Eça de Queiroz

[Joe-Fagundes]

Does anyone else here likes this author? Along with Pessoa and Camões he is one of the best portuguese writers ever. He is a master in irony and satire. His views of all levels of portuguese society in the XIX century is stil very much up to date today. His best work is Os Maias, a story about three generations of a family, in which each men represented his own time artistic movement. It's a master piece.

 

[Stewart]

I've never read him but we do have a thread on Father Amaro's Crime.

 

[Occlith]

I think Stewart meant this link-

Eça de Queiroz: Father Amaro's Crime

 

[Heteronym]

Not my cup of tea, really. I prefer the modern Portuguese writers: Vergílio Ferreira, José Saramago, Agustina Bessa-Luís, etc. Apart from his short-story on Adam and Eve in Eden I haven't really enjoyed anything by him. The Maias was compulsory reading in school, but I read it without pleasure. And I never get past the initial pages whenever I try a new novel.

Naturalism doesn't appeal to me; seen from today it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, all that obsession with getting everything described right. Why did writers ever think they could compete with photography?!

His acute powers of observation made him better for article writing, which is why I really like his Letters from England: his thoughts on the world around him, when unburdened by his naturalist prose, make great chronicles.

He's recommend for anyone who like Zola, though.