''As Farpas'' (''The Barbs'') was a monthly publication started by the authors and journalists
Ramalho Ortigão
José Duarte Ramalho Ortigão () (24 November 1836 – 27 September 1915) was a Portuguese writer of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Biography
Ortigão spent his early years with his maternal grandmother in Porto. He studied law i ...
and Eça de Queirós. It first appeared in 1871, when the authors were, respectively, 35 and 26, and was published in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
until the end of 1882. Subtitled "The Country and Portuguese Society", the monthly issues presented a caricature of the society of the time and are considered an important contribution to Portuguese literature and the launching of critical journalism in the country.
History
''As Farpas'' was initiated in the same year in which the so-called Casino Conferences were held in Lisbon. At these conferences a group of young writers and intellectuals presented their suggestions to revolutionize Portuguese literature and cultural society of the time, based on the realist and
naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
philosophies of the French writer,
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
and others. It was the censorship imposed by the authorities on the conferences that is considered to have motivated, in large part, the authors to publish ''As Farpas''.
The magazine was published monthly, beginning on June 17, 1871. The first edition that appeared on the newsstands in Lisbon was a booklet of about one hundred pages, with an orange cover, decorated with the devil
Asmodeus
Asmodeus (; , ''Asmodaios'') or Ashmedai (; ; ; see below for other variations) is a king of demons in the legends of Solomon and the constructing of Solomon's Temple."Asmodeus" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia B ...
, bearing the title "As Farpas" and with the subtitle "Monthly Chronicle of Politics, Letters and of Customs ".Initially, most of the articles were written by Eça but after the September-October 1872 issue he left the publication to pursue a diplomatic career in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. leaving responsibility with Ramalho, who continued with it until 1882. Articles in ''As Farpas'' were initially highly critical and ironic. They satirized the partisan journalism of the press; the economic, cultural, social and moral aspects of the so-called Regeneration period in the country; religion and the Catholic faith; the segregation of the social role of women; and romantic literature. For Portugal, ''As Farpas'' represented a new and innovative concept of journalism, one of ideas and social and cultural criticism. They provided an excellent sociological observation of day-to-day life in Portugal. For example, observations were made of markets and prisons and in administration offices. The authors observed fishermen at work and at home, families in church, people at the theatre and journalists in the newsrooms. Articles considered adultery, clerical life, economic decay, and political and cultural degradation, themes that would later be developed in the novels of Eça de Queirós.
However, Eça's opinion about this work was not very positive. He said that they were “a collection of aged pimps that are not worth the paper on which they are printed” and described them as just a “huge laugh”. After his departure, the magazine under Ramalho Ortigão took on more of a pedagogical and moralizing tone, lacking the biting caricature provided by Eça de Queirós.
From 1887 to 1890 the articles by Ramalho were reprinted in eleven volumes. This was arguably the first literary work made from the condensation of journalistic articles, previously published in a newspaper or magazine, something that became common in the 20th Century. The texts written by Eça were assembled in two volumes in 1890 with the title ''Uma Campanha Alegre'' (''A Cheerful Campaign'').