Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Portuguese Literature Challenge - Those matchless chiefs who from the shore of Western Lusitania began

To the left we see the poet Fernando Pessoa in his favorite spot in front of his favorite café (image purloined from Wiki) helping me launch the Wuthering Expectations Portuguese Literature Challenge.  A picture of Henry the Navigator might be more appropriate, as I think of it, but I do not plan to read anything by him.  Unless you decide otherwise.

The rules are essentially those of the litblogworld-famous Scottish Reading Challenge:

1.  You pick a book written in Portuguese before 1920 and available in English.

2.  You and I both read said book.

3.  Written discussion ensues.

4.  One change:  for poetry, forget the 1920 cutoff.  All Portuguese-language poetry available in English is fair game.

5.  One more:  Should there be a group readalong, separate from any one-on-one commitments?  I believe there should.  How about, sometime this winter, The Book of Disquiet by Pessoa.  I am again bending the 1920 rule here.

All other trivial logistic matters can be banged out later.  Leave a comment somewhere, email me at wutheringexpectations@gmail.com or, heaven help me, quack at me on Twitter, @AmateurReader.

Now, to an even greater degree than with the Scottish Challenge, curious readers might well wonder who or what, exactly, falls into the category of pre-1920 Portuguese etc.  Fair point.  The constraints are severe, excluding Saramago, Guimarães Rosa, and a surprising number of writers named Andrade.  If no one participates at all, I will likely limit my attention to three or four writers.  Machado de Assis, Eça de Queirós, Pessoa, Cunha – exciting, yes?  Yes?  Over the next two days, I will write up a list of possibilities for Portugal and another for Brazil.  Who knows what will look juicy.  These writers – I have been reading ahead – are plenty juicy.

I believe I will set a deadline of April 30, 2012, which is my guess about when I will be sated and sick of Portuguese literature.  Right now I am anything but.

The “why” question, a good one.  First, limited exposure to those writers has been promising; second, the scope of the challenge is manageable; third, literatures on the fringe of the Big International Canon are likely to have some unusual features; fourth, I want to go to Lisbon and Oporto.  I have been to Portugal, actually, but only to the paradisiacal Algarve region in the south.  The things we ate there.  What this has to do with books, I defer to Amateur Psychiatrists.

My title is a bit of the first line of The Lusiads of Luis de Camões, the national epic of Portugal, as translated by Leonard Bacon.

Update: A Portuguese book list. A Brazilian book list.

36 comments:

  1. I'm up for The Crime of Father Amaro (Portugal) or Quincas Borba (Brazil): your choice, since I'll be trying to read both anyway. The Pessoa readalong in all likelihood, too, although that one may depend on timing a bit. Sound like a plan, Amateur Reader and/or Tom?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will keep it simple and read "The Mirror" by Machado de Assis-it can be read in English online and is less than ten pages long-from about 1885, I think

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a coincidence: I was planning to suggest The Book of Disquiet as a Wolves read for 2012. But if you're having a readalong of it before then, I'll just hop on that bandwagon instead!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been wanting to get to The Lusiads and may do so before your cut-off. Before then, though, I hope to get to another book by Machado de Assis (Quincas Borba sounds good...thanks for the reminder Richard). And I still highly recommend The Relic by Eça de Queirós. May have to revisit it again and see if it holds up. I'll let you know once I come up for air and have time to read...

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fun idea for a challenge. Count me in - I'm sure I won't have any trouble enjoying this. I read Eça de Queirós' "The Maias" two years ago and loved it. It was directly responsible, in fact, for my choosing to go to Lisbon when a travel opportunity presented itself, and where I was fortunate enough to stay in the hotel claiming to be his (and "O Maias'") former home. What a fantastic city, too - the things you eat there indeed...).

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't know what I'm doing, and will wait for your lists (far more so than with the Scottish Literature Challenge), but am in like Flynn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, you already know I'm in for the Pessoa at the very least. I'm looking forward to your lists though. I may have to pick something else!

