Escrito em 1887, este clássico da literatura portuguesa foi publicado no Brasil em folhetins e é considerado uma das grandes obras do Realismo. Se você não cismar de sofrer com a língua que é diferente do português que a gente usa hoje em dia, vai se divertir a valer com essa história narrada por um personagem espertalhão que tenta dar um golpe na tia para ficar com a sua fortuna, e que faz uma crítica severa à sociedade católica da época. Nesta edição especial você tem o texto integral acompanhado de explicações e links bem espertos que o ajudarão a compreender melhor a trama, diferentes estilos de ilustrações e um encarte com o mapa dos personagens para você lembrar quem é quem no romance de Eça de Queirós.

"The Relic" is well written and well translated for easy reading. It is not so much for the general reader as for someone interested in the Biblical story of Jesus and what it must have been like to be there on his last Passover day. The details of the city and surrounding that event appear to be quite accurately set out and thoroughly researched and well imagined, and hew where possible close to the Bible account rather than on any contradictory historical accuracy.

The heart of this story is of a trip to Jerusalem by a youth who encounters a city much as it must have been during the Passover day when Jesus was crucified. In fact, he somehow experiences the events of that day. The reader sees there some of the apparent absurdity of popular religious practices and worship, though the youth comments little about that.

But by the end of the story the youth discovers (from a miracle) first hand upon return home the considerable difference between forms of Christian worship on the one hand and true love of Jesus on the other.

Thus the book is a message for those who may not have pondered the difference. There is a love story of sorts, too. ( )

Ficção moçambicana

“Em 1875, nas vésperas de Santo Antonio, uma desilusão de incomparável amargura abalou o meu ser; por esse tempo minha tia, D. Patrocínio das Neves, mandou-me do Campo de Sant´ana, onde morávamos, em romagem a Jerusalém[...]”.

Ao acompanhar as recordações de Teodorico Raposo, o leitor se deliciará com as aventuras picarescas deste falso beato e se emocionará com os episódios da Paixão nos cenários bíblicos da Terra Santa. Ele finalmente se surpreenderá com a lição “lúcida e forte” de A relíquia (1884), a primorosa novela de Eça de Queirós, em que nada é o que parece.

This picaresque tells the story of Teodorico, a Portuguese playboy, who is determined to be the sole heir of his extremely pious aunt, a goal that brings him on a quest to the Holy Land for a sacred relic worthy of his aunt's esteem, while hiding his true lascivious nature. I am a huge fan of this author and although this is not one of his greater works, it's still a quality read and quite entertaining in its own way. Teodorico is a great character to laugh at in his attempts to hide his shadier affairs while trying to out-do his aunt in religious fervor and the aunt, albeit a caricature, is a wonderful "villain" to our "hero." The middle section of the book - a long dreamlike sequence where Teodorico lives through the last days of Jesus of Nazareth - is an oddity that threw me off at first, but after a few pages, Teodorico's frantic hunt for the Savior through the streets of ancient Jerusalem was quite engaging. Having been to modern Jerusalem helped keep me on track a little as the older parts of the city are remarkably unchanged, even today. It wouldn't be Eça de Queirós if the novel wasn't at the same time a sharp critique of Portuguese society and both the overly religious and the highborn of his era get their fair share of punches, which makes for some entertaining quips by various characters. Not the greatest of his works, but absolutely one worth the time for readers of 19th century literature. I read the translation by Aubrey F. G. Bell rather than the more modern one by Margaret Jull Costa, who is normally my favorite translator of Portuguese literature and I thought it quite accomplished if not really easy to read. I have a feeling that Bell's translation lies slightly closer to the original in that some of the peculiarities of Eça de Queirós' language has been left intact, despite that it sometimes makes for awkward English. ( )