Cousin Bazilio
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
During the 1980's I used to listen to a Radio Four serialisation of the book Cousin Basilio with my then girlfriend. We were taken aback by the sheer audacity of the story and the characters. It is basically the story of an empty headed wife, left alone in a sweltering Lisbon, her head full of the romances of Walter Scott and the like, falling prey to the titular Cousin who seeks to seduce her. She then falls prey to a blackmailing servant.
Although the book was written in 1878 it does not feel old fashioned. The author describes events from the point of view of the various characters, so that even unpleasant characters can at time evoke your sympathy. It also has a strong moral sense, although it scandalised readers at the time with its frank attitude to sex, and even now it is full of a languid sexuality. The book does not supply a hero or a heroine, the wife is empty headed and weak, her husband smug and complacent, their friends are idle bourgeois, rife with complacency and hypocrisy. But although there are a handful of out and out rogues, most of the characters are amusing and/or sympathetic. These are not simply caricatures, they are flesh and blood people.
The book has been blessed with an excellent translation, it really does not feel like you are reading a book written over a hundred years ago. It is certainly not a difficult read, a little wordy by modern standards, but well written and refreshing free of turgid prose.
I would compare the book to those of Thomas Mann in scope, and those of Samuel Butler and Henry Fielding for its moral indignation combined with humour.
My wife and teenage daughter both read the book in a matter of days, it really is that good. In short it is one of the best books that I have read in a long time.
Although the book was written in 1878 it does not feel old fashioned. The author describes events from the point of view of the various characters, so that even unpleasant characters can at time evoke your sympathy. It also has a strong moral sense, although it scandalised readers at the time with its frank attitude to sex, and even now it is full of a languid sexuality. The book does not supply a hero or a heroine, the wife is empty headed and weak, her husband smug and complacent, their friends are idle bourgeois, rife with complacency and hypocrisy. But although there are a handful of out and out rogues, most of the characters are amusing and/or sympathetic. These are not simply caricatures, they are flesh and blood people.
The book has been blessed with an excellent translation, it really does not feel like you are reading a book written over a hundred years ago. It is certainly not a difficult read, a little wordy by modern standards, but well written and refreshing free of turgid prose.
I would compare the book to those of Thomas Mann in scope, and those of Samuel Butler and Henry Fielding for its moral indignation combined with humour.
My wife and teenage daughter both read the book in a matter of days, it really is that good. In short it is one of the best books that I have read in a long time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Superb novel - Magnificent translation
24 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
I ordered this by chance, to read during a holiday in Lisbon. What a revelation! This is a great late XIX Century novel about bourgeois adultery. It belongs on the same shelf as Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, but it is even closer to Emile Zola's "La Curee." Luiza, a lovely young wife, is led into temptation by her worldly cousin Bazilio, an awful rake. Consequently, Luiza is blackmailed by her ghastly maid Juliana. The struggle between the two women goes ever deeper. I won't betray any more of the plot, except to say that there are many wonderful secondary characters, several hilarious moments (although the whole novel is built toward a tragic ending), and a lot of political subtext. Reading it in Lisbon was a extra-special treat, as I carried the book through the very streets where it takes place.
Once I was done with it, I picked up another Queiroz at the Lisbon FNAC for the flight back, translated in French this time. Wow! What a letdown: all choppy and strangely overdone. That proved to me - a contrario - that Margaret Jull Costa did a fantastic job translating Cousin Bazilio. I never was conscious I was reading a translation. I will read more novels by Queiroz, but only if translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
Once I was done with it, I picked up another Queiroz at the Lisbon FNAC for the flight back, translated in French this time. Wow! What a letdown: all choppy and strangely overdone. That proved to me - a contrario - that Margaret Jull Costa did a fantastic job translating Cousin Bazilio. I never was conscious I was reading a translation. I will read more novels by Queiroz, but only if translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
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