomes, the area where the sugar merchants settled in the 15th century. The constructions of the Cathedral started 1493 by the orders of Duke Manuel of Beja and Viseu, who later became the King Manuel I of Portugal. It was built on a sugarcane field, which was donated by the soon-to-be king Manuel I. The Cathedral was finished in 1517. It is built with tufa stones, which were brought by boats from Cabo Girão. The street to the sea in front of the Cathedral, and also behind it, was made into waterways, so the boats could […]
25 de Maio de 2018.
Many of his publications were made into movies. The author Erich Kästner is well known for his various works, such as novels, poems and texts for cabarets. His story began in Dresden, where he was born in 1899. At the age of 18 he joined the German military to fight in the First World War and returned with severe heart problems. After leaving the military, he decided to go back to school and start university soon after. During that time he found his passion for writing. Kästner moved to Berlin and started publishing time critical and political satirical poems, of which the National Socialists did not approve. The Nazis burned several works of bourgeois moral, militarism and fascism but also […]
22 de Maio de 2018.
If you want the best Dutch literary work, try Harry Mulisch A while ago I was a little bored. Quite bored actually, so I decided that I wanted to read a book. However, I wanted to try and read something in Dutch because I noticed that being here in Madeira and only talking and reading English made me lose some of my Dutch vocabulary. At first I wanted to go back to one of my childhood favourites, ‘Crusade in jeans’, but I wanted to try something else and read a more ‘literary’ work to freshen up my language skills. Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch was the son of an Austrian-Hungarian father who worked with the Nazis and a German-Jewish mother and […]
18 de Maio de 2018.
One of his famous books is Le Petit Prince. Hey guys! After telling you my first impressions about the Island, then about food, after about a little bit of Flora and Fauna, in February we talked about History, and one of the Kings of Portugal. About March we’ll talk about one French author, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, and of course of one of his famous books, Le Petit Prince. Antoine de Saint Exupéry is a French aviator and writer. He wrote several books, but the most famous for children and even adults (no matter the age) is Le Petit Prince. He was born in Lyon on June 29th, 1900, and died in Marsilla (Marseille) on July 31st, 1944 (so he […]
15 de Maio de 2018.
Wolfgang Herrndorf is one of the greatest German writers. If I am asked to name the biggest German authors my first answer would definitely be Goethe and Schiller or Guenther Grass and Thomas Mann because they are the big names you hear when there is a conversation about German literature. But to be honest all I know about these authors is that they are great German authors. From all of what their works I just read one book in school because it was mandatory. So I searched on the internet for famous German authors and found out that the most of them are strangers to me and from the generation of my great-grandparents or older. For that reason, I decided […]
8 de Maio de 2018.
Personally, I think this book is really important for us as Dutch people. This story about Saidjah and Adinda is of course ´just´ a made up story. But it might help you understand how things went in the Dutch East Indies in the 19th century. Natives were heavily mistreated by the Dutch, and lots of people in the Netherlands didn´t even know that. Saidjah, six years old, lived with his family and brothers in Lebak (Dutch East Indies). One day, the buffalo which is a good friend of Saidjah was taken from the family. This buffalo was really important for them because it helped them farming, and therefore also surviving. They bought a new one, it was taken away again, […]