Medalhão com busto de José Rodrigues Miguéis (Cemitério do Alto de São João, Lisboa)

José Rodrigues Miguéis (9 December 1901,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

– 27 October 1980,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

translator and writer.

Biography

Born to a middle-class family in the

Alfama The Alfama () is the oldest neighborhood of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the São Jorge Castle and the Tagus river. Its name comes from the Arabic ''al-ḥamma'' (), meaning "hot fountains" or "baths," akin to "hammam" (). The district i ...

neighborhood of Lisbon, he was originally expected to have a career in law; taking his degree in 1924. He never practiced, however, having decided to pursue literary studies and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

instead. In pursuit of these new interests, he attended the Université libre de Bruxelles and graduated in 1933 with a degree in Pedagogical Science. While there, he met and married a Russian-born educator named Pecia Cogan Portnoi. Together with

Raul Brandão Raul Germano Brandão (12 March 1867, in Foz do Douro, Porto – 5 December 1930, in Lisbon) was a Portugal, Portuguese writer, journalist and military officer, notable for the realism of his literary descriptions and by the lyricism of his l ...

, he created a set of new primary readers, but these were never approved for use by the Portuguese government. In fact, having inherited a progressive outlook from his father, a native of Galicia, he came into conflict with the Estado Novo and left Portugal for a self-imposed exile in the United States. From 1935 until his death, he would pay only short visits to his homeland. His literary activities were supported by working as a translator and as an editor for ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

''. He remarried in 1940 and acquired U.S. citizenship in 1942. Following the war, he fell seriously ill and almost died. From that point on, he gave up his revolutionary activities and devoted himself entirely to writing. In 1961, he was elected a member of the

Hispanic Society of America The Hispanic Society of America operates a museum and reference library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain and Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America, the Spanish East Indies, and Portuguese India. Despite the name, i ...

and, in 1976, was given a membership at the

Lisbon Academy of Sciences The Lisbon Academy of Sciences ( pt, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa) is Portugal's national academy dedicated to the advancement of sciences and learning, with the goal of promoting academic progress and prosperity in Portugal. It is one of Po ...

. Just one year before his death, he was awarded the

Military Order of Saint James of the Sword The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword ( pt, Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago da Espada) is a Portuguese order of chivalry. Its full name is the Ancient, Most Noble and Enlightened Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, of the Scientifi ...

. His biography was written by Mário Neves and published in 1990.

Works in English

* ''Happy Easter'' (''Páscoa feliz'', 1932), translated by John Byrne * ''A Man Smiles at Death with Half a Face'' (''Um homem sorri à morte com meia cara'', 1959), translated by George Monteiro * ''Steerage and Ten Other Stories'' (1983), various translators 1901 births 1980 deaths Portuguese chroniclers People from Lisbon Portuguese translators Portuguese male writers Portuguese-language writers Translators from English Translators from French Translators to Portuguese 20th-century translators 20th-century Portuguese writers 20th-century male writers {{Portugal-translator-stub