Joaquim Soeiro Pereira Gomes (14 April 1909 – 5 December 1949) was a Portuguese writer of realist influence and became one of the major names of Portuguese literature of the 20th century. Pereira Gomes is, along with

Alves Redol António Alves Redol (29December 191129November 1969) was a Portuguese neorealist writer. Life Redol was born in 1911 in Vila Franca de Xira to Antonio Redol da Cruz, a shopkeeper, and Inocência Alves Redol. When he was fifteen, his articles we ...

, the biggest name of the Portuguese neo-realist movement. He was also a communist militant and that was always present in his work. The

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

headquarters (Soeiro Pereira Gomes Building), in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, is named after him.

Life

Soeiro was born in Gestaçô, Baião,

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, the son of two farmers. He studied in the Agricultural School in

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 ...

. After finishing his studies, he emigrated to

Portuguese Angola In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical Evolution of the Portuguese Empire, colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1 ...

, where he worked for one year before returning to Portugal. He then settled in Alhandra, working in the local cement plant, where he developed an intense campaign of cultural dynamization among the workers. But what really made him remarkable was his work as a writer and his influence upon Portuguese society through socialist realism. In 1939, he published his first texts in the weekly newspaper ''O Diabo''. Among his major works there are two novels of deep social criticism -- ''Esteiros'' and ''Engrenagem'' -- and several stories that are an exaltation of

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

and communist militancy. As a member of the

, Soeiro was member of the Central Committee and was forced to live underground due to the repression of the Portuguese

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

regime. While living in such dangerous and precarious conditions and the fact he was a heavy smoker, Soeiro developed lung cancer and died of it, being unable to receive the medical help that he needed. His major work is ''Esteiros'', published in 1941, featuring many drawings by

Álvaro Cunhal Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...

, dedicated to the '' 'Sons of the men who were never a child'' '. It is the story of a lower-class group of boys that, because of their social status, are forced to work in a small brick plant instead of studying. The book is a harsh critique of the dominant social system and its countless inequalities. He also wrote a novel which was posthumously published: ''Engrenagem''. It displays the changes suffered by an agricultural environment transformed into an industrial one. Differently from ''Esteiros'', in ''Engrenagem'', one may find a strong pamphleteer tone. It could be considered as a result of the close relationship between Gomes and the Portuguese Communist Party at the time he composed the novel. It is right to say that, along with

Fernando Namora Fernando Namora (15 April 1919 – 31 January 1989), with the full name Fernando Gonçalves Namora was a Portuguese writer and medical doctor. Namora was born in Condeixa-a-Nova, Coimbra District and died in Lisