Alves Redol
Alves Redol was a significant Portuguese neorealist writer born in 1911 in Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. Despite facing poverty and limited education, he worked various jobs, including a stint as a migrant laborer in Angola, which profoundly influenced his literary voice. Upon returning to Portugal, he completed his high school education and became involved in the Movimento de Unidade Democrática, a political party with communist leanings opposing the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar. Redol's experiences shaped his commitment to a politically conscious literature that addressed social issues, aligning him with the neorealism movement that reacted against the more aesthetic Presencismo style. His debut publication in 1936 was a series of short stories, followed by his first novel, "Gaibéus," which solidified his reputation and articulated his belief that literature should highlight and address social problems. Redol's works spanned various genres, and he is regarded as the first popular literary author in Portuguese history. He passed away in Lisbon in 1969, leaving behind a legacy of impactful literature that resonates with themes of social justice and political awareness.
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Alves Redol
- Born: December 29, 1911
- Birthplace: Villa France de Xira, Portugal
- Died: November 29, 1969
- Place of death: Lisbon, Portugal
Biography
Born in 1911 in Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal, neorealist writer Alves Redol acquired limited education at the Colégio Arriaga in Junquiera, but was not able to pursue consistent schooling due to poverty. Between the ages of ten and twenty, Redol worked in his father’s hardware store, as a cabinetmaker, salesman, and office worker, and as a migrant laborer in Angola in Southern Africa, where he spent a miserable four years between the ages of sixteen and twenty.
After returning to Portugal and in declining health, Redol completed his high-school education, graduating with honors in economics at the age of twenty-four. He worked at a local newspaper while completing school, and then joined the revolutionary political party Movimento de Unidade Democrática, whose communist leanings and opposition to the dictator Antonio Salazar complicated Redol’s efforts to establish himself as a writer. His connection with this party and the oppressiveness of contemporary Portuguese politics, as well as his unhappy experience in Angola, contributed to his distinctive voice and the political vision for which he was beloved by the Portuguese people.
The literary movement known as Portuguese neorealism, although heavily influenced by American authors such as Steinbeck and Hemingway as well as northeastern Brazilian novelists Amado and Ramos, was inaugurated by a reaction against the aesthetically driven writing of the Presencismo movement in favor of a politically conscious writing, largely predicated on opposing the fascist military government that took power in Portugal in 1926. It is for this reason that the movement is sometimes referred to as socialist realism.
Although Redol affiliated himself with these writers and became passionate about their politics almost immediately upon his return from Angola, he did not begin publishing until 1936, when a series of his short stories appeared in the literary journal O Diablo. The stories depicted the people of the Ribatejo region, the “heart of Portugal” located along the Tagus river. Three years later, Redol published his first novel, Gaibéus. The novel was tremendously popular, and its preface, in which Redol argues that literature should illuminate social problems and dramatize solutions, is viewed by scholars as the solidifying statement of neorealism.
Gaibéus is Redol’s most enduringly popular and significant work, but he published extensively in several genres, including children’s stories, drama, and sociological studies from a socialist perspective. He is considered the first popular literary author in Portuguese history. Redol married Maria dos Santos Mota in 1936, and they had a son, Antonio, their only child, in 1943. His 1958 book, A barca dos sete lemes, was translated into English as A Man with Seven Names in 1964. Redol died in Lisbon in late 1969.