The Maias     by Eça de Queirós, Translated by P. Mcgowan and Ann Stevens Original title: Os Maias Original language: Portuguese Country: Portugal   Published by Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July 1999 Format: Paperback, 656 pages Dimensions: 1.05 x 7.80 x 5.09 in. ISBN: 014044694X List Price: $15.95, £9.99 Buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £9.99 Buy online from Amazon.com for $11.17 Published by Carcanet Pub. Date: 1993 Pub. Place: UK Format: Hardcover List Price: £14.95 Not available for ordering Published by Bodley Head Pub. Date: 1965 Pub. Place: UK Not available for ordering Published by Dent Pub. Date: 1986 Pub. Place: UK List Price: £4.95 Not available for ordering Published by St. Martins NY Pub. Date: 1965 Pub. Place: USA Format: Hardcover Not available for ordering

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Eça de Queirós was one of the leading intellectuals of the ‘Generation of 1870’, highly concerned with the future of his country in the aftermath of the civil war of 1828-1834. Portugal had emerged from this internal struggle as a constitutional monarchy, politically and economically dependent on Great Britain, while culturally dominated by France.

The Maias was first published in 1888, against this historical background, and is not only Eça’s acknowledged masterpiece but also the novel in which the Portuguese most recognise themselves, even today.

It traces the moral decline of a wealthy and powerful aristocratic family over three generations. Their destinies reflect ideological, cultural and political developments in Portugal from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the mid-1880’s. The Maias displays a social determinism to which they are all subjected; thus Afonso da Maia the elderly head of the family upholds the old, traditional values which are gradually lost in the next generations who, by adopting imported foreign ideas, turn the ‘march to progress’ into a ‘march into decadence’.

At its simplest level the plot is melodramatic and even implausible with an all too obvious historical symbolism. But the dominantly ironic tone of the novel makes it a ‘comic tragedy’ that deflates the emotional tension built around the central motif of unwitting incest between brother and sister. The malevolent turn played by fate serves less to illustrate tragic events than to draw attention to the inward-looking, decadent society that wastes itself in idle pursuits.

Although based on characters and events belonging to a specific geographical and historical context, the novel’s continuing appeal rests as much with the writer’s masterful use of language in voicing his pointed social critique as with the actual themes: the dynamics of wealth, power and politics.

‘When Craft came down a few moments later in evening dress fresh, white, starched, correct, he found Carlos still covered in the dust of the road, his hat on his head, pacing about the room, in this radiant commotion.

“You’re sparkling, man!” said Craft, stopping before him with his hands in his pockets and contemplating him for a moment from above his resplendent collar. “You’re afire! You look as though you’ve a halo round your head! Something or other very good has happened to you!”

Carlos stretched himself and smiled. Then he gazed at Craft for a moment in silence, shrugged his shoulders and murmured:

“One never knows, Craft, whether what happens to one is, in the final analysis, good or bad.”

“Usually it’s bad”, replied the other coldly as he went up to the looking-glass and adjusted the knot of his tie.’ pp303-304