Portuguese literature
the _Jornal do Commercio_ of Rio de Janeiro in 1892 his _A Inglaterra
de hoje_ (1893); Eça de Queiroz showed a deeper acquaintance with
England in his _Cartas de Inglaterra_ (1905). Snr. WENCESLAU JOSÉ DE
SOUSA MORAES (born in 1854), sometimes called the Portuguese Pierre
Loti, has skilfully described China and Japan in _Traços do Extremo
Oriente_ (1905), _Paisagens da China e do Japão_ (1906), and _Cartas do
Japão_ (three series, 1904-7). In a letter in French at the end of his
_Traços_ he says: _J’ai dit ce que je pensais, naïvement, au gré de mes
souvenirs._
Snr. MANUEL TEIXEIRA GOMES, versatile and gifted, traveller,
diplomatist (Portuguese Minister at the Court of St. James), and
author, is essentially an artist. With a clear, coloured, liquid style
he excels in painting the blue seas, transparent air, and sun-burnt
soil of Algarve in _Agosto Azul_ (1904). His pagan and unconventional
art has the power of impressing incidents on the mind, as of giving
sharp relief to fantastic persons such as the Canon and his three
witless sisters in _Gente Singular_ (1909), the Danish literary lady
in _Inventario de Junho_ (1899), or the avaricious Dona Maria and the
inane Minister of _Sabina Freire_ (1905). This ‘comedy in three acts’
contains sufficient shrewdness, humour, and clever characterization
for a long novel instead of a short play. The tiny volumes _Tristia_
(1893) and _Alem_ (1895) by Snr. ANTERO DE FIGUEIREDO (born in 1867)
were notable for their style, and in other works, _Partindo da Terra_
(1897), the passionate letters of _Doida de Amor_ (1910), the novel
_Comicos_ (1908), and the fascinating historical studies _D. Pedro
e D. Inês_ (1913) and _Leonor Teles, Flor de Altura_ (1916), his
prose maintains a restraint and charm which place him among the best
stylists of the day. One of the noblest qualities of this prose is its
precision, the scrupulous use of the right word, common or archaic.
It is the more disconcerting to find good Portuguese words such as
_estação_, _hospedaria_, _comodo_, _bondade_ ousted by _gare_, _hôtel_,
_confortavel_, _bonomia_. But these are only occasional blemishes in
a style of rare distinction. It can paint a whole scene in a brief
sentence, as _os milheiraes amarellecem-se caladamente_. This power of
description gives excellence to his _Recordações e Viagens_ (1905),
whether the recollections be of Minho or of _uma aldeia espiritual_ in
Italy. It is really as a writer of short sketches and essays that he
excels. In _Senhora do Amparo_ (1920) and especially in the seventeen
sketches of _Jornadas de Portugal_ (1918) skill in the choice of
indigenous words gives a forcible and original poetry to glowing
descriptions redolent of the soil.
D. MARIA AMALIA VAZ DE CARVALHO (1847-1921) collaborated with her
husband, the poet Gonçalves Crespo, in _Contos para os nossos filhos_,
and in _Serões no Campo_ (1877), three stories, in one of which, _A
Engeitada_, one may perhaps see reminiscences of Julio Diniz’ _A Casa
Mourisca_, and _Contos e Phantasias_ (1880) treated slight themes with
a delicate charm. But she is less well known as writer of _contos_ or
as poet, in _Vozes do Ermo_ (1876), than as the author of a notable
historical biography, _Vida do Duque de Palmella_ (1898-1903), and
of critical essays on Portuguese and foreign literatures. In the
latter the English predominates, but French, German, and Italian,
as in _Arabescos_ (1880), are not forgotten. The sane judgement,
sympathy, and insight of _Alguns homens do meu tempo_ (1889), _Figuras
de Hoje e de Hontem_ (1902), _Cerebros e Corações_ (1903), _No Meu
Cantinho_ (1909), _Coisas de Agora_ (1913), and other volumes have been
appreciated by countless readers in Portugal and Brazil. A writer who
likewise combines literary and historical criticism with original work
in verse (_Poemetos_, 1882) and prose is the CONDE DE SABUGOSA (born in
1854), skilful and delicate reconstructor of the past in _Embrechados_
(1908), _Donas de Tempos Idos_ (1912), _Gente d’Algo_ (1915), _Neves
de Antanho_ (1919), and _A Rainha D. Leonor_ (1921), who collaborated
with another stylist, the CONDE DE ARNOSO[691] (1856-1911), author of
_Azulejos_ (1886), in the volume of _contos_ entitled _De braço dado_
(1894). His historical portraits are full of life and charm, painted in
the warm colours of knowledge and emotion.
