El Crimen del Padre Amaro / Father Amaro's Crime

Los mejores libros jam s escritos. Por dentro se mov an silenciosamente los deseos, como serpientes tranquilas en su nido. Amado Vieira es un joven sacerdote que consigue ser trasladado de la parroquia rural en la que ejerce a otra en la bella ciudad de Leir a. Una vez all , se ve inmerso en un ambiente de libertinaje y desenfreno, al que es arrastrado por un grupo de sacerdotes de la localidad; uno de ellos incluso llega a alojarle en casa de su amante. Es all donde Amaro conoce a Am lia, la muchacha m s hermosa de la ciudad y que devendr la causa de su perdici n. La publicaci n de esta obra, en 1875, desat un esc ndalo en el pa s no solo por el deseo del autor de ridiculizar al clero, sino tambi n por su denuncia de la hipocres a de la sociedad de provincias. La presente edici n incluye una introducci n a cargo del escritor portugu s Jos Lu s Peixoto, quien conduce al lector hacia los entresijos de la obra que consagr a E a de Queir s como una de las grandes figuras de la literatura universal. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION An unflinching portrait of a priest who seduces his landlady's daughter, made into an acclaimed and controversial motion picture. E a de Queir s's novel The Crime of Father Amaro is a lurid satire of clerical corruption in a town in Portugal (Leira) during the period before and after the 1871 Paris Commune. At the start, a priest physically explodes after a fish supper while guests at a birthday celebration are "wildly dancing a polka." Young Father Amaro (whose name means "bitter" in Portuguese) arrives in Leira and soon lusts after--and is lusted after by--budding Amelia, dewy-lipped, devout daughter of Sao Joaneira who has taken in Father Amaro as a lodger. What ensues is a secret love affair amidst a host of compelling minor characters: Canon Dias, glutton and Sao Joaneira's lover; Dona Maria da Assuncao, a wealthy widow with a roomful of religious images, agog at any hint of sex; Joao Eduardo, repressed atheist, free-thinker and suitor to Amelia; Father Brito, "the strongest and most stupid priest in the diocese"; the administrator of the municipal council who spies at a neighbor's wife through binoculars for hours every day. E a's incisive critique flies like a shattering mirror, jabbing everything from the hypocrisy of a rich and powerful Church, to the provincialism of men and women in Portuguese society of the time, to the ineptness of politics or science as antidotes to the town's ills. What lurks within E a's narrative is a religion of tolerance, wisdom, and equality nearly forgotten. Margaret Jull Costa has rendered an exquisite translation and provides an informative introduction to a story that truly spans all ages.