So Many People, Mariana

—Kelsey F., Powells (Portland, OR)

Maria Judite de Carvalho (1921-1998) is now recognized as a major Portuguese writer of the 20th century. In the short story she found the perfect vessel for her frank depictions of tragic, ordinary lives, and So Many People, Mariana collects her first four books of short fiction in English for the first time, telling of women & men in moments of existential conflict: with their families; with themselves; with the prospect of a better future--or any future at all.

These stories, originally published between 1959 & 1967, when the Salazar dictatorship and the rigid edicts of the Catholic church reigned, are acerbic, artful, & funny. Translated by the renowned Margaret Jull Costa, Carvalho leads readers into the sensuous dark of life under patriarchal capitalism, proffering tragic visions of class-conscious malaise "as precisely & without sentiment as an autopsy" (New York Review of Books).

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Maria Judite de Carvalho (1921-1998) is widely considered one of Portugal’s most important writers of the second half of the 20th century. Born & educated in Lisbon, with a secondary education in France, Carvalho’s work spans painting, journalism, & fiction, with a specialization in the short story & novella forms.

Margaret Jull Costa has worked as a translator for over 30 years, translating the works of many Spanish & Portuguese writers, among them novelists: Javier Marías, José Saramago, Eça de Queiroz, & Teolinda Gersão, & poets: Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, & Ana Luísa Amaral. Her work has brought her many prizes, most recently the Premio Valle-Inclán for On the Edge by Rafael Chirbes.