Eça de Queirós was one of the most important writers of Portuguese realism and is considered the greatest representative of realist prose in the Portuguese language.
In addition to being a writer, he also worked as a journalist and lawyer.
Biography
José Maria de Eça de Queirós was born on November 25, 1845 in Póvoa do Varzim, a city located in the north of Portugal.
He was the son of Brazilian José Maria Teixeira de Queiroz and Portuguese Carolina Augusta Pereira de Eça.
He spent much of his childhood in the city of Aveiro under the care of his grandmother. Later, he moved to Porto to study at the Colégio Interno da Lapa, from which he graduated in 1861.
He followed in the footsteps of his father (Magistrate and Par of the Kingdom) and went to study law at the University of Coimbra, graduating in 1866.
He even worked as a lawyer and, later, as a journalist in the city of Lisbon.
In addition, he entered a political career being appointed Administrator of the Municipality of Leiria (1870); Consul of Portugal in Havana (1872); Consul of Newcastle and Bristol in England (1874); and Consul of Portugal in Paris (1888).
In Paris, in 1886, he married Emília de Castro Pamplona Resende, with whom he had four children: Alberto, Antônio, Maria and José Maria. He died on August 16, 1900 in Paris, at the age of 59.
Characteristics of the Works
Eça de Queirós was an innovator of Portuguese realist prose by creating new forms of language, neologisms and changes in syntax.
He received great literary influence from the French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), moving away from classical models.
In general, his works address simple and everyday themes, which are permeated with irony, humor and, from time to time, pessimism and social criticism.
It is worth remembering that the beginning of Realism in Portugal was marked by the publication of the novel “The Crime of Father Amaro”, in 1875.
By moving away from romantic idealism, Eça de Queirós harshly criticizes the values of the Portuguese bourgeoisie and the corruption of the Church.
Later, Eça wrote several novels in which he emphasized the question of the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie combined with the psychological analysis of the characters.
A notorious example is in his best-known work “the cousin basil”, published in 1878.
Learn more about realistic movement by reading the articles:
- realism in Portugal
- Realism in Brazil
- Characteristics of Realism
- Realistic Prose
- realism and naturalism
Main Works
- The Mystery of the Sintra Road (1870)
- The Crime of Father Amaro (1875)
- The Tragedy of Rua das Flores (1877-78)
- the cousin basil (1878)
- The Mandarin (1880)
- The Relic (1887)
- The Mayans (1888)
- A Joyful Campaign (1890-91)
- The Treasury (1893)
- The Aia (1894)
- Adam and Eve in Paradise (1897)
- Correspondence by Fradique Mendes (1900)
- The Illustrious House of Ramires (1900)
- The City and the Mountains (1901, posthumous)
Sentences
- “When you don't have what you like, you need to like what you have.”
- “There was a philosopher who left this maxim to the unfortunate: If your pain afflicts you, make it a poem.”
- “Politicians and diapers must be changed from time to time for the same reason.”
- “The eternal love is the impossible love. Possible loves begin to die the day they materialize.”
- “Anyone who does not know the power of prayer is because he has not lived the bitterness of life!”
- “Curiosity: an instinct that leads some to look through the keyhole, and others to discover America.”
