The recent boom in translations of Antônio José da Silva, o judeu

This article examines a curious phenomenon: the appearance of six translations of works by the eighteenth-century Portuguese comic playwright Antônio José da Silva during the last twenty-two years, when there had been virtually no translations of his works in the previous two and a half centuries. The article examines various possible explanations; it offers no firm conclusions, but suggests some possibilities for further study.