Overview

The explosive and highly controversial new film of The Crime of Father Amaro is set in Mexico, in a material and religious culture of this century not unlike the provincial Portugal where, as a young man, de Queiros was despatched to train for the consular service. The Crime of Father Amaro is set in Leiria, a provincial cathedral city, in which the hypocrisies of churchmen were not far to seek. Father Amaro, a young man like himself, with a priestly rather than a diplomatic vocation, falls into a relationship with a woman, and their tragic story unfolds with a harsh relentlessness. The situation of women, tightly swaddled in conformities yet fevered in their illusions of romance, much troubled the young author in this and later books

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9781857546842

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This charged tale of passion, greed and hypocrisy is set in late 19th-century Portugal. A handsome young Catholic priest is given lodgings in the home of a formidable pair of sisters. Amelia, the innocent and beautiful daughter of one of them, is ripe for love, and although she is intended for a dependable clerk, the arrival of the dashing and enigmatic man of the cloth brings an electric atmosphere to the household and temptation to which she must inevitably succumb. This is a 'human comedy' in the style of one of the masters of the genre, Balzac, with more than a hint of that other great French novelist, Flaubert, both of whom exerted their influence over De Queiros. Like his better-known French counterparts, he creates sometimes grotesque caricatures to lay bare the evils of bourgeois society - the greed and hypocrisy of the Catholic church, the malicious gossip and scheming of the petty bourgeoisie. He, too, uses irony to great effect but this is underpinned by an understanding of and sympathy with the frailty of human nature which mean that the characters are anything but black and white, surprising us to the very end. Whilst Amelia is not quite Madame Bovary, the passion with which she lives her life and the tragedy of her downfall ensure that she ranks with some of the greatest of the 19th-century heroines. The character of her lover, Father Amaro, is also deeply drawn as he develops from a youthful and exuberant cleric, mindful of his vows to the Church but subsumed by carnal desire, to a jealous and cruel bully, capable of the worst of crimes. Well translated and keenly priced, this book provides an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with a little-known but highly impressive author. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Eca de Queiros (1845-1900) was Portugal's greatest nineteenth-century novelist. His works brilliantly evoke, and condemn, the rapidly changing society of his time. He travelled widely as a diplomat and, though he considered himself an apostle of Naturalist Realism, he is at heart an ironist, with the severity and compassion of Stendhal.

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