Agostinho Fernandes (2 July 1932 – 29 June 2015) was a Portuguese writer and cardiologist who was the author of one of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

's key post-colonial novels, ''Bodki'' (1962), which had attracted significant critical attention.

Biography

Fernandes studied at the Liceu Nacional Afonso de Albuquerque before matriculating at the Escola Médica Cirúrgica de Goa; he considered working in Goa but won a place at the

Universidade de Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university is among the oldes ...

to develop his medical training. His first job (1960–62) was directing the campaign against

sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is caused by the species '' Trypanosoma b ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. He returned to Portugal and from 1974 to 1982 was a cardiologist at Centro Hospitalar das Caldas da Rainha, as well as working in other hospitals such as the Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon. He was a Member of Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia and the

European Society of Cardiology The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is an independent Nonprofit organisation, non-profit, non-governmental professional association that works to advance the prevention, diagnosis and management of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, a ...

. He was the brother of

John Claro John Claro Fernandes (born Joao Claro Fernandes; 5 December 1930 – 18 August 2024) was an Indian writer, theatre director, playwright, and actor known for his work in ''tiatr'' productions. Throughout his extensive career, he has made crucial c ...

, who became a noted

tiatr ''Tiatr'' (; ) is a type of musical theatre that is popular in the state of Goa on the west coast of India, as well as in Mumbai and among the Goan expatriate communities in the Middle East, United Kingdom, and other cities with a significant pr ...

writer and director.

Works

Fernandes's most famous work is the Portuguese-language novel ''Bodki'' (1962). In the words of Everton V. Machado,

The constant clash between modern convictions of the elite raised in a Christian environment and the popular beliefs among the lower social strata of Goa must be re-emphasized within the set of Indo-Portuguese themes, as is very clearly illustrated in the novel ''Bodki'' ... In it, a young physician from the capital finds himself confronting the superstitions of the people of a village, especially those who marginalize the ''bodki'', a Hindu widow, considered to be responsible for all the bad happenings that took place there.

Fernandes was involved in journalism in

and Portugal; wrote a number of unpublished plays in

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

; and the poetry collection ''Os Meus proprios pedaços''. He also wrote the novel ''Por além do além'', published in 2007.Agostinho Fernandes, ''Por além do além'' (Goa: Third Millennium; Editora Terceiro Milénio, 2007).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Agostinho 1932 births 2015 deaths Novelists from Goa Portuguese-language writers Konkani people Konkani-language writers Goan Catholics