AGUSTINA BESSA-LUÍS (Born 1922)
“I will not grant rest to those who listen to me, I will not let them stop on a feast day, because I place a firm stone even in water, and I project on the nursing child, and I drip oil on the sticking door and sense in the madman who feigns ignorance and says: This is nothing to do with me.” This is the greatest and most brilliant living writer, who, since 1948 (O Mundo Fechado – Closed World) and 2007 (A Ronda da Noite – Night Watch) has written over fifty novels, among which are A Sibila – The Sibyl from 1954, which was awarded many prizes and granted her international recognition.
In 1987 she wrote A Corte do Norte – The Northern Court, that extraordinary puzzle, with the cliffs and the peaks of the island of Madeira as a setting, a metaphor for freedom and power. “After Fernando Pessoa, Agustina is the second miracle of Portuguese XX century literature.”
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