At 60 years of age, José Cândido de Oliveira Martins is a leading figure in Portuguese language literary studies. He left the bucolic parish of Ribeira, in the municipality of Ponte de Lima, at an early age. The world of letters (teaching and research) called him to embrace teaching, various projects and a wide range of publications.
He is currently a professor and researcher at the Portuguese Catholic University, in the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (Braga) • PhD in Humanities (specialising in Literary Theory). Over the years, he has coordinated bachelor's, master's and doctoral courses in the field of Portuguese literature, as well as being director of his faculty's library for 10 years. He is also coordinator of the Culture area at UCP-Braga. In addition to these roles, he is actively involved in the celebrations of the bicentenary of the birth of Camilo Castelo Branco, which began in March and are set to end in March next year. In this context, he coordinates a collection of Camilo's works, of which eight volumes have been published out of a total of 14 books.
What memories do you have of your childhood?
I was born in Ponte de Lima and attended school there until the equivalent of 6th grade, known as the preparatory cycle. Then, at the age of 11, I came to study in Braga. I have lived in this city ever since, but I maintain an emotional connection with Ponte de Lima, not least because my family lives there. The place where you are born is always a special place, it's hard to explain. I really like Ponte de Lima, where I maintain regular cultural collaboration. It is a very beautiful town, with history and cultural tradition. It has names linked to literature, such as António Feijó, a well-loved poet. The people of Ponte de Lima are proud of their long and rich history.
The town has a charter (granted by D. Teresa in 1125) that predates Portugal's independence. Together with historian Alexandra Esteves (University of Minho), also a native of Ponte de Lima, we are now organising two conferences as part of the varied programme of celebrations for the 900th anniversary of Ponte de Lima.
Did you have access to books at that time?
Always. I was fortunate. My parents were humble people and not particularly educated, having only completed fourth grade.
In addition to the motivation provided by school itself, I had an older cousin (Aurora) in my family (and these things make all the difference) who had a small library from which I could bring books home. I am from a time when we also used the old Gulbenkian vans that passed through the village.
I had a card and would go there enthusiastically to pick up half a dozen books that I would read avidly. It was truly fascinating! I began to enjoy reading and developed regular reading habits, thus feeding this very healthy addiction. I remember another relative (Salvador) reading to us at night by the fireplace, pages from Jules Verne's narrative about Miguel Strogoff. It was a very lively and dramatic reading, even without television. He would tell stories and funny details.
In between, he would exaggerate the dramatisation of Napoleon's soldiers when they arrived in Moscow and froze to death. I have never forgotten that description. He was a simple man, who did not have much education, but he was well-travelled and passionate about reading, and that left its mark.
Did this privileged background lead you to become a “man of letters”?
I admit that I did. After finishing secondary school, I ended up studying for a degree in Arts at the Catholic University, in the field of Humanities. I felt like a fish in water. The course was exactly what I liked: literature and language. I felt really good and couldn't imagine any other course.
I know that there is a very special person in your family...
That's true. I had a very special grandfather (Francisco Oliveira), an honest, affectionate and very attentive man. He always asked how things were going in Braga and was very proud to hear about his grandson's progress. Later, when I went to university and was invited to teach at the Catholic University, my grandfather became immensely proud. Shortly before he passed away, at almost 100 years of age, he attended my doctoral defence, a tender and unforgettable memory.
Were you the first in your family to study?
No, there were others. For example, my aunt Cândida – my mother's sister and my godmother – was my primary school teacher. As a result, I had twice as much homework (laughs). She gave me the same homework she gave the other pupils and then overloaded me with some extra. I have two siblings: a sister who has a beautiful restaurant in Ponte de Lima and a brother who is a tax inspector. It's always a great pleasure to spend time with my family.
What did you find in Braga in terms of culture?
There wasn't the cultural richness that exists in the city today. The “cultural agenda”, after all these decades, is much richer today. One of the first events I remember, which isn't even cultural, was the AGRO (Agricultural Fair) around 1980, which was very politicised at the time. At AGRO, propaganda from the USSR was distributed, with magazines that conveyed very colourful images of the development of the USSR as a model. It's a detail that I still remember.
You chose what was then called the Faculty of Philosophy. Was there any particular reason for that?
Yes, I chose it because it offered courses in my field, Philosophy and Humanities. I entered university with classmates I already knew from secondary school. It was five years with many good teachers. Many of them were Jesuits, open-minded and cultured, with a very strong humanistic component. Like thousands of other students at this Faculty, I benefited from this solid education. Many of these people are now Portuguese teachers in schools in the north of the country, alongside other professions.
