"Bárbora escrava": Canon, beauty and color: An embarrassing contradiction

Abstract

Abstract: The Petrarchan literary canon revered white-skinned, fair-haired women, and this model held sway over all European literature. Camões respectfully followed it in most of his poetic works. However, he dedicated a poem, in which love is presented as an extremely gratifying experience, to a black slave, Bárbora, and it is usually considered among his most beautiful poems. The representation of beauty and happiness in Bárbora entails an association of problematic factors that has received a great deal of commentary throughout the centuries. This article focuses on these readings in the light of “mimicry” as conceived by Homi Bhabha.