Aghostinho Fernandes (born

Quepem Quepem is a town with a municipal council in South Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. The town is the administrative headquarters of the Quepem taluka (sub-district). History The town was established by a Portuguese noble man Deão J ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

2 July 1932, died Portugal 29 June 2015) was the author of one of Goa's key post-colonial novels, ''Bodki'', which has attracted significant critical attention.

Biography

Fernandes studied at the Liceu Nacional Afonso de Albuquerque before matriculating at the Escola Médica Cirúrgica de Goa; he considered working in Goa but won a place at the

Universidade de Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

to develop his medical training. His first job (1960–62) was directing the campaign against

sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species ''Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two typ ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. He returned to Portugal and from 1974 to 1982 was a cardiologist at Centro Hospitalar das Caldas da Rainha, as well as working in other hospitals such as the Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon. He was a Member of Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia and the

European Society of Cardiology The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental professional association that works to advance the prevention, diagnosis and management of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, and improve scientific un ...

. He was the brother of John Claro Fernandes, who became a noted

Tiatr is a type of musical theatre popular in the state of Goa on the west coast of India as well as in Mumbai and with expatriate communities in the Middle East, United Kingdom and other cities where Konkani speakers have a considerable presence. The ...

writer and director.

Works

Fernandes's most famous work is the Portuguese-language novel ''Bodki'' (1962). In the words of Everton V. Machado,

The constant clash between modern convictions of the elite raised in a Christian environment and the popular beliefs among the lower social strata of Goa must be re-emphasized within the set of Indo-Portuguese themes, as is very clearly illustrated in the novel ''Bodki'' ... In it, a young physician from the capital finds himself confronting the superstitions of the people of a village, especially those who marginalize the ''bodki'', a Hindu widow, considered to be responsible for all the bad happenings that took place there.

Fernandes was involved in journalism in Goa, Angola and Portugal; wrote a number of unpublished plays in Konkani; and the poetry collection ''Os Meus proprios pedaços''. He also wrote the novel ''Por além do além'', published in 2007.Agostinho Fernandes, ''Por além do além'' (Goa: Third Millennium; Editora Terceiro Milénio, 2007).

References

1932 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian novelists Indian male poets Indian male novelists Novelists from Goa Indian Roman Catholics Portuguese-language writers Konkani people Konkani-language writers Goan Catholics 20th-century Indian male writers {{India-writer-stub