What remains from that time?
Memories always remain, teachers, a wealth of good images, socialising, classmates.
There are also a number of fond memories of studying, the pleasure of discovery, new books, new authors. The pleasure of spending hours and hours studying at home or in the university library. This education in method and work is something that is acquired at a young age and stays with you for life. Like learning to manage time. We don't have our parents with us. Managing money, food, taking care of clothes... A place of values, a model school. We had a close relationship with our teachers, they called us by name, they talked to us outside of class. It's still like that today. We don't exactly have crowds of students, and they talked to us outside of class. It's still like that today. We don't exactly have crowds of students, and that's an advantage for any student who feels comfortable talking to teachers, asking questions, discussing reading, developing their personality. This close and personal relationship makes a big difference compared to other more massified teaching models.
At that point, did you have any plans to pursue an academic career?
No. When I was a student, I thought I would be a teacher in a primary or secondary school. But when I finished my degree, I did an internship at a secondary school and only then did the invitation come. I was delighted and accepted. I had so much admiration for teachers that I couldn't imagine myself in that role.
delighted and accepted. But during my degree, I never even imagined such a scenario. I had so much admiration for teachers that I couldn't imagine myself in that role.
You became one of the leading figures in the bicentenary celebrations of Camilo Castelo Branco.
When did you first encounter this novelist?
I've been reading Camilo since I was a teenager. I've been reading him for as long as I can remember. I can't identify the first book I read by him... it may have been ‘Maria Moisés’, because I had a cousin who was a priest, a teacher at the Seminary in Braga, who lent me books. Then I read ‘Amor de Perdição’ and ‘A Queda dum Anjo’, which were also compulsory reading at school. So many other Camilo titles followed.
Did you realise right away that he was a different kind of author?
I realised that he was an author who was very connected to the geography of the north, whereas Eça de Queirós and others spoke to us of a different Portugal, centred on the capital. Camilo also spoke of the city of Porto, but he was an author who was deeply rooted in and very knowledgeable about northern Portugal. As a more attentive and adult reader, I confirmed that he had an unusual knowledge of the Portugal where he lived and where he had multiple personal experiences, in an unusual biography of the Portugal where he lived and where he had multiple personal experiences, in an eventful biography. So much so that there is a great Spanish writer, Miguel de Unamuno - who was rector of the University of Salamanca - who travelled around Portugal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, writing a book with his memories of those travels and, at one point, saying that he cannot travel without taking Camilo's books under his arm. He praises Camilo in superlative terms as the great painter of Portuguese social and spiritual reality. The central idea is that Camilo portrayed Portugal like no other writer. It is not advisable to visit Portugal without knowing Camilo.
Please explain your contribution to Camilo's bicentenary.
The idea of a bicentenary is particularly timely. Celebrating 200 years since Camilo's birth and letting it go unnoticed would be unthinkable. He is a great and popular Portuguese writer. There is a very varied programme, with shows of various kinds (musicals and plays), exhibitions, documentaries, multiple academic initiatives (conferences and colloquiums), television programmes (I participated in two on RTP), lectures in schools and libraries, and various publications. My contribution is varied - on the one hand, in May I organised an international colloquium on Camilo at the National Library (Lisbon), as well as participating in several other colloquiums, both inside and outside Portugal; on the other hand, together with “Opera Omnia”, I am providing a new edition of the works of the immortal Camilo.
It is a well-selected collection of around 14 titles, eight of which have already been published. Out of curiosity, someone managed to count the number of pages Camilo wrote, which exceeded 60,000. It is an astonishing body of work! It is no coincidence that he is considered the great Portuguese professional of letters. He began in the late 1840s and continued until his suicide in 1890. That is half a century of intense writing, and the fact that he is considered a great professional of letters is not only because of the quantity, but also because of the quality.
In addition, it is worth remembering that we are dealing with a writer who made his living from writing...
Very well remembered. Camilo literally lived from writing, he had no other profession. There are great writers from the 19th century who had other professional livelihoods, such as Garrett or Eça. In Camilo's case, he was fortunate to have a house and properties that he gained from his relationship with Ana Plácido, and this gave him some stability. However, he had a wife and three children. In the 1860s, there were years when Camilo wrote half a dozen books in a single year! He didn't just write those books, but also letters, chronicles, translation work, etc. He was a tireless worker. We are amazed by this abnormal capacity for work.