    We need more Real Challenges (TM) in the litblogworld. I especially like the idea of ones centered on secondary or tertiary national literatures. I still want to do our Guernsey thing too. Or is that quaternary?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm in, but am too lazy to seek on my own. Perhaps you could give me an appropriate book for Christmas?

    ReplyDelete
  9. What an extraordinary response. What good choices everyone is making, although the vast bulk of the not-so-good choices have never been translated.

    Richard - let's do Padre Amaro. Just let me know when you are more or less reading. It is not exactly short, but I suspect it has zipalongability.

    Emily - feel free to coordinate the Wolves reading with this one. The more the merrier, yes?

    mel - great choice. I just read that one, and it is has all sorts of interesting features.

    Dwight - just let me know.

    nicole - the nice thing about the Jersey and Guernsey Challenge is that there are only about three books. Plus the milk; that's also nice.

    seraillon - Really? You can stay in the house from The Maias? Really? I will do it, someday, I will.

    Jenny - good to hear, we shall see, and so on.

    SpSq - oh yes, my pleasure. I'll find a good'un.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hmmm, I'd really like to read an Eça de Queirós, as a good friend of mine wrote a book about him. I have no idea where to start, though, so if you choose one of the options mentioned above in the comments, I'll tag along.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I started Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha, but it looks rather imposing I stopped in the middle.

    I'm also inclined to read short stories by Machado de Assis. There are several of them collected in Oxford Anthology of the Brazilian Short Story. I just looked at the table of contents and the first part has a good selection from six writers in the Tropical Belle Époque (1880s-1921).

    ReplyDelete
  12. litlove - for readers familiar with the strain of French novel running Flaubert-Zola-Colette-Proust, and this is just based on The Maias, Eça de Queirós is fascinating, a flawless French novelist who happens to be writing about Portugal. Familiar yet strange.

    Let's plan on The Crime of Padre Amaro, but feel free to change your mind if something else sounds good, schedules change, etc.

    Rise - I think you're right about Cunha! I'll take a run at him myself & see what happens. Reading from that anthology is an excellent idea - a serious selection of Machado de Assis, and then a number of who-are-theys?

    ReplyDelete
  13. AR - Yes, you really can stay in the house from "Os Maias" (not "O Maias," what was I thinking?). Well, you can sort of stay there. I mean, the hotel admitted that it's essentially been rebuilt. But it does capture something of the atmosphere of the book, and one can imagine. There's a fantastic study on the top floor with a terrace overlooking the Tagus where one can really envision oneself being a character in the novel. So, despite the artifice, it's still very much worth doing. - Scott

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Maias is one of those novels that begins and ends with a house, that almost includes blueprints, so I understand how that sort of connection can really evoke the book.

    "O" and "Os" are both "the." "O" is masculine singular, "Os" masculine plural. On Friday I might write about my misguided attempt to learn some Portuguese.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I will prompt Kinna of Kinna Reads about this challenge. She might be interested. I would also look around for qualifying books and should I get them would join this challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Nana, good. I will remind you that I will try out Portuguese poetry from anywhere and any time, although I suspect that I might have trouble getting my hands on, I don't know, poetry from Mozambique, although who knows what might be online.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The 5 other writers in the Oxford anthology, represented with one or two stories each, are - sans the diacritics - Jose Verissimo, Emilia Moncorva Bandeira de Mello (pseud. Carmen Dolores), Paulo Baretto (Joao Paulo Emilio Cristovao dos Santos Coelho Barreto, pseud. Joao do Rio), and Lima Barreto.

    Rebellion in the Backlands is really something, so far as I read into it. A fusion of science and fiction (but not science fiction).

    ReplyDelete
  18. Uh oh, I am extremely tempted by this, simply for the reason that I don't believe I've ever read any Portuguese fiction. I feel complete ignorance in this area, however, and don't really know where to begin, although a certain logic suggests The Lusiads. In your Portugal reading list, you mention it as an epic poem requiring "real effort"--is it more difficult or trying than Divine Comedy?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I don't know where to begin - The case for many people, I suspect. As I fill in some of the pieces over the next few months, something might strike your fancy.

