The Mandarin and Other Stories - Couverture souple

Queiroz, Eca De

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 190351780X ISBN 13 : 9781903517802

Editeur : Dedalus Ltd, 2018

Synopsis

Unusual book

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

Each of the four masterly stories included in the latest Eca de Queiroz volume from Dedalus - with another fine translation by Margaret Jull Costa - contains an element of fantasy. In 'The Mandarin', a novella writen in 1880, Teodoro, an ageing and impoverished civil servant, fantasises about becoming rich. The Devil appears before him and offers to grant his wish if Teodoro will pray for the death of a Mandarin in distant China - the French excpression tuer le mandarin means 'to harm someone whom you know will never meet in order to gain some personal advantage and in the certain knowledge that you never will be punished'. Teodoro duly inherits a Mandarin's fortune and enters into a life of luxury, but remorse drives him to China in a futile search for the dead man's family. He returns to Lisbon haunted by the crime. The last three short stories deal in turn with a man's obsessive love for a woman,'a theme that runs through much of Eca's work'. 'The idiosyncracies of a Young Blonde Woman' was written in 1873. Macario endures years of poverty and separation from the pretty but enigmatic Luisa, but as he is about to become engaged to her an unsettling incident crushes his romantic ideal. In 'The Hanged Man'(1885), set in Spain, Don Ruy de Cardenas falls in love with Don Alonso. In a jealous rage, Alonso forces her to write a letter that will lure Ruy to his death. On his way to the 'assignation', Ruy passes Hangman's Hill, where a supernatural event brings fateful consequences. The short story 'Jose Matias'(1897) chronicles the long years of Jose's passionate love for Elisa, during which he secretly watches her windows 'with extreme refinement of spirituality and devotion'. --Alan Biggins in The Anglo-Portuguese Society Magazine

One of the greatest novelists of the novel's greatest age, Eca is also amongst the most readable due to his narrative energy, sweeping range and tart sense of humour. --Michael Kerrigan in The Scotsman

The pressing logic of the plot, the clarity and occasional lyricism of the prose, as well as the mastery of dialogue, make Queiroz a formidable author, so it is more surprising that translations of his books in English are so rare. Huge praise, then, to the publishers for their determination to make available major works that are otherwise neglected in Anglophone countries, and to the translator, Margaret Jull Costa, whose achievement is giving the impression that Queiroz might have written the English himself. Henry Sheen in The New Statesman --Henry Sheen in The New Statesman

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900) is considered to be one of Portugal's finest prose writers. In The Mandarin he turns his satirical eye on the sin of avarice and asks the following question: In the depths of China there lives a mandarin who is richer than any king spoken of in fable or in history. You know nothing about him, not his name, his face or the silks that he wears. In order for you to inherit his limitless wealth, all you have to do is to ring the bell placed on a book by your side. In that remote corner of Mongolia, he will utter a single sigh. He will then be a corpse, and at your feet you will see gold beyond the dreams of avarice. Mortal reader, will you ring the bell? When Teodoro, our timid, lowly narrator, says Yes , he finds that fabulous wealth brings with it unexpected problems. The three very different stories that complete the collection The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman , The Hanged Man and José Matías are all tales of obsessive love, each told with Eça's irrepressible wit and originality.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Dedalus Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2018
• ISBN 10: 190351780X
• ISBN 13: 9781903517802
• Reliure: Paperback
• Numéro d'édition: 3
• Nombre de pages: 176