Eça de Queiróz
Entry updated 26 January 2026. Tagged: Author.
(1845-1900) Portuguese author, surname also given as Queirós, who normally signed his publications with surname only; most famous for the realist novels which dominated his career and established his reputation as a central literary figure in nineteenth-century Europe. His relatively infrequent works that may be described in terms of Fantastika include O Mandarim (1880 Diário de Portugal; exp 1880; trans Margaret Jull Costa as title story in The Mandarin (and Other Stories) 1993), in which a Portuguese man, inspired by the Devil, kills a vastly rich mandarin at long distance, inheriting his huge fortune. Of abstract but in fact pointed sf interest, "Adão e Eva no Paraíso" (in anth Almanach Encyclopedico 1897; trans Margaret Jull Costa as Adam and Eve in Paradise 2025 chap) presents in highly compressed form a history of Homo sapiens mainly through two interwoven strands: one a tongue-in-cheek literalist reading of the Bible (see Religion), and one a relatively sober rendering of the Evolution of the species. Dinosaurs mix freely with folk. Eve (see Adam and Eve; Feminism) is less heavily muscled than Adam, but much smarter. [JC]
Eça de Queiróz, José Maria de
born Praça do Almada, Povoa de Varzim, Portugal: 25 November 1845
died Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: 16 August 1900
works (highly selected)
- O Mandarim (Porto e Braga, Portugal: Livraria Internacional de Ernesto Chardron, 1880) [novella: exp from short version 1880 Diário de Portugal: 1881 has also been suggested but edition here listed is dated 1880: pb/nonpictorial]
- The Mandarin (and Other Stories) (Sawtry, Cambridgeshire: Dedalus, 1993) [coll: trans Margaret Jull Costa of the above and other stories: pb/David Bird]
- "Adão e Eva no Paraíso" in Almanach Encyclopedico (Lisbon, Portugal: Livraria de Antonio Maria Pereira, 1897) [anth: binding unknown/nonpictorial]
- Adam and Eve in Paradise (New York: New Directions, 2025) [chap: trans by Margaret Jull Costa of the above: pb/]
links
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