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A Cidade e as Serras
by
Biblioteca Ulisseia de Autores Portugueses #5
José Maria de Eça de Queiroz (Póvoa de Varzim, 25 de novembro de 1845 — Neuilly-sur-Seine, 16 de agosto de 1900), escritor e ensaísta, foi um dos nomes mais importantes da literatura portuguesa. De nome completo José Maria de Eça de Queirós nasceu a Novembro de 1845, numa casa na Praça do Almada, em Póvoa de Varzim. O seu pai, J ...more
José Maria de Eça de Queiroz (Póvoa de Varzim, 25 de novembro de 1845 — Neuilly-sur-Seine, 16 de agosto de 1900), escritor e ensaísta, foi um dos nomes mais importantes da literatura portuguesa. De nome completo José Maria de Eça de Queirós nasceu a Novembro de 1845, numa casa na Praça do Almada, em Póvoa de Varzim. O seu pai, J ...more
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Spoiled Jacinto, grandson of an expatriate, his Portuguese grandfather with the same name, but nicknamed Sir Galleon, he was rather obese, left Portugal dispirited, when his King Dom Miguel the usurper, lost the civil war during the 1800's for the throne. So Jacinto was born in Paris in a palace, on the Champs-Elysees, no. 202, that his wealthy grandfather had bought, his own sickly father "The Shadow", died (I don't have to say what his name was, begins with the letter J ) three months before h
...more
Nov 03, 2013
Lynne King
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
definitely-to-read,
portugal
It was thanks to Henry's excellent review on this book that I recently purchased it. It was the "Library with the 30,000 books" and all of "the gadgets" that Jacinto had, that enticed me.
I was so taken with this book that I made notes galore and started typing the review. There were so many excellent quotations that stayed in my mind. Consequently, after typing several pages as I was "in full flight", I decided to cut it down considerably and so this is the result. I believe, and hope, it gets t ...more
I was so taken with this book that I made notes galore and started typing the review. There were so many excellent quotations that stayed in my mind. Consequently, after typing several pages as I was "in full flight", I decided to cut it down considerably and so this is the result. I believe, and hope, it gets t ...more
What an enjoyable and fun read!
This novel, as the title bears, makes a comparison to living in the big city with the rural life in the hills of Portugal. It starts off with a bias. The main character refers to Paris as, “ah civilization!” and when speaking of Portugal, “oh the horror!” (Guiães). Yep, a tale of two contrasts.
Our main character is Prince Jacintho, an eccentric rich man who lives at No. 202, Champs-Elysee. Upper crust, in the know, who knows everyone. A man of people in high place ...more
This novel, as the title bears, makes a comparison to living in the big city with the rural life in the hills of Portugal. It starts off with a bias. The main character refers to Paris as, “ah civilization!” and when speaking of Portugal, “oh the horror!” (Guiães). Yep, a tale of two contrasts.
Our main character is Prince Jacintho, an eccentric rich man who lives at No. 202, Champs-Elysee. Upper crust, in the know, who knows everyone. A man of people in high place ...more
This novel is a masterpiece and the translation is outstanding. Its premise--the conflict between Nature and Civilization (today we would say "technology")--could have easily turned it into a schematic or dogmatic book. Instead, this is a captivating novel written in a sophisticated style. And for those fascinated with technology (but not necessarily enslaved by it), a very useful read.
I read most of Eça's books when I was young, between 17 and the end of University (around 23, 24).
I love Eça because his Portuguese is wonderfully written, he has a unique sense of humor and the picture he draws of Portuguese and European society, with all its cynicism and "show off" and pretense is still quite present in certain extracts of society...
This particular book compares refined Paris with coming back to the family House and Farm in interior Portugal - trading the sophistication of Par ...more
I love Eça because his Portuguese is wonderfully written, he has a unique sense of humor and the picture he draws of Portuguese and European society, with all its cynicism and "show off" and pretense is still quite present in certain extracts of society...
