Illustrious House of Ramires (Revived Modern Classic) [Paperback]

Eca de Queiros (Author), Eca De Queiroz (Author), Anne Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1994 | Series: Revived Modern Classic

Eca de Queiros, Illustrious House of Ramires. Ironic comedy from the master of Portuguese realism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Slyly funny and richly detailed, this reissue of Quieros's long out-of-print book makes for a delicious introduction to Portugal's greatest novelist. First published in 1900, the year of Quieros's death, it portrays Goncalo Mendes Ramires, the latest in an aristocratic family that predates even the kings of Portugal. In the isolation of the gloomy ancient tower of Santa Ireneia, Goncalo rehearses the feats of derring-do of an uninterrupted line of ancestors whose most recent contribution is himself, ``a graduate who had failed his third year examinations at university.'' Hoping to win some small scholarly reputation and thus secure a political future in the capital, Goncalo sets out to portray (a la Walter Scott), the adventures of one such ancestor. Installments recording the haughty courage and cruelty of his medieval forefather, Tructesindo Ramires, contrast with Goncalo's rather banausic existence, his cowardice, his small acts of noblesse oblige and his questionable apotheosis. Quieros's luxurious prose lends itself well to both the subtle irony of his morality play and the beauty of a decrepit Portuguese estate with its autumn sun, wilting flowers, faded portraits and other reminders of a bloody and powerful past.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

De Queiroz (1845-1900) ranks among Portugal's greatest novelists. Published toward the end of his life, this novel uses the title character, Goncalo Mendes Ramires, to portray the ins and outs of 19th-century Portuguese society. For large foreign fiction collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation; First Edition. first thus edition (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811212645
• ISBN-13: 978-0811212649
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Portuguese

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cervantes' Heir, September 10, 2001

By 

Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Illustrious House of Ramires (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

The books of Eca De Queiros are not easy to find. I read about him a long time ago and then slowly began picking the books up as I found them one by one. Three so far but there are others. This is the most polished of the three but the other two I have, The Relic(now available)& The City and the Mountains(availability uncertain), are really good too. I have to say my favorite is The City and the Mountains because it so funny. This novelist is funny & not many 19th century novelists are. In The City and the Mountains those two locations are compared by the wealthy protaganist to see which one suits him better, neither location is spared this novelists eye for comedy which one can tell gave him a lot of pleasure, the laughs in this book make you glad to be human. The Illustrious House of Ramirez is a more serious work. It has some funny parts but the comedy is of a higher nature. Since HISTORY is one of its topics both national identity and personal identity are subjected to this fine writers sympathetic ridicule but you feel the tragedy of those topics too while you are laughing at how clever the whole plot is. It is a grander work, further reaching than the one I mentioned as my favorite, and will probably appeal to more readers who want significant, not just hilarious, fare. However, if you read Illustrious House and still want more find the others too. Eca De Queiroz writes as well as any other 19th century writer judging by the translations I've read. Of them I think he is most often compared to Flaubert, he certainly sees through all the passing fads and illusions of the day in the way that one did. As for the Relic it is a very clever plot which hinges on a find which draws into question our religious heritage. More HISTORY but unless you can enjoy the opulent prose for its own sake its kind of a one idea book. Clever idea though it is. I think it said above that this novelist was for people with large foreign lit. collections. I will agree with that. But if you've read all the big names at least once you will just appreciate this rare find all the more.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cervantes' Heir, September 10, 2001

By 

Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Illustrious House of Ramires (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

The books of Eca De Queiros are not easy to find. I read about him a long time ago and then slowly began picking the books up as I found them one by one. Three so far but there are others. This is the most polished of the three but the other two I have, The Relic(now available)& The City and the Mountains(availability uncertain), are really good too. I have to say my favorite is The City and the Mountains because it so funny. This novelist is funny & not many 19th century novelists are. In The City and the Mountains those two locations are compared by the wealthy protaganist to see which one suits him better, neither location is spared this novelists eye for comedy which one can tell gave him a lot of pleasure, the laughs in this book make you glad to be human. The Illustrious House of Ramirez is a more serious work. It has some funny parts but the comedy is of a higher nature. Since HISTORY is one of its topics both national identity and personal identity are subjected to this fine writers sympathetic ridicule but you feel the tragedy of those topics too while you are laughing at how clever the whole plot is. It is a grander work, further reaching than the one I mentioned as my favorite, and will probably appeal to more readers who want significant, not just hilarious, fare. However, if you read Illustrious House and still want more find the others too. Eca De Queiroz writes as well as any other 19th century writer judging by the translations I've read. Of them I think he is most often compared to Flaubert, he certainly sees through all the passing fads and illusions of the day in the way that one did. As for the Relic it is a very clever plot which hinges on a find which draws into question our religious heritage. More HISTORY but unless you can enjoy the opulent prose for its own sake its kind of a one idea book. Clever idea though it is. I think it said above that this novelist was for people with large foreign lit. collections. I will agree with that. But if you've read all the big names at least once you will just appreciate this rare find all the more.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A (wonderful)case of "anguish of influence"., March 25, 2001

By 

C. E. R. Mendonça "Carlos Eduardo Rebello de ... (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrious House of Ramires (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

This is a classical case of "anguish of influence" as Eça is attempting, above all,when portraying the chief character, to write an ersatz Mediaeval historical novel in the manner of his great predecessor and adversary, the great Romantic writer Alexandre Herculano. One could say that Eça had, late in life, made peace with something he had spend all his adult life refusing to admit as deserving of praise, and when he finally surrendered, to have done so by means of a kind of "fanfic". However, this fanfic was rendered by Eça in his costomary -and wonderful - ironic manner, as the glories of the Portuguese past portrayed in the short novel written by the hero are each moment contrasted to the pettiness and mediocrity of the present. Neverthless, Eça closes the novel by meking peace with the Portuguese bourgeois society of his day, ultimately proposing a kind of future Portuguese "Manifest Destiny", consisting in the making of a Portuguese African Empire (anyway, one can say that his support of such Portuguese colonial adventures is half-hearted, to say the least). Despite this obvious political blunder - even at the time - Eça as always excels in his usual ironic qualities, tempered in this late novel by a quality of kindness not to be found so easily in his previous novels. Deserves to be read and known in English grab.