Reflexões de Edmund Burke por Silva Lisboa: Nem tudo é o que parece ser

Abstract

In general, the work entitled Extracts from the Political and Economic Works of Edmund Burke, published in 1812 by Imprensa Régia, in Rio de Janeiro, written by the illustrious Bahian, José da Silva Lisboa, the future Viscount of Cairu, is generally considered as being the first translation of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France into Portuguese. This work, made at the suggestion of D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho due to the Portuguese Crown's interest in the counter-revolutionary content of Burke's work in the face of Napoleon Bonaparte's advances in Europe, is also made up of other texts by the Irish politician produced in his last years of life. Two editions of this new work by Silva Lisboa were known, those from 1812 and 1822. However, in 2018, a second edition was discovered published by the same Typographia Viúva Neves & Filhos, from Lisbon, in 1821. It was noted that both “second” Portuguese editions presented a reduction compared to the original content of 1812, motivating a reevaluation of these. It was then proposed to analyze the three editions of Silva Lisboa's work, compared with each other and with Burke's originals, aiming at a better understanding of the content published in Brazil and Portugal. The main objective, however, was to identify whether there was a translation, an adaptation or a re-reading of the original texts, adjusting them to the reality of the Portuguese monarchy in that difficult political moment.