Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage is considered to be the most representative Portuguese writer of the eighteenth century, standing out in a period in which Portuguese literature is renowned for its otherwise poor performances. For some, Bocage is the greatest Portuguese poet after Luís de Camões and Fernando Pessoa. Known for his poetry and translations, he was one of the most popular writers of his generation, particularly appreciated for his satiric and erotic poems and, above all, for the anecdotes that circulated about him, the majority of which were false or apocryphal.

Bocage's years spent as a "bohemian" inhabitant of Lisbon also contributed to his rakish image, which evolved over the years to the point of becoming, in the 1970s, a symbol of the defense of freedom. He is considered as the author of, on the one hand, the most consummate expression of the...