If we except D. Maria Amalia Vaz de Carvalho, the literary achievement
of women in Portugal in recent years has not been remarkable. Like D.
CLAUDIA DE CAMPOS, author of the novels _Elle_ (1898) and _A Esfinge_
and short stories, D. ALICE PESTANA (_Caiel_) has cultivated with
success both the novel, as in _Desgarrada_ (1902), and the _conto_, as
in _De Longe_ (1904), which contains stories of familiar life written
with sincerity and truth. If D. ANNA DE CASTRO OSORIO’S _Ambições_
(1903) gives the impression rather of a series of scenes than of a
long novel, in her short stories _Infelizes_ (1898)--especially _A
Terra_--and _Quatro Novelas_ (1908) she ably describes common family
life in town or country, or (in _A Sacrificada_) the lives, past and
present, of aged nuns in a dwindling convent. D. VIRGINIA DE CASTRO E
ALMEIDA has written two novels concerning the development of the soil
in Alentejo: _Terra Bemdita_ (1907) and _Trabalho Bemdito_ (1908).[692]
They are frankly novels with a thesis to prove, but contain so much
vigour and zest of living that they stand out from other more futile or
anaemic novels of contemporary Portugal.
The growing prominence of the _conto_ is felt in the work of Castello
Branco, Eça de Queiroz, Teixeira de Queiroz, Snr. Jaime de Magalhães
Lima (_Via Redemptora_, 1905, _Apostolos da Terra_, 1906, _Vozes
do Meu Lar_, 1912), and many other novelists. JULIO CESAR MACHADO
(1835-90) showed talent in _Contos ao luar_ (1861), _Scenas da minha
terra_ (1862), _Quadros do campo e da cidade_ (1868), _Á Lareira_
(1872). His skill in the description of rustic scenes would have been
more convincing had he not thought it necessary to introduce touches
of extraneous elegance and humour into his very real love of the
country, so that the patent leather boot is ever appearing among the
_tamancos_ in these light humorous sketches and romantic tales. As
slight but perhaps more natural are the _Contos do Tio Joaquim_ (1861)
by RODRIGO PAGANINO (1835-63); the pleasant stories of village life,
_Contos_ (1874) and _Serões de Inverno_ (1880), written by CARLOS LOPES
(born in 1842) under the pseudonym PEDRO IVO; and _Contos_ (1894)
and _Azul e Negro_[693] (1897) by Afonso Botelho. The poet AUGUSTO
SARMENTO (born in 1835) also wrote stories of village life, _Contos do
Soalheiro_ (1876), but stories _à thèse_, treating of emigration and
other _minhoto_ evils, among which he includes _beatas_, witches, and
_brasileiros de torna-viagem_. A writer of _contos_ as disappointing
as Machado is ALBERTO BRAGA (1851-1911). He has a sense of style
and technique, and some of his tales, especially _O Engeitado_, are
pathetic, but after reading his _Contos da minha lavra_ (1879), _Contos
de aldeia_, _Contos Escolhidos_ (1892), _Novos Contos_, one has the
perhaps somewhat unfair impression that they are mainly concerned
with _viscondessas_ and canaries. The learned Conde de Ficalho in
_Uma Eleição Perdida_ (1888) evidently relates his own experiences,
and this and the five accompanying _contos_ contain some charming
descriptions of Alentejo, of the _reisinho cacique_ Lopes, Paschoal
the _passarinheiro_, the gossips of the village _botica_, the girls
carrying _bilhas_, the scent of rosemary in morning dew. The same
province supplies the background of the work of JOSÉ VALENTIM FIALHO
DE ALMEIDA (1857-1912). Born at Villa de Frades, the son of a village
schoolmaster, he spent seven years sadly against the grain as chemist’s
assistant before he was able to turn more exclusively to literature.
