Camilo Castelo Branco
| Camilo Ferreira Botelho Castelo-Branco | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 16 March 1825 Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Died | 1 June 1890 (aged 65) São Miguel de Seide, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Occupation | novelist, playwright, essayist |
| Genre | Romance novel |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
Camilo Ferreira Botelho Castelo Branco,1st Viscount de Correia Botelho (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐˈmilu kɐʃˈtɛlu ˈbɾɐ̃ku]; 16 March 1825 – 1 June 1890), was a prolific Portuguese writer of the 19th century, having produced over 260 books (mainly novels, plays and essays). His writing is considered original in that it combines the dramatic and sentimental spirit of Romanticism with a highly personal combination of sarcasm, bitterness and dark humour. He is also celebrated for his peculiar wit and anecdotal character, as well as for his turbulent (and ultimately tragical) life.
His writing, which is centred in the local and the picturesque and is in a general sense affiliated with the Romantic tradition, is often regarded in contrast to that of Eça de Queiroz – a cosmopolitan dandy and a fervorous proponent of Realism, who was Camilo's literary contemporary in spite of being 20 years younger. In this tension between Camilo and Eça – often dubbed by critics the literary guerrilla – many have interpreted a synthesis of the two great tendencies present in the Portuguese literature of the 19th century.
Allegations that he was initiated in Freemasonry in 1846, are somewhat contradictory as there are indications that, around the same time, during the Revolution of Maria da Fonte, he fought in favor of the Miguelists as "helper to the orders of the Scottish General Reinaldo MacDonell", who was active in the revived Order of Saint Michael of the Wing precisely to combat Masonry. Similarly, much of his literature demonstrates his ideals of legitimism and as a conservative and catholic traditionalist.
Camilo was born out of wedlock and orphaned in infancy, although his origins lay ultimately in Northern Portugal's provincial aristocracy (his father, Manuel Joaquim Botelho Castelo Branco, was the son of an illustrious household in the environs of Vila Real, but lived in near-poverty due to the strict law of primogeniture which then largely excluded younger sons from inheritance). Camilo spent his early years in a village in Trás-os-Montes, where he was educated at home by three unmarried aunts. At the age of 13, he enrolled at the Catholic seminary of nearby Vila Real, where he was educated by Catholic priests. During his teenage years, he fell in love with the poetry of Luís de Camões and Manuel Maria Barbosa de Bocage, while Fernão Mendes Pinto gave him a lust for adventure. In spite of this interest in literature, and of his remarkable abilities in Greek and Latin, Camilo was a distracted student and grew up to be undisciplined and proud.
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