Recommended Reading

Below is a short selection, in our humble opinion, of some essential reading from Portugal and the Portuguese Diaspora available in English.

Portuguese Fiction in Translation:

  • Antunes, António Lobo. Fado Alexandrino. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Grove Press, 1995; The Natural Order of Things. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Grove Press, 2001; What Can I Do When Everything’s on Fire?: A Novel. (Translated by Gregory Rabassa). W.W. Norton, 2008; Knowledge of Hell. (Translated by Clifford Landers). Dalkey Archive, 2008; and others.
  • Barreno, Maria Isabel, Maria Teresa Horta, and Maria Velho da Costa. The Three Marias: New Portuguese Letters. Readers International USA, 1994 [1973].
  • De Carvalho, Mário. A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening. (Translated by Gregory Rabassa). Grove Press, 2001.
  • De Melo, João. (Azores). My World is Not of This Kingdom. (Translated by Gregory Rabassa). Aliform Publishing, 2003.
  • De Queirós, Eça. The Crime of Father Amado. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa). New Directions, 2003; The Maias. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa). New Directions, 2007; The City and the Mountains. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa). New Directions, 2008; The Yellow Sofa. (Translated by John Vetch). New Directions, 1996; and others.
  • Jorge, Lídia. The Painter of Birds. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa). Harcourt, 2001; and The Murmuring Coast. (Translated by Natalia Costa and Ronald W. Sousa). University of Minnesota Press, 1995.
  • mãe, valter hugo. “dona malva and senhor josé ferreiro.” In Best European Fiction 2010, Aleksandar Hemon, ed. Dalkey Archive, 2010.
  • Peixoto, José Luis. The Implacable Order of Things. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Anchor Books, 2009.
  • Saramago, Jose. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. (Translated by Giovanni Pontiero). Mariner Books, 1992; The History of the Seige of Lisbon. (Translated by Giovanni Pontiero). Mariner Books, 1998; Blindness. (Translated by Giovanni Pontiero). Harvest Books, 1999; All the Names. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa). Mariner Books, 2001; and others.
  • Tavares, Gonçalo. Jerusalem. (Translated by Anna Kushner). Dalkey Archive, 2009.
  • Torga, Miguel. Tales and More Tales from the Mountain. (Translated by Ivana Carlsen). Carcanet Press, 1995.
  • Zink, Rui. “The Writing Bug.” (Translated by Richard Zenith). In Hunger Mountain, no. 9, Fall 2006.

Portuguese Poetry in Translation:

  • Andresen, Sophia de Mello Breyner. Log Book: Selected Poems (Translated by Richard Zenith). Carcanet Press, 1997; Shores, Horizons, Voyages: Selected Poems (translated by Rui Cascais Parada). Orchid Press, 2005; and Marine Rose: Selected Poems. (Translated by Ruth Fainlight). Black Swan, 1988.
  • Camões, Luís Vaz de. The Lusíads. (Translated by Landeg White). Oxford University Press USA, 2008; and Sonnets and Other Poems. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2009.
  • De Andrade, Eugénio. Forbidden Words: Selected Poetry. (Translated by Alexis Levitin). New Directions, 2003.
  • Pessoa, Fernando. A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Penguin Classics, 2006; The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Grove Press, 2002; Fernando Pessoa and Co. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Grove Press, 1999; The Book of Disquiet. (Translated by Richard Zenith). Penguin Classics, 2003; The Book of Disquiet. (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa), Serpent’s Tail, forthcoming 2011; and others.

Selected Literature from the Diaspora (not including Brazil):

  • Agualusa, José Eduardo (Angola). Creole. Arcadia Books, 2002; and The Book of Chameleons: A Novel. Simon & Schuster, 2008.
  • Almeida, Germano. (Cape Verde). The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo. New Directions, 2004.
  • Almeida, Onésimo T. (United States). Tales from the Tenth Island. Seagull/Faoileán, 2006.
  • Couto, Mia. (Mozambique). Sleepwalking Land. (Translated by David Brookshaw). Serpent’s Tail, 2006; and Under the Frangipani. (Translated by David Brookshaw). Serpent’s Tail, 2008.
  • Da Costa, Paulo. (Canada). The Scent of a Lie. Ekstasis Editions, 2002.
  • De Sa, Anthony. Barnacle Love. Anchor Canada, 2008.
  • De Vasconcelos, Erika. (Canada). My Darling Dead Ones. Vintage Canada, 1998.
  • Fagundes, Francisco Cota. (United States). Hard Knocks: An Azorean American Odyssey. Luso-Brazilian Books, 2000.
  • Felix, Charles Reis. (United States). Through a Portagee Gate. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2004.
  • Fortes, Corsino. (Cape Verde). Poems. (Translated by Sean O’Brien and Daniel Hahn). Enitharmon Press, 2008.
  • Gaspar, Frank. (United States). Leaving Pico. University Press of New England, 2001; Stealing Fatima. Counterpoint Press, 2009; and The Holyoke. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2007 [1988].
  • Kastin, Darrell. (United States). The Undiscovered Island. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2009.
  • Lewis, Alfred. (United States). Sixty Acres and a Barn: A Novel. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2005.
  • Miguéis, José Rodrigues (United States): A Man Smiles at Death with Half a Face. (Translated by George Monteiro). University Press of New England, 1990; and Steerage and Ten Other Stories. Gávea-Brown, 1983.
  • Silva, Julian. (United States). Distant Music: Two Novels: The Gunnysack Castle and The Death of Mae Ramos. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2007.
  • Vaz, Katherine. (United States). Saudade. St. Martin’s Press, 1994; Fado and Other Stories. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997; and Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories. Bison Books, 2008.

On Alberto de Lacerda:

Other Works of Interest:

  • Antunes, António Lobo. The Fat Man and Infinity and Other Writings. (Nonfiction). W.W. Norton, 2009.
  • Graham, Philip. The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon. (Travel Writing). University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  • Halter, Marilyn. Between Race and Ethnicity: Cape Verdean American Immigrants, 1860–1965. University of Illinois Press, 1993.
  • Khalvati, Mimi, ed. Saudade: An Anthology of Fado Poetry. (Poetry/Music). Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2010.
  • Leavitt, David. Salazar Blinks. (Novel.) Collier Books, 1990.
  • Lick, Sue Fagalde and Rose Reed, ed. Stories Grandma Never Told: Portuguese Women in California. Blue Hydrangea Productions, 2007.
  • Page, Martin. The First Global Village: How Portugal Changed the World. Casa das Letras, 2006.
  • Russell-Wood, A.J.R. The Portuguese Empire, 1415–1808: A World on the Move. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
  • Saraiva, Jose Hermano. Portugal: A Companion History. Carcanet Press, 1998.
  • Saramago, José. Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal’s History and Culture. (Translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Nick Caistor). Mariner Books, 2002.
  • Silva, Reinaldo. Representations of the Portuguese in American Literature. Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2008; and Portuguese American Literature. Troubador Publishing, 2010.
  • Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Teixeira, Carlos and Victor M.P. Da Rosa. The Portuguese in Canada: Diasporic Challenges and Adjustment, 2nd ed. University of Toronto Press, 2009.
  • Wenders, Wim, dir. Lisbon Story. (Film). Germany/Portugal. Madragoa Filmes, 1994.