This particular book compares refined Paris with coming back to the family House and Farm in interior Portugal - trading the sophistication of Par ...more
No doubt my favorite José Maria de Eça de Queirós book. I am a big fan of all his books, but this autobiography is the best. Completely different in style and in content. Look for the english version in The City and the Mountains New Directions Paperbook
...more
Costa did a terrific job translating. I believe she's translated other Eca de Queiros works, too. I love the theme: contrasting the City and Nature. One can easily inject oneself into various roles of the personages; the characters are aloof, but nothing surreal. He writes in the late 1800s, which makes the novel more real because of the connection to Nature which many people still had, even within Paris and the rest of Western Europe. Eca de Queiros quickly became one of my favorite authors.
I honestly don't think I would have liked this even if I was reading it because I wanted to.
Delightful story focused on the theme of countryside (Portugal's)/city (Paris).
3.5 stars
I really liked this! The ending was cute.
I really liked this! The ending was cute.
This is, surprisingly, a good book to read at the beach, although it does have (many) boring parts. Still, it was nice.
Born in Paris wealthy, brilliant Jacinto leaves for the countryside of Portugal with his compatriot, the narrator of this lovely book an exploration of the virtues of country versus city life. "man's moral freedom ended in the City: each morning it imposed on him a new need, and each new need impelled him further into dependency: poor and subaltern, he found his life had become a round of begging, flattering, cringeing, fawning and making do; when it came to a wealthy, superior man like Jacinto
...more
This is the first Eca de Queiros book that I've read in full, but it definitely won't be the last. The plot is rather simple: a Portuguese man grows up in Paris and is enamored with progress and technology, which leaves him feeling listless (bourgeoisie life is boring!). He then returns to one of his country estates in Portugal and becomes enamored with nature (streams are pretty!), eventually becoming a socialist and trying to help out all of his tenants.
As a parable, the book is a bit thin, a ...more
As a parable, the book is a bit thin, a ...more
I really enjoyed this book at times but found it extremely long-winded at others. I love the ruminations on society using the characters as mouthpieces but it takes a special kind of fortitude to read through 5 - 10 page small print of one character monologuing. Overall the book is beautiful and anyone who enjoyed 100 years of solitude from Marquez or similar works should definitely check this out.
I found this book in English in Lagos, Portugal and read the synopsis. It sounded interesting so I bought it, not realizing that it was written before 1900 when the author died. It was not difficult, but was a very entertaining picture of wealthy society at the time and was a political comment on them and socialism.
Once, while discussing books with some friends, I remember one of them telling me that "A Cidade e as Serras", or "The City and The Mountains", was one of her favorite books ever. Adding that to Eça de Querós being a fellow-townsman of mine, it was difficult not to give it a go.
The narrator, Zé Fernandes, walks us through the life of Jacinto, a good friend of his, and its underlying philosophy - Jacinto is convinced that the soul of Civilization can only be found on the City, whereas the country ...more
The narrator, Zé Fernandes, walks us through the life of Jacinto, a good friend of his, and its underlying philosophy - Jacinto is convinced that the soul of Civilization can only be found on the City, whereas the country ...more
Jacinto is about the most dull, annoying character I've come across. I haven't disliked a character in such a long time. I'm not even sure who the last one was. I find him vapid and easily molded and thinking of himself better than anything and everyone. Perhaps, the narrator is more contemptible since he's just like a little puppy following his 'Prince' around.
Brilliant satire of late 19th century European intellectual life. Loved it!
One of the best books of my life. And i’ve read hundreds. A lesson about how seeing life; and how to write amazingly in Portuguese. A must read.
I liked all the weird 19th century gadgets in the first part
a beautiful beautiful story, charming from beginning to end and full of meaning
As usual a great book from Eça! It brings me back to old memories and makes me smile while reading...
