''O Primo Basílio'' ("Cousin Bazilio") is one of the most highly regarded
realist novels of the Portuguese author
José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, also known under the modernized spelling Eça de Queirós. He worked in the Portuguese consular service, stationed at 53 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, from late 1874 until April 1879. The novel was written during this productive period in his career, appearing in
1878
Events January–March
* January 5 – Russo-Turkish War – Battle of Shipka Pass IV: Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire.
* January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
* January 17 – Bat ...
.
A
bowdlerized
Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media.
The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the practi ...
translation of this book by Mary Jane Serrano under the title ''Dragon's Teeth: A Novel'' was published in the United States in 1889, still available as a
print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
title. More accurate translations have since been published, first in 1953 by the poet
Roy Campbell and then in 2003 by award-winning translator
Margaret Jull Costa.
Plot
Jorge, a successful engineer and employee of a ministry and Luiza, a romantic and dreamy girl, star as the typical bourgeois couple of the Lisbon society of the 19th century.
There is a group of friends who attend the home of Jorge and Luiza: Dona Felicidade, a woman suffering from gas crises and who is in love with the Councillor; Sebastião (''Sebastian''), a close friend of Jorge; Councillor Acácio, good scholar; Ernestinho; and maids Joana - hussy and flirty - and Juliana - an angry, envious, and spiteful woman, responsible for the conflict of the novel.
At the same time cultivating a formal and happy marriage with Jorge, Luiza still maintains friendship with a former colleague, Leopoldina - called "Bread and Cheese" for her continuous betrayal and adultery. Luiza's happiness and safety become endangered when Jorge need to travel to work at Alentejo.
After the departure of her husband, Luiza is bored with nothing to do, in the doldrums and melancholy caused by the absence of her husband, and exactly in this meantime Bazilio comes from abroad. A womanizer and a "bon vivant", he doesn't take long to win the love of Luiza (they had dated before Luiza meet Jorge). Luiza was a person with a strong romantic view of life as she usually read only novels, and Bazilio was the man of her dreams: he was rich and lived in France. The friendly love became an ardent passion and this causes Luiza to practice adultery. Meanwhile, Juliana is just waiting for a chance to blackmail Luiza.
Luiza and Bazilio send love letters to one another, but one of these letters is intercepted by maid Juliana - who starts blackmailing Luiza. Turned from a spoiled lady into a slave, Luiza starts to become sick. The ill-treatment she suffers from Juliana quickly takes her liveliness, undermining her health.
Jorge comes back and is not suspicious, as Luiza satisfies every whim of the maid while looking for all possible solutions until she finds the disinterested help of Sebastian, who sets a trap for Juliana, trying to get her arrested and ends up causing her death. It's a new era for Luzsa, surrounded by the affection of Jorge, Joan and the new maid, Mariana. However, it is too late: weakened by life that had endured under the tyranny of Juliana, Luiza is affected by a violent fever. Luiza does not notice that Bazilio hasn't replied to her letters for months, and when the postman delivers the letter at her home, it grabs Jorge's attention due to it being addressed to Luiza and being sent from France. He reads the letter and discovers the adultery of his wife. The evidence of her betrayal makes him go into despair but nevertheless, he forgives her because of the strong love he feels for Luiza and due to her fragile health. The affection and care of her husband, friends and the doctor are useless: Luiza dies.
After that, Jorge dismisses the maids and moves with Sebastian. Bazilio returns to Lisbon - where he had fled, leaving Luiza without support - and as he learns of Luizas's death, he cynically comments to a friend: "If I had brought Alphonsine before." This part closes the book revealing that Bazilio is a mean person. As they walk down the street, his friend Visconde Reinaldo admonished Bazilio for having an affair with a "bourgeois". He also said he found the relationship "absurd", after all and told that Bazilio had done what he made for "hygiene". Bazilio confirms his suspicions.
TV and film adaptations
The first film adaptation of a work of Queiroz was a 1922 adaptation of ''Cousin Bazilio'' by
George Pallu
Georges Pallu (1869–1948) was a French screenwriter and film director active in the silent film, silent and early sound eras.Paietta p.63 Pallu directed more than forty short and feature films during his career. He is also sometimes credited ...
, and the work was adapted to film 5 more times (including a 1959 Portuguese film, a 1935 Mexican film, the 1977 Spanish film ''Dios bendiga cada rincón de esta casa'', a 1969 West German film and a 2007 Brazilian adaptation simply titled ''Primo Basílio''
Eça de Queiroz
in the IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
produced/directed by Daniel Filho
João Carlos Daniel Filho (born 30 September 1937), best known as Daniel Filho, is a Brazilian film producer, director, actor, and screenwriter. He starred in the film ''Os Cafajestes'', which was entered into the 12th Berlin International Fil ...
, with Fábio Assunção
Fábio Assunção Pinto (born 10 August 1971) is a Brazilian actor.
In 2011, he was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his role in the miniseries '' Dalva e Herivelto: uma Canção de Amor''.
Early life
Born in São ...
in the role of Basílio, and Débora Falabella as Luiza, Reynaldo Gianecchini as Jorge and Glória Pires
Glória Maria Cláudia Pires de Morais (; born 23 August 1963) is a Brazilian actress. She is best known for her roles in TV Globo telenovelas such as '' Dancin' Days'', ''Vale Tudo'', ''Mulheres de Areia'' and ''O Rei do Gado''. She is also know ...
as Juliana, with the action moved from 19th century Lisbon to São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
of the 1950s around the time of the construction of Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
).
In 1988 the Brazilian company Rede Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV stati ...
produced a television adaptation of ''O Primo Basílio'' in 35 episodes, starring the then rising star Giulia Gam
Giulia Daysi Gam (born 28 December 1966) is a Brazilian actress.
Biography
Giulia was born in Perugia when her father, José Carlos Gam Heuss, was taking a course. She has a Danish grandfather.
Career
She became famous in Brazil after perfo ...
and renowned actors Marcos Paulo Marcos Paulo is a masculine Portuguese given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Marcos Paulo Alves (born 1977), Brazilian footballer
* Marcos Paulo Gelmini Gomes (born 1988), Brazilian footballer
* Marcos Paulo Souza Ribeiro, known as '' ...
and Tony Ramos
Antônio de Carvalho Barbosa (born 25 August 1948), known professionally as Tony Ramos, is a Brazilian actor.
Ramos has played leading roles in major telenovela productions for more than four decades. Many of his most famous roles share the ch ...
. Although never rerun, this production contains some of the best dramatic moments delivered by the actors involved, especially the villainous Juliana, played by Marília Pêra.
Notes
External links
Free ebook of 1889 English translation
Full text in Portuguese
The 1988 TV series in the IMDb database
The 2007 movie in the IMDb database
{{Authority control
Novels by José Maria de Eça de Queiroz
1878 novels
Portuguese novels adapted into films
Novels set in Lisbon
Novels adapted into television shows
Literary characters introduced in 1878
19th-century Portuguese novels