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A summary of the posts on The Maias by Eça de Queirós, as well as some additional notes. José Maria Eça de Queirós online resources The Maias: resources The Maias discussion: Chapters 1 – 6 The Maias discussion: Chapters 7 – 10 The Maias discussion: Chapters 11 – 14 The Maias discussion: Chapters 15 – […]
Os Vencidos da Vida (Those Defeated by Life)Eça de Queirós in front row with walking stickPhoto from www.arqnet.pt The end of the book comes with mixed feelings: satisfaction from reading such a wonderful novel, dissatisfaction with many characters that cannot develop, and reevaluation of everything that has happened to date. The generational differences are still […]
The melodrama continues… The plot of The Maias is rather thin, standard soap opera fare, but the richness of the telling is the reason to read the book. Not just the characters, but 1880s Portugal comes to life. The relationships between the male characters develop and seem truer to life than most novels. Rarely do […]
One thing that stood out for me in this section is the use of parallels or comparisons, where events echo a previous occurrence or current situation. Some examples: Carlos’ first viewing of Maria Eduara Gomes echoes that of his father, Pedro, seeing Maria Monforte for the first time. Not only their reaction, but their language […]
Eça de Queirós’ novel is a chronicle of the Maia family and, to some extent, of Portugal in the 19th century. While I’m only a quarter of the way through the book, it reminds me of a Benito Pérez Galdós novel I’ve read (which is a good thing). The first six chapters give a quick […]
I started reading The Maias and quickly found myself lost during references to Portuguese history. I’m sure I will find more things I’m ignorant about, but for starters here are a few links that help make sense of the background events in the book: Portuguese history: Fourth Dynasty (1640 – 1910) at Wikipedia More detail […]
I decided I needed a break from the Modernism kick I’ve been on and decided to read The Maias by José Maria Eça de Queirós. I wanted to find some resources online to flesh out what little I know about the book and the author. Eça de Queirós Wikipedia entry The Maias was recently translated […]
Quick links to the posts on Dubliners: A few links to online resources about James Joyce Online text of Dubliners at Project Gutenberg Dubliners discussion: The Sisters, An Encounter, Araby, Eveline, After the Race, Two Gallants Dubliners discussion: The Boarding House, A Little Cloud, Counterparts, Clay, A Painful Case Dubliners discussion: Ivy Day in the […]
One of the best adaptations from page to screen I’ve seen. You definitely have to be in the mood for a period piece, but the acting is superb. There are a few minor changes from the story, mostly in the way of additions, but the movie stays true. In moving the story to the screen, […]
This was my first exposure to “The Dead” and I found it quite powerful and moving. So far in Dubliners there has been much bitterness and frustration with only glimpses of the humanity underneath. In “The Dead,” the emphasis has been reversed. Since it would be easy to write a piece as long as the […]