Just awful
This is a beautifully written book, like many others from Eça de Queiroz. It's amazing how he can combine nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs that would not be used together, allowing them to get new meanings and enriching the writing. Instead of using a straighforward critic using, for example, the irony, he works the portuguese language not only using many vocabulary, but also with a lot of figures of speech and symbols.
That being said, this book focuses on the opposition between the city (C ...more
That being said, this book focuses on the opposition between the city (C ...more
Let me begin by saying that I read this book in the original Portuguese version and I pity the translators since the kind of writing seems a bit complex (it is not a Saramago though…). I actually bought The City and the Mountains (in the original “A Cidade e as Serras”) on the country house that inspired this book. I quite recommend the visit if you are exploring the Douro Region of Portugal. I believe there are hourly guided tours and you can meet a living relative of Eça de Queirós (granddaugh
...more
Let me begin by saying that I read this book in the original Portuguese version and I pity the translators since the kind of writing seems a bit complex (it is not a Saramago though…). I actually bought The City and the Mountains (in the original “A Cidade e as Serras”) on the country house that inspired this book. I quite recommend the visit if you are exploring the Douro Region of Portugal. I believe there are hourly guided tours and you can meet a living relative of Eça de Queirós (granddaugh
...more
Apr 22, 2015
Amanda Alexandre
marked it as abandoned
Abandoned at 31%.
Eça is a great writer, and you should read Cousin Bazilio: A Domestic Episode, The Maias or, my favorite, The Crime of Father Amaro. I don't care if you have to forage the land for old editions, learn Portuguese or make a pact with the devil: if you are serious about getting acquainted with books worth reading, Eça de Queirós is a name you can't ignore .
Of course, that doesn't mean I'd love every single thing he wrote. A Cidade e as Serras is an incomplete work, sold like it was ...more
Eça is a great writer, and you should read Cousin Bazilio: A Domestic Episode, The Maias or, my favorite, The Crime of Father Amaro. I don't care if you have to forage the land for old editions, learn Portuguese or make a pact with the devil: if you are serious about getting acquainted with books worth reading, Eça de Queirós is a name you can't ignore .
Of course, that doesn't mean I'd love every single thing he wrote. A Cidade e as Serras is an incomplete work, sold like it was ...more
Good book.
Not the best if you want action and adventures (hehehe) but it`s a good read.
The best thing about it, in my opinion, is that it manages to give the reader a complete idea of the backgroud in the end of sec. XIX, in Europe. It gives you exactly the sensation of abundancy and fullness that was around people in the cities. For every need, you had someone producing something that could answer to your problems, if you could pay for it, of course. The number of kinds of bottled waters is a g ...more
Not the best if you want action and adventures (hehehe) but it`s a good read.
The best thing about it, in my opinion, is that it manages to give the reader a complete idea of the backgroud in the end of sec. XIX, in Europe. It gives you exactly the sensation of abundancy and fullness that was around people in the cities. For every need, you had someone producing something that could answer to your problems, if you could pay for it, of course. The number of kinds of bottled waters is a g ...more
Feb 28, 2009
Jess
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone with a taste for European literature.
Shelves:
2009,
translated
I'm surprised there aren't more reviews for this book. It is absolutely fantastic. Charming is a word to describe it. It had many funny moments, such as a mishap with a dumb waiter and the loss of luggage on the train to Portugal. Both Paris and Tormes are like characters in the book. The first part describes life in Paris and the city and the second part describes Tormes and the country. Jacinto, the main character, may be a bit flamboyant for some, but I found him hysterical, and Fernandes, th
...more
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José Maria Eça de Queirós was a novelist committed to social reform who introduced Naturalism and Realism to Portugal. He is often considered to be the greatest Portuguese novelist, certainly the leading 19th-century Portuguese novelist whose fame was international. The son of a prominent magistrate, Eça de Queiroz spent his early years with relatives and was sent to boarding school at the age of
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