Conference: “Sentimentality of hungry dummies: Camilo, Maria Moisés, literature against the brutality of the world”, given by Professor Abel Barros Batista

As part of the celebrations for the bicentenary of Camilo Castelo Branco's birth, the House of Camilo invited Professor Abel Barros Batista to give a lecture at the Camilo Castelo Branco Municipal Library entitled “Sentimentality of hungry dummies: Camilo, Maria Moisés, literature against the brutality of the world”.

Summary: It's often said that Camilo didn't believe that literature would leave the world better than it was when we arrived here. It is much less often said that he never tolerated the stupidity of brutes or gave in to the ignominy of the powerful. Maria Moisés, one of Camilo's best-known works, will be the subject of the conference to remind us of this less repeated feature. A masterpiece in a collection full of them, Novelas do Minho, it is characterized by a very original narrative composition, and above all by its exemplary determination, in the name of literature, against the brutality of the world.

Speaker: Abel Barros Batista

Biographical note: Abel Barros Baptista is a Head Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where he teaches Brazilian Literature, as well as Literature Theory and the teaching of literature. He has published several books on themes and authors of Portuguese and Brazilian literature, particularly his works on Camilo Castelo Branco and Machado de Assis. He is responsible for the research axis Literary tradition, texts, arts, theories.