No recent writer has had a greater vogue in Portugal. One must account
for this by the fact that in the somewhat nerveless literature of
the day he showed a virile and often brutal colour and energy. A few
descriptions of Alentejo gave interest to his _Contos_ (1881) and _A
Cidade do Vicio_ (1882), an interest strengthened in _O Paiz das Uvas_
(1893). This collection of naturalistic stories of great variety and
very unequal merit is, indeed, redeemed by the author’s love for his
native province. He sometimes obtains powerful effects when his subject
is the wide spaces, the night silences, or the summer drought and
midday zinc-coloured sky of Alentejo. The shepherdess with her distaff,
the village crier, the small proprietor, the harvesters with their
week’s provision of coarse bread, goat’s cheese, and olives, toiling in
a temperature of 122 degrees, appear in his stories. His art is wholly
external. One need not have complained of his lack of psychology had he
been able to express what he saw in good Portuguese prose. But if we
turn to his style we find uncouth constructions, the constant use of
French words, and worse still, French words disguised as Portuguese:
_deboche_, _coquettemente_, _crayonar_. This is the more pity because,
had he written in Portuguese, he might have left robust pictures of
the Alentejan peasant’s life in its grim reality which would have been
read with pleasure. A sober and fastidious style, sometimes recalling
that of the Spanish essayist Azorín, marks the _Contos_ (1900) of
the dramatist D. João da Camara. The clear etching of the blind man
and his grandson going through the streets on Christmas Eve in _As
Estrellas do Cego_ and, especially, the poignant sketch of the ruined
old scholar _fidalgo_ in _O Paquete_ show admirably what a skilful
craftsman can make of the slightest of themes. This is true to an even
greater degree of the best of all the Portuguese _contistas_, JOSÉ
FRANCISCO DE TRINDADE COELHO (1861-1908). His _contos_ collected under
the title _Os Meus Amores_ (1891), natural and deeply felt scenes
of peasant life, are all marked by an exceptional delicacy of style
and by a most alluring freshness and simplicity. The tinkling of the
bells of flocks, the thin blue smoke above the roofs, the evening
mists, the flight of doves are in these pages. And the peasants are
treated with the same sympathetic insight as their surroundings, the
women singing at their work in the fields, the olive-gatherers at
supper in the great farm kitchen; vintage and harvest, tragedy and
idyll. The sympathy is extended to the animals, donkey (_Sultão_),
goat (_Mãe_), and hen (_A Choca_). The _saudade_ of peasant soldiers
for the land in _Terra-Mater_ gives an opportunity for describing the
life of the peasants with its hardy toil and many simple pleasures.
In _Á Lareira_, the longest of these stories, a rustic _serão_ of
peasants _ao borralho_ is pleasantly drawn out with quatrains, riddles,
anecdotes, fairy-tales, only interrupted by the ringing of the angelus
for the saying of prayer on prayer. Two little masterpieces stand
somewhat apart from the rest: _Abyssus Abyssum_, the tragic story of
two small boys, brothers, rowing to overtake the evening star, and
_Idyllio Rustico_, which with its two ingenuous little shepherds and
their flocks of sheep in the lonely places might almost be a chapter
from Don Ramón María del Valle Inclán’s _Flor de Santidad_ (1904). _Os
Meus Amores_ shows realism at its best, that is to say, hand in hand
with idealism. The author is not so enamoured of his delightful style
that he does not make the peasants speak their natural language, and
although he realizes keenly and expresses the poetry of their life, he
never sacrifices truth to this perception any more than to the strange
and essentially false propensities of the naturalistic school, nor