Notes of research about the first “feminine epic” in Portuguese language

Abstract

This article presents some of the main characteristics of Memorial da Infancia de Christo e triumpho do divino amor, the first epic work published by a woman in Portuguese. In the first part of this work, Sister Soror Maria de Mesquita Pimentel, member of the Monastery of São Bento de Cástris in Évora, Portugal, wrote a peculiar epic work that followed the common contemporary imaginary and reflected her own cloistered and religious existence.