The Illustrious House of Ramires

Here is the first new translation in half a century of this comedic masterpiece by veteran translator Costa of a Portuguese author whom Émile Zola considered a more talented realist than Flaubert. First published in 1900, the year of de Queirós's death, it chronicles the life of the charmingly ineffectual Gonçalo Ramires, Portugal's most authentic nobleman, whose lineage predates his country. Aspiring to be a Portuguese Sir Walter Scott, he believes that by novelizing in two volumes the exploits of his medieval ancestors, he can gain entrée to the world of politics. The valor of his fiercest ancestor, Tructesindo Ramires, only serves to underscore Gonçalo's own lackluster existence, as he typically spends his days lounging on his damask sofa, peering languidly at the Chinese lacquer clock in the corridor of his rundown family estate. In spite of this, the author conjures a remarkable sympathy for the hapless fellow.