Template:Did you know nominations/New Portuguese Letters

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 18:26, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

New Portuguese Letters

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• Article history

)

• ... that the book New Portuguese Letters was banned after publication in Portugal in 1972, and its authors charged with offending public morals, leading to international protests by feminists? Source: "Three Portuguese women writers, each named Maria, have gone on trial in Lisbon on charges of offending "public morals and good customs" with a book they have produced. Their trial has aroused protests in Europe, Britain and the US in what has been labelled as the first international action of the modern feminist movement. ..... Published in Aprli [sic], 1972, the "New Portuguese Letters" was seized and banned by the Portuguese political police after two thirds of its printing of 3,000 had been sold." ('Three Marias on trial', by Frances McLean, The Sydney Morning Herald 15 December 1973, p. 13.)
  • ALT1:... that when the first English translation of New Portuguese Letters was published a year after its authors were acquitted of offending public morals, some reviewers found it clichéd and tedious? Source: "The trial of the "Three Marias" was widely reported here but their book has been a long time coming. ... In Spring 1972 the authors authors were arrested on charges of indecency, and an international campaign was set up for their release. In Spring 1974, after the coup, the case against them was abruptly terminated ... The poetry is certainly the weakest part of the book. The prose, too, labours under cliché" ('The Three Marias revived', by Judy Cooke. The Daily Telegraph, London, England, 2 October 1975, p. 12); and "their book is tedious" ('The Three Marias', by Jane Kramer, The New York Times, 2 February 1975 [1])
  • ALT2:... that when the book New Portuguese Letters was banned after publication in Portugal in 1972, its authors smuggled a copy to feminists in France? Soon after its publication in 1972, the censors of the Portuguese right-wing regime banned the book. Its authors faced jail terms of up to two years for “outrage to public decency” and “abuse of the freedom of the press.” ... Wishing to denounce the injustices they were experiencing, the authors smuggled their book to France, addressing it to the editors of three feminists whose work they were acquainted with and admired: Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras, and Christiane Rochefort. (Dias Martins, Ana Margarida (Spring 2012). "Novas Cartas Portuguesas: The Making of a Reputation". Journal of Feminist Scholarship. 2 (2): 28. [2])

• Reviewed: (This is my second DYK nomination, so none needed yet)
• Comment: No doubt other hooks would be possible too, this is a fascinating story.

Created/expanded by RebeccaGreen (talk). Self-nominated at 15:24, 21 July 2019 (UTC).

Rebecca I am going to review this. Please begin thinking about a third hook, focused on the ban, and mentioning the three Marias. Please wait with entering it here to spare me an edit conflict ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:24, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

Substantial article on excellent sources, used abundently, Portuguese and offline sources accepted AGF, o copyvio obvious. As said above, I'm not happy with any of the hooks, as too wordy, and clearly saying it's about women having a voice. I also like "intended their new work as a direct challenge to the censors". Please consider. I could make a suggestion, but then we would need a different reviewer. - I have a few suggestions for the article, which you can follow or not. I'll approve anyway once we can agree on a hook or two.

1. How do you feel about an infobox? (look at other books such as And Who Will Make the Chapatis?)  Done
2. Could we find better section headers than "The work" and "Theoretical reception"?  Done
3. "combines letters, essays, poems, fragments, puzzles and excerpts from legal documents" - I think we should have that in the lead.  Done
4. Not sure I understand what "in various order" means.  Done, changed
5. same for the "to and from" in "The three Marias write to and from the Marianas, Marias, Anas and Chevaliers" - possibley a sentence better split in two?  Done changed to "to and as", deleted Chevaliers and moved "lovers" to the next sentence.
6. "the original Mariana" - I had to think what that means, and only then remembered the nun.  Done, added Sister
7. in the Macedo quote, something is missing.  Done, I've changed it, I hope it is clearer now - it is the subject which is constantly changing ...

Another hint: some of the scholars mentioned may have articles in the pt-WP, in which case you can link to there by {{ill}}. Thank you for the article! Your turn now to write a hook below, - please don't change the ones above unless for typos. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:13, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

Thank you very much, @Gerda Arendt:, I will think about other hooks, and also look at your suggestions with regard to the article. (Some of the clumsy wording perhaps comes from the original Portuguese, but some is definitely mine! so I will try to improve it.) Thanks too for the info about how to link to pt-WP articles. I'll check what's there. RebeccaGreen (talk) 12:20, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

Fine. I'm no native speaker, so may see lack of clarity where nobody else sees it. - Please check out my talk and look for "Floq" who is the person on Wikipedia I trust most. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:29, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

How about one of these (or a variant of them):

ALT3a: ... that the Three Marias wrote New Portuguese Letters as a direct challenge to Portuguese censors, and when it was published, they were arrested and the book was banned?

ALT3b: ... that when the Three Marias published New Portuguese Letters as a direct challenge to Portuguese censors, they were arrested and the book was banned?

ALT3c: that when the Three Marias published New Portuguese Letters as a direct challenge to Portuguese censors, they were arrested and the book was banned, leading to international protests?

No, I am sure some of the wording in the article could be improved! I will work on it - or perhaps others will too. RebeccaGreen (talk) 12:48, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

I approve two, and the prep builder can choose, or you can come with more. I like ALT3b best, but see that the international protests are worth mentioning. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:02, 29 July 2019 (UTC)