    The Lusiads is probably comparable to the Divine Comedy in difficulty. Probably easier, really, but more difficult because of the unfamiliarity of the frame of reference, just as not knowing the history of Brazil as well as I know the history of England makes certain (minor) aspects of Machado de Assis more difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Portuguese literature is overlooked in blogosphere and I'm very happy to see this challenge. I'll join in, since I started blogging I've read less books in my mother language and this is a fantastic way to change that.
    Queirós is my favorite Portuguese writer, though Julio Dinis novels are very good.
    If you need help putting together a list just tell me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mother language - I had no idea. Wonderful that you will join in. Feel free to keep me honest about any nonsense I spout about the language, culture, etc. And please add to or correct my lists.

    I am afraid that if I am to read Júlio Dinis, you will have to translate him for me. You or someone else.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ah, thank you for the information regarding The Lusiads. That gives me a helpful frame of reference.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Amateur Reader - I had no idead that Júlio Dinis wasn't translated his books are fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  24. It's not right, I know. At your urging, I did look up Dinis, and would love to try something. Maybe someday.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I posted today on a short story by Jose de Medeirios Alburquerque (from Recife-1867 to 1934) written in 1899 "The Revenge of Felix". It is a very entertaining well plotted stories set inthe slums of Rio de Janeiro-I will post on stories by three more pre-1920 Brazilian writers soon-

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good. I think I will wait until you have finished your series to post something, but I will look at the Gutenberg text now.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I have now posted on a second 19th century Brazilian short story, "Aunt Zeze's Tears" by Emilia Moncorua Banderia de Mello. This is a very interesting story about a 30 year old single woman in Rio.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The Portuguese Empire was once huge-it lasted longer than the British. There are, besides Brazil, 48 countries that were at one time part of the empire such as Angola, Mozambique, parts of Canada and India, Malaysia, China and numerous islands. I wonder what literary legacy we might find in these areas? It would be fascinating to see posts on short stories from writers from other parts of the Empire by Portuguese language writers.

    ReplyDelete
  29. That's a great question. Was there any good - even passable - literature from colonial Cape Verde, or by Portuguese Newfoundland-cod fishermen?

    The biggest name in Lusophone African literature is Mia Couto, from Mozambique. A few of his books, including some stories, have been translated. Hey, maybe I found some online.

    ReplyDelete
  30. My third of four posts on 19th century Brazilian short stories was on "The Pigeons" by Coelho Netto-from 1895 it centers on an Indian man and wife facing the death of their infant son.

    ReplyDelete
  31. hey, just found this post by chance. i studied lusophone literatures and am therefore biased and definitely inclined to suggest a few names:

    - jose cardoso pires, ballad of dogs' beach (portugal)
    - goncalo m. tavares, jerusalem (portugal)
    - clarice lispector, hour of the star (brazil)
    - graciliano ramos, barren lives (brazil)
    - germano almeida, the last will and testament of senhor da silva araujo (cape verde)

    hope this is of use.

    best,

    f.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks for the recommendations. I recently read Pires, actually (see here). I have been reading about Tavares - sounds promising.

    Ah, they all sound good. Unfortunately, none of them meet the pre-1920 rule, so it would be ideal if someone else read these books and tell me all about them.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I just posted on another very interesting Brazilian short story, "The Confession" by Joaquin Machado de Assis-I have been unable to find any short stories from anywhere else in the former Portuguese Empire-I guess the colonial administrators were not as literary as their British counterparts!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Good point. Who and where are the Portuguese Kipling and Conrad?

    ReplyDelete
  35. This sounds like a great idea. I have come upon it way too late, so I am only writing in to say, "Good for you." I found you because I was doing a search on Portuguese literature. I have never read any and I wanted a recommendation. Now I see that I have several options. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  36. That was a great idea! I read a lot of great books, as did a number of other people. Please poke around.

    Eça de Queirós, Machado de Assis, and Fernando Pessoa are hard to beat.

    Another good source - a better source! - for Portuguese literature is St. Orberose who covers the gamut, old and new, prose or verse, translated or a distant echo as if heard in a dream.

    ReplyDelete