Contraatircse

The timeless classic Portuguese author Teixeira de Queiroz (pseud. Bento Moreno) is now available in English for the very first time. This first ever translation of the author’s work by Philipe Pharo is a showcase anthology of short stories that unveils a long-overlooked literary gem, offering readers an insight at the rich tradition of Portuguese Literature and Culture.

My Death, the first story in this book, is most certainly an example of the existentialism wave, where a man looks into his illness and convalescence while trying to discern whether he fell to hell or raised to heaven.

The second story, Our Lord Jesus Christ, is a small travelogue which makes use of some religious irony, paving the way to a mysterious encounter.

As for the third story, The Blind Man from Guardiam, being the longest and perhaps one of the author’s best-known short stories, it talks about a common figure with much importance in Northern Portugal, the fiddler. The musician travels from village to village, and cities, where people always have great expectations about his presence in local festivities, in time he becomes incredibly famous and much appreciated, until one day his mastery is put to the test.

Finally, A King’s Oldness, is a story which might be considered a reflexion the same as My Death, with a different narrative point of view, and with a more materialistic approach to human mind and will, questioning the aristocratic hypocrisy and the true relevance of richness to one’s life.

In summary we can say that Teixeira de Queiroz had a very sharped interest in society, in its contradictions but also in its most ordinary culture, and these stories most surely prove it.

The Editor: Filipe Faro da Costa