Eça of Love, Mockery and Vilification: “O Defunto”

Abstract

In the short story “O Defunto” (The Corpse), Eça de Queirós’s main ideas are succinctly and rigorously in evidence. These ideas indicate, on the one hand, an acute familiarity with lyrical love poetry in the Gallego- Portuguese tradition, in its preservation of uses and customs and in its perpetuation of social and cultural contents; on the other hand, these same practices awaken a desire for the new, demonstrating a critical approach to the literary object, in respect to gender norms, subjecting them to irony and parody, and, in sum, disrupting them in such a way, like in the short story in question, as to allow most of its interpreters to view them as strange. Or fantastic.