The Tragedy on the Street of Flowers

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José Maria Eça de Queirós, though not worldly renowned, is arguably the greatest Portuguese novelist of his time. In 1877, he wrote a novel titled “The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers” (“The Tragedy”); however, it was not published until many years following his death. The novel is a tragic love story about a cocotte (prostitute) named Genoveva de Molineux and a lawyer named Vítor da Silva. The story follows the love between these two individuals which ultimately leads to the death of Genoveva. When first appearing in the orchestra audience in Lisbon, every man was attached to her beauty and wanted to know her. Vítor falls in love with Genoveva at first sight without previous knowledge that she is a high-class prostitute. However, the tragedy begins when Genoveva is told by Vítor’s uncle, Timóteo, that Vítor is her son. Unable to cope with what she had just learned, Genoveva commits suicide; neither herself nor Timóteo disclose the truth to Vítor. When asked about the novel, Eça had stated that it is a cruel story, one of the best he had yet written (at that time) and “a real literary and moral bombshell” (Queiroz, preface, ¶ 3-4). “...nineteenth century writers knew that incest in Greek Tragedy represented the protagonist’s hopeless fight against fate. Finding a close correspondence with contemporary Lisbon society, aimlessly debating political, economic and social problems, unable to control the nation’s destiny, does not require a great stretch of the imagination” (Ponte 79).
In his literary work, Eça’s female characters are marked for life and are either weak or are prostitutes; in the case of Genoveva in “The Tragedy”, she is the latter (King and Sousa 200).
Through his paper entitled “Incest and the Female Character in Eç...

... middle of paper ...

... Experiences, c. 1600-c. 1800.” Beauty in History: Society, Politics and Personal Appearance, C. 1500 to the Present. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988. 89-181. Print.

Marwick, Arthur. “Beauty and the Growth of Entrepreneurial Society, c. 1800-c. 1905.” Beauty in History: Society, Politics and Personal Appearance, C. 1500 to the Present. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988. 220-233. Print.

Marwick, Arthur. “Personal Appearance and Life Experiences, c. 1800-c. 1905 “Beauty in History: Society, Politics and Personal Appearance, C. 1500 to the Present. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988. 224-260. Print.

Ponte, Carmo. “Incest and the Female Character in Eça de Queirós’ ‘A Tragédia de Rua das Flores’.” Portuguese Studies, Vol. 7 (1991). 78-85. Print.

Queirós, Eça de. The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Sawtry: Dedalus, 2000. Kindle file.

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