Home | Books By Year | Books from 1901
The City and the Mountains
Buy The City and the Mountains now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The City and the Mountains' (Portuguese: 'A Cidade e as Serras') is a satirical novel comparing the emptiness of upper class life in Paris with the pleasures found in rural Portugal. It was written in 1895 by Jos Maria de Ea de Queirs (1845 - 1900), also known as Ea de Queiroz, when he was living in Paris. The novel was published posthumously in Portuguese in 1901 with a final edit and an ending contributed by his friend, Ramalho Ortigo. The first English version, translated by Roy Campbell, was published by the Ohio University Press in 1967. A new translation by Margaret Jull Costa was published by Dedalus Books in 2008, and republished in 2018.
Background
The story reflects the author's own experiences. For many years he had angled to get the post of Portuguese consul in Paris but, once there, he found the city very coarse as regards manners and ideas, and its completely black! In 1892 he had inherited an estate in the Douro valley of Portugal, which he found to be very beautiful, while noting the poverty of the inhabitants.
Plot
Jacinto is well-educated and rich, and mixes with the cream of Parisian society. He lives in an apartment on the Champs-lyses in Paris in which he has installed the latest technology, much of which has a tendency to go wrong. He has 30,000 books and knows of all the latest ideas on the secrets of happiness, but is not happy. When Z Fernandes, a long-time friend and the narrator of the story, visits him after an absence of seven years, Jacinto is starting to find Parisian society boring. His formula for a good life has contorted itself into a debilitating kind of retail therapy.
Jacinto finally decides to visit his country estate in Portugal after a landslide occurs that destroys the 16th-century chapel where the remains of his ancestors were housed. However, he cannot travel there without first boxing up many of his Parisian possessions and sending them to the estate. But fate intervenes amusingly during the journey and Z and Jacinto arrive there with no possessions. Jacinto enjoys rural living and becomes involved in the management of his estates. He is appalled by the rural poverty, including that experienced by his tenants, and tries to do something about it by improving housing and handing out money. He eventually marries Z's cousin and becomes a father. Half-hearted suggestions that they should visit Paris are conveniently forgotten and Jacinto becomes well and truly settled.
Reviews
A reviewer in the UK's The Independent considered the novel to be a smart balance of satire, irony and lyric grace the progress of a rich brat who quits the city to find fulfilment in rural life. Another review felt that the novel offered a wry take on fin-de-sicle life as experienced by two secular, well-heeled young men in the bustle of Paris and in the quietude of the Portuguese countryside. However, the same reviewer argued that the book was not particularly profound and was basically a second string work by a major author. This was due not to the quality of the prose, but to the reliance upon the most easily caricatured subjects, unlike the novelist's other books.
Several reviewers comment adversely on the end of the book, written by Ea's friend, Ramalho Ortigo, which is seen as being too flowery, predictable and sentimental for the satirical tone of the novel.
References
Category:Novels by Jos Maria de Ea de Queiroz
Category:1901 novels
Category:20th-century Portuguese novels
Category:Novels set in Portugal
Category:Novels published posthumously
Buy The City and the Mountains now from Amazon
<-- Return to books from 1901