The facts he recounts take on even greater significance in an era when technology did not exist....
Without a doubt! In between, he received visitors at home, travelled... to be able to write the work he wrote is astonishing, reserved for people touched by genius. To write with such intensity and, in his later years, to face serious health problems. He suffered from several illnesses, one of which affected his vision. He denies even an extreme situation - it seems like a scene from a film, having great difficulty seeing to write! He got around this by writing standing up, with candlesticks and red ink, because it had a greater reflection so he could glimpse what he was writing. It is humanly touching. It resembles the image we have of Beethoven, deaf at the end of his life, composing works he cannot hear.
Obsessed?
Yes. We are dealing with a writer who needs to write, and who writes until the end of his life. To this day, there have been attempts to publish Camilo's complete works, but strictly speaking - apart from a famous edition by Professor Jacinto Prado Coelho and another by Justino Mendes de Almeida for Lello - we still do not have Camilo's complete works. If anyone wants to buy them today, they cannot find them in a single edition.
Is there any explanation for this gap?
The immensity of Camilo's work is an editorial challenge. Camilo's contributions to the press are extremely abundant and varied. From serialised stories, which were a way of publishing a narrative or novel in small chapters at the bottom of the page in a newspaper, weekly or fortnightly. This was a source of income for the author.
It was very well paid for the time, and writers needed it.
Was Camilo loved by Portugal?
He was (and still is) a very popular writer. He has a monumental body of work published during his lifetime. In terms of romantic tragedy, he is unparalleled in Iberian literature. Camilo is the great writer within this genre, although his work extends to other genres. Another factor that shows Camilo's popularity is that he was a writer who, at the time, was the subject of biographies while still alive. In 1861, the first one appeared, by José Cardoso Vieira de Castro. He was only in his early thirties. Others followed, by Alberto Pimentel and Father Sena de Freitas. After Camilo's death, his life attracted the attention of authors such as Teixeira de Pascoaes, António Cabral, Aquilino Ribeiro, Agustina Bessa-Luís, Mário Cláudio, Alexandre Cabral, among many others. This says a lot about the greatness and seductiveness of the writer.
Do you think it should be read more in schools, or is it a settled issue?
What I can tell you is that since his death, Camilo has been one of the most widely published authors. However, in official primary and secondary education, his presence falls short of the writer's greatness. Most students attending school are not required to read Camilo. This is unfair, and the writer deserves greater recognition. Let us hope that these celebrations will bring about this reflection.
...especially since we are dealing with a work that seems inexhaustible....
I am glad you made that point. Agustina Bessa-Luis, a great Camilo scholar, says that one of Camilo's great virtues is that we never read all of Camilo, we never finish reading Camilo, there is always more Camilo to read. Like me, many readers of Camilo can devote years to reading Camilo and still feel that there is much left to read.
Do you know how many books by Camilo you have read?
I have no idea. I have read dozens of books (I have reread several of them), but I am convinced that there are many more. His work is so extensive that few people can boast of having read everything Camilo has written.
Does internationalisation happen during one's lifetime or after death?
During one's lifetime, I don't think so. There is currently no good history of European literature that ignores Camilo. However, he may not have a large number of translations into various languages, which is also essential. One of the objectives of the bicentenary celebrations could be to invest, through the Camões Institute, in a greater number of translations of Camilo's works. In Brazil, Camilo has always enjoyed remarkable popularity, being admired by writers of the stature of Machado de Assis.
‘O Amor de Perdição’ (Doomed Love). Why was it so popular?
It is difficult to explain rationally. We Portuguese have a certain inclination to value this passionate dimension. It is no coincidence that one of the great mythical narratives of our cultural imagination is the story of Pedro and Inês; or that our earliest poetry develops the theme of dying for love. On top of that, it tells us a complex story, because Camilo does not limit himself to narrating the relationship of a young couple who love each other and see their relationship as impossible, young people who love each other and see their relationship as impossible, but introduces a third character, Mariana, a simple girl from the countryside, the daughter of a blacksmith, who falls in love with Simão Botelho, creating a love triangle full of truths, in a very genuine way. In addition, it is an autobiographical work in which the writer talks about himself when talking about the story of his uncle Simão Botelho, as both were in the same prison.
A work written in two weeks...A work written in two weeks...
