As (Trans)figurações do Eu nos Romances de Camilo Castelo Branco (1850–1870) (review)

Structured in traditional dissertation format (Introduction, three substantive chapters, and Conclusion) plus a Preface, this thoughtful study takes up both familiar and less commonly studied aspects of the novelistic art of the paragon of Portuguese "Regionalist Romanticism." The corpus of novels and novelettes analyzed includes over fifty Camilian works published between the years 1850–1870, with particular attention devoted to Anátema (1851), Onde está a felicidade? (1856), Um homem de brios (1856), Carlota Ângela (1858), O romance de um homem rico (1861), Amor de perdição (1862), Coração, cabeça e estômago (1862), Memórias de Guilherme do Amaral (1863), Amor de salvação (1864), O judeu (1866), A queda dum anjo (1866), O retrato de Ricardina (1868), and A mulher fatal (1870).

Professor Frier's Preface lays out the basic stylistic-chronological scheme (apud Alexandre Cabral) for Camilo Castelo Branco's novelistic production, with references to the author's evolving principles and concerns and a critical glance at some of the main analytical voices (A. Cabral, Aquilino Ribeiro, Jacinto do Prado Coelho, Gondim da Fonseca, Óscar Lopes) engaging the Camilian corpus during the twentieth century. Preliminary reference is made to the dangers and challenges of attempting a biographical approach to novelistic analysis, as this book proposes, in the context of XXI century literary criticism. The themes outlined in the Preface form the basis for the introductory chapter of the book, which offers a panoramic biography of Camilo (with emphasis on his amatory adventures and resulting geographic mobility), a preliminary diagnosis of his character and temperament, and a estimate of his unique stance vis-à-vis the Romantic and Realist schools of nineteenth century letters. Certain apparent contradictions in the author's worldview and literary expression are set forth as a bridge to the following analytical chapters of the book.

Chapter I, "Mães e amantes," takes up what is perhaps the best known dichotomy in Camilo's prose – woman as virgin and/or prostitute ("mulher que perde/mulher que salva") – and expands it into a mother/lover context involving the perpetual "search for the mother," or for some equivalent mother-substitute. Frier suggests a direct (Freudian?) connection between this frustrated fictional search and the childhood/puberty female relationships of Camilo himself, with women serving as scapegoats for the author's own personal weaknesses, which he is unwilling to acknowledge.

Chapter II, "O romance solipsista," constitutes the most creative and substantive segment of ProfessorFrier's analysis of Camilian prose. After an initial background overview of relevant theories from Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Rogers, and Hume, he offers readings of numerous passages from the above-mentioned novels which show Camilo's preoccupation with time and its passage, a focused or vague nostalgia, his desire (as an "elect soul") for detachment from the commonplace, the development of Camilian irony as a self-protective device, and the general projection of Camilo himself into his fiction as his own favorite character, with an acute narcissistic concern with affirmative reader response. Frier discerns in these self-absorbed characteristics, as well as in Camilo's alterative fascination with the life of the rural poor (from which he paradoxically detaches himself), a foreshadowing of the future heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa.

Chapter III, "A visão fragmentada da religião," tackles the perennial question of the religion of Camilo Castelo Branco, offering an initial overview of a multitude of contrasting critical opinions concerning this facet of his life and work. Fictional aspects of Camilo's preoccupation with fear, guilt, original sin, and personal and vicarious expiation/suffering are explored, along with his ambiguous novelistic characterization of God, a "maternal" yet "agonizing" Christ, and humanity in general (alma/lama). An innovative aspect of this chapter's theme is an occasional reference to Unamuno in Camilian context, especially with respect to "deductive" vs. "inductive" aspects of matrimony. Frier ponders Camilo's...