Cousin Bazilio: A Domestic Episode (Dedalus European Classics) [Paperback]

Eca de Queiroz (Author), Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004 | Series: Dedalus European Classics

A tale of bourgeois sexual folly and hypocrisy in nineteenth-century Lisbon. Eca describes a gallery of vivid characters:

* Bazilio the suave villain

* Jorge the smug, uxorious husband

* Luiza the bored, silly wife

* Juliana, the plain, desperate maid

* Leopoldina, 'the Ever-Open Door'

* the voluminous Dona Felicidade, and many more.

The book aroused a scandal for its frank descriptions of sex and desire. What still grips the reader is the author's acute portrayal of the constraints imposed on men and, especially, women.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Portugal’s finest novelist and a giant of world literature. -- The Washington Post

About the Author

Eca de Queiroz was born in 1845 in Portugal. He studied law, was editor of a provincial newspaper, and had a diplomatic career.He was appointed Portuguese consul to Havana, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bristol, and Paris, where he served until his death in 1900. He is considered Portugal's greatest nineteenth-century writer. This, his second novel, was published in 1878 to great acclaim.

Product Details

• Paperback: 439 pages
• Publisher: Dedalus (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903517087
• ISBN-13: 978-1903517086
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Portuguese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb novel - Magnificent translation, February 23, 2006

By 

Jethro Manjay "j'ai trop mangé" (Carlisle, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cousin Bazilio: A Domestic Episode (Dedalus European Classics) (Paperback)

I ordered this by chance, to read during a holiday in Lisbon. What a revelation! This is a great late XIX Century novel about bourgeois adultery. It belongs on the same shelf as Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, but it is even closer to Emile Zola's "La Curee." Luiza, a lovely young wife, is led into temptation by her worldly cousin Bazilio, an awful rake. Consequently, Luiza is blackmailed by her ghastly maid Juliana. The struggle between the two women goes ever deeper. I won't betray any more of the plot, except to say that there are many wonderful secondary characters, several hilarious moments (although the whole novel is built toward a tragic ending), and a lot of political subtext. Reading it in Lisbon was a extra-special treat, as I carried the book through the very streets where it takes place.

Once I was done with it, I picked up another Queiroz at the Lisbon FNAC for the flight back, translated in French this time. Wow! What a letdown: all choppy and strangely overdone. That proved to me - a contrario - that Margaret Jull Costa did a fantastic job translating Cousin Bazilio. I never was conscious I was reading a translation. I will read more novels by Queiroz, but only if translated by Margaret Jull Costa.