True! Camilo said that they were ‘the busiest 15 days of my life.’ It should be noted that he was in the Cadeia da Relação prison in Porto for more than a year because of the adultery case, and even in these very special circumstances, he actively produced several books. One of the most original
was Memórias de Cárcere (Memoirs from Prison), in which he tells several intertwined stories. ‘Zé do Telhado’ is one of the best known, a popular and mythical figure, a way for Camilo to romanticise our “Robin Hood” who stole from the rich and ended his life in Brazil. There is perhaps no other book in Portuguese literature with so many adaptations (theatre, cinema).
It achieved great popularity and touched the national sensibility. For example, the director Manoel de Oliveira, in the long version of ‘O Amor de Perdição’ (Doomed Love), had such respect for Camilo that he made a point of including all the dialogue from the work in the film. As if it were a sacred text that could not be amputated.
Does this collection, which is now being released, meet your expectations?
It is a short and very worthy collection, an initiative of the publisher “Opera Omnia”, sponsored by CCDRN (Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission) and supported by several municipalities, lands of Camilo's geography - Municipal Councils of Braga, Vila do Conde, Viseu, Fafe, Cabeceiras de Basto, Ribeira de Pena, Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo, etc. Each book, through the story it tells, is thus linked to a specific territory, where we then hold the public launch of each work. It can attract new readers and even promote cultural and literary tourism. All books have a generous explanatory introduction, designed for a wide and interested audience. There is also the intention that the text be edited rigorously and carefully. Editing Camilo is also a cultural service, fostering reading habits and knowledge of one of our greatest writers of all time.
What was the selection criterion?
Camilo is an author closely linked to the North. There was no chronological criterion, nor was it necessary, with the geographical criterion predominating.
I can say that it is a graphically beautiful edition, hardcover, illustrated, a beautiful graphic object, with very diverse titles: ‘No Bom Jesus do Monte’, ‘Mistérios de Fafe’, ‘Amor de Perdição’, ‘A Filha do Arcediago’, ‘Maria Moisés’,
‘Eusébio Macário’, ‘A Corja’, ‘A Doida do Candal’.
‘Os Brilhantes do Brasileiro’, etc. In particular, let me mention that No Bom Jesus do Monte is a unique book, anchored in a special place in Camilo's life and work. The novelist visited the Sanctuary for the first time at the age of 10. Throughout his life, he made several pilgrimages to Bom Jesus, not only in search of a closer relationship with the sacred, but also motivated by social interaction and contact with nature. Camilo left extensive references to his travels and stays in the area in his work.
Will this Camilian collection run out with the funding?
It is excellent news that, shortly after the release of the first book in the collection (No Bom Jesus do Monte), the publisher had already sold out of copies for distribution to bookshops. Several municipalities continue to express interest and willingness to publish other works by Camilo, which is another very positive sign. The best tribute we can pay to a writer when we celebrate his 200th birthday is to read him.
As a teacher and researcher of Camilo, I am deeply convinced that this is one of the most noble tasks: to give Camilo to read. I feel that many readers may want to read Camilo for the first time and thus become citizens who come to know their language, their country and their culture better. Not knowing and admiring Camilo means having a very limited cultural and literary background. It is like being English and not knowing Shakespeare; being Spanish without having read Cervantes; being French and ignoring Balzac.
Was the end of Camilo's life to be expected?
Camilo had a very intense life with particularly dramatic moments. For those who read his work carefully, he often talks about himself, even touching on the subject of suicide at various points. Whether in his novels or in his letters, he complained a lot about his health problems. Suicide seems to have been a predictable tragedy. His health problems increased and he felt he was losing his sight... After many failed attempts to solve the problem, he was seen by a prestigious ophthalmologist in Seide. The doctor gave him up for dead. As soon as the doctor went downstairs, Camilo took his revolver and committed suicide.
What do you know about Camilo that still amazes you?
Always! Even when I reread a work I already know. A great writer has this power to surprise, especially for an attentive reader. It is never the same or predictable. We are moved by genius. I feel surprise and admiration on several levels - the unique use of language, the remarkable power of imagination in storytelling, the power to create settings and atmospheres, in short, the powerful ability to represent Portugal, which he knew so well, in a vast and vivid documentary archive. In Camilo, Portugal can see itself in the mirror, even today's Portugal. And that is admirable, whether in a great novel or in short stories, which are true masterpieces in any country. In short, there is always a Camilo who surprises us, who seduces us. After all, a great writer never loses his brilliance. Italo Calvino rightly said that the great classics are those writers who never cease to amaze us.
