 Cover of the Dedalus European Classics 2018 version. Cover illustrates "The Ambassador of Jesus" byPaula Rego | |
| Author | José Maria de Eça de Queiroz |
|---|---|
| Original title | O Crime do Padre Amaro |
| Translator | Nan Flanagan,Margaret Jull Costa |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Publisher | Typografia Castro Irmão |
Publication date | 1875 |
| Publication place | Portugal |
Published in English | 1962, 2003, 2018 |
| ISBN | 978-0-85051-508-4 (Portuguese);ISBN 978-0-552-99134-6 (Flanagan translation);ISBN 978-0-8112-1532-9 (Costa translation) |
| OCLC | 76891987 |
O Crime do Padre Amaro: cenas da vida devota (published in translations asThe Crime of Father Amaro: Scenes from the Religious Life orThe Sin of Father Amaro), is a novel by the 19th-century Portuguese writerJosé Maria de Eça de Queiroz. It was first published in 1875 to great controversy.
Eça finished the first draft of this novel in 1875. He sent it to some friends who ran a literary magazine, with the request that they return the proofs so he could edit them. However, they began to serialise the story without allowing him to see the proofs. He subsequently revised the novel and submitted it to a publisher in 1876 but it was barely noticed by the public. Eça then wroteCousin Bazilio, returning toThe Crime of Father Amaro only after the publication ofCousin Bazilio in 1878. The third version involved an extensive rewrite and was described by Eça as "an entirely new novel".[1]
The novel concerns a young priest, Amaro, who serves as diocesan administrator atLeiria. Amaro lacks a vocation, having been pushed into the priesthood by his aristocratic patrons, the Marquesa de Alegros and, later, the Conde de Ribamar, and, owing to the vow of chastity he was obliged to take, is obsessed with women and deeply sexually frustrated.
Upon arriving in Leiria, he falls for Amélia, the beautiful daughter of his landlady, a pious widow and the mistress of his superior, Canon Dias. After Amélia's fiancé, João Eduardo, publishes an exposé of the local clergy's venal habits in the town's newspaper under a pseudonym, Amaro and his colleagues and parishioners expose João Eduardo as the author of the piece, pressure Amélia to break off the engagement, and drive João Eduardo out of town.
Amaro begins a sexual relationship with Amélia, meeting first in his coal cellar and then in the bell-ringer's house, using charitable visits to his bedridden, mentally disabled daughter as a cover. His love affair with Amélia ends in tragedy when she becomes pregnant and is forced to seclude herself in the countryside for the duration of the pregnancy to prevent a scandal.
João Eduardo returns to Leiria, and there is talk of convincing him to marry Amélia and hence make the child legitimate, but this does not come to pass. Amaro and his maid, Dionisia, who also acts as a midwife, find a wet-nurse who, it is implied, kills babies in her care. Amélia gives birth to a healthy boy, who is handed over to the wet-nurse by Amaro and killed. Amélia suffers complications after the birth and dies of a burst aneurysm, or so the doctor tells everyone. She was in good health immediately after the birth, but became hysterical when she was not allowed to see her son. The actual paternity of Amélia's child, while the subject of gossip, never comes to light, and Amaro moves on to another parish. The novel leaves him in Lisbon, discussing the events of theParis Commune.
Writing in theWashington Post,Michael Dirda describesO Crime do Padre Amaro as a "terrific novel". Noting that the work is often compared withÉmile Zola'sLa Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, Dirda argues that "Eça's relentless and unforgiving satire is far more sweeping than Zola's often soft-focused pastoral". He adds that the novel employs every sort of comedy and that Eça is a writer "who understands sex".[2]
Zločin pátera Amara, a Czechoslovak movie from 1968 is an adaptation of the novel. Jaroslav Dudek directed the movie.[4]
In 2002,Carlos Carrera directed a Spanish-language version ofO Crime do Padre Amaro (El crimen del padre Amaro) in Mexico. It starredGael García Bernal as Father Amaro and was greeted with public outrage in Mexico, whereChristian groups called for it to be banned. In 2002, it was one of theBest Foreign Language Film Nominees at the75th Academy Awards. The film was criticized in Portugal as insufficiently faithful to the novel. It was said that Mexico in 2002 has little or nothing to do with the 19th century context in the novel; in addition, Amaro's motivation is different. In the novel his education steers him into the priesthood, whereas in the film he chooses to follow this path himself and has some anticlerical views. Finally, Eça's Amélia is older (aged 23) than her film equivalent, although the actress who played the part (Ana Claudia Talancón) turned 22 in the year the film was released.[5]
In 2005,Carlos Coelho da Silva directed a movieO Crime do Padre Amaro in Portugal. This was a production sponsored by theSIC television channel. Padre Amaro (Jorge Corrula) and Amélia (Soraia Chaves) were the main characters. According to theIMDb, this was (as of January 2006) the most successful Portuguese movie in Portuguese box office history.[1]
In 2023,Leonel Vieira directed a Portuguese TV miniseriesO Crime do Padre Amaro forRTP starring Jose Condessa as Padre Amaro and Bárbara Branco as Amélia. This adaptation was the first to portray the same time period as the novel.[6]
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