Miguel Torga (), pseudonym of Adolfo Correia da Rocha ( São Martinho de Anta,

Sabrosa Sabrosa () is a municipality in the district of Vila Real in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 6,361, in an area of 156.92 km2. History Although the municipality was established on 6 November 1945, the history of the region ex ...

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the Norte, Portugal, North region, Portugal. It is also the seat of the Douro (intermunicipal community), Douro Intermunicipal communities of Portugal, intermunicipal comm ...

district, 12 August 1907 –

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

, 17 January 1995), is considered one of the greatest Portuguese writers of the 20th century. He wrote

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, short stories, a genre in which he is accounted a master,

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and a 16 volume diary, written from 1932 to 1993.Miguel Torga Biography at Infopédia (Portuguese)
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Life

He was born in the village of São Martinho de Anta in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region (northern Portugal), to small-time farmer parents Francisco Correia da Rocha and wife Maria da Conceição de Barros. After a short spell as a student in a

catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Lamego Lamego (; ) is a city and municipality in the Viseu District, in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of the Douro Subregion, Douro in northern Portugal. Located on the shores of the Balsemão River, the municipality has a population of 26,691 ...

, his father sent him to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in 1920, where he worked on an uncle's coffee plantation. His uncle, finding him to be a clever student, decided to pay for his studies. Torga returned to Portugal in 1925 to complete high school and in 1933 graduated in

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, 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 ...

. After graduation he practiced in his village of São Martinho de Anta and in other places around the country. By this time, he started writing and self-publishing his books for a number of years. In 1941, he established himself as an otolaryngologist

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. He married the academic and literary critic Andrée Crabbé Rocha; they had one daughter, Clara Crabée da Rocha (b.

, 1955), a literary academic who became the second wife in 1985 of Vasco Graça Moura.

Literary work and recognition

He was a member of the literary movement ''Presença'' for a short period before founding two cultural magazines in the 1930s. After the publication of the book ''O Quarto Dia da Criação do Mundo'' he was arrested for two months, between December 1939 and February 1940. His agnostic beliefs are reflected in his work, which deals mainly with the nobility of the human condition in a beautiful but ruthless world where God is either absent or nothing but a passive and silent, indifferent creator. The recognition of his work earned him several important awards, as the Montaigne Prize, in 1981, and the first ever Prémio Camões in 1989. He was several times nominated for the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

of Literature, from 1959 to 1994, and it was often believed that he would be the first Portuguese language writer to win it (

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese writer. He was the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which ...

would eventually become the first Portuguese literary Nobel winner in 1998). Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado several times stated that Torga deserved that honour and the 1978 nomination had the support of Vicente Aleixandre, the winner of the previous years.

Works

Poetry

*Ansiedade (1928) *Rampa (1930) *O Outro Livro de Job (1936) *Lamentação (1943) *Nihil Sibi (1948) *Cântico do Homem (1950) *Alguns Poemas Ibéricos (1952) *Penas do Purgatório (1954) *Orfeu Rebelde (1958)

Fiction

*Pão Arábio (1931) *''Farrusco. The Blackbird and other Stories from the Portuguese''. Translated with an Introduction by Denis Brass. Illustrations by Gregorio Prieto. George Allen & Unwin Ltd.; London, 1950. *Criação do Mundo. Os Dois Primeiros Dias (1937; autobiographic basis) (English: The Creation of the World - The First and Second Day) *O Terceiro Dia da Criação do Mundo (1938; autobiographic basis) *O Quarto Dia da Criação do Mundo (1939; autobiographic basis) *O Quinto Dia da Criação do Mundo (1974; autobiographic basis) *O Sexto Dia da Criação do Mundo (1981; autobiographic basis) *Bichos (1940;

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

) *Contos da Montanha (1941;

) *O Senhor Ventura (1943;

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

) *Novos Contos da Montanha (1944;

) (English: New Tales from the Mountain) *Vindima (1945) (English: Grape Harvest) *Pedras lavradas (1951) *Fogo Preso (1976)

Theatre

*Terra Firme e Mar (1941) *O Paraíso (1949) *Sinfonia (1947; dramatic poetry)

Travel notes

*Portugal (1950) *Traço de União (1955)

Diary

*Diário (16 volumes, published from 1941 to 1994) (Diary)

Posthumously published work

*Poesia Completa (2000)

Prizes

*Prémio

Diário de Notícias () is a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in Lisbon on 29 December 1 ...

(1969) *Prémio Internacional de Poesia (1977) * Montaigne Prize (1981) * Prémio Camões (1989) *Prémio Vida Literária da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores (1992) *Prémio da Crítica, for his entire work (1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torga, Miguel 1907 births 1995 deaths People from Sabrosa 20th-century Portuguese poets Portuguese male poets Portuguese medical writers Portuguese agnostics University of Coimbra alumni Camões Prize winners 20th-century Portuguese people 20th-century Portuguese male writers Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century pseudonymous writers