Ferreira de Castro

José Maria Ferreira de Castro (May 24, 1898 in Oliveira de Azeméis – June 29, 1974 in Oporto) was a Portuguese writer and journalist.

Ferreira de Castro
Photograph from c. 1933
Born
José Maria Ferreira de Castro

(1898-05-24)24 May 1898
Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal
Died29 June 1974(1974-06-29) (aged 76)
Porto, Portugal
Burial placeSintra Mountains
OccupationJournalist
Notable work
A Selva (1930)
MovementNeorealism
Signature

Life

Elder son of José Eustáquio Ferreira de Castro and Maria Rosa Soares de Castro. At 8 years old, he was orphaned by a father, a poor peasant and decides, at 12 years old, to emigrate with the intention of supporting his family. On January 7, 1911, he embarked on the "Jerôme" steam ship bound for Belém do Pará, Brazil [1]. There he would publish his first criminal novel by ambition, in 1916.

Later, for four years, he lived in the rubber plantation of Paraíso, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, along the bank of the Madeira River. After leaving the rubber tree Paraíso, he lived in precarious conditions, having to resort to jobs such as pasting posters, boarding boats on Amazonian ships, etc.

Later, in Portugal, he was editor of the newspaper O Século, director of the newspaper O Diabo and contributor to the magazines O domingo ilustrado [2] (1925-1927), Renovação (1925-1926) [3] and Ilustration [4] (started in 1926). In the service of the Pereira da Rosa newspaper, he signed vibrant chronicles, such as the day he was arrested in Limoeiro to witness the lives of prisoners in Portuguese prisons or his exclusive interview in Dublin with Éamon de Valera, leader of Sinn Fein in 1930. [5 ]

In 1930, he published A Selva, the work that would make him an international writer, including a Nobel Prize candidate. The book receives positive reviews in The New York Times and paves the way in Hollywood and allows him to join the French Pen Club. At that time, he tragically lost his wife, Diana de Liz, to whom he dedicated the book.

After the death of his wife, Ferreira de Castro left for England by boat, in the company of the writer Assis Esperança. He is sick, with septicemia, but is treated by the doctor and art historian Reynaldo dos Santos. As a result of the state of mourning, in December 1931, Ferreira de Castro attempted suicide to no avail. For convalescence, he left for Madeira, where he wrote the novel Eternidade (1933), whose theme is the obsession with death [6].

He was also famous for his travel literature, namely his book A Volta ao Mundo, recounting his travels around the world in the outset of World War II.

He is buried in Sintra, due to his expressed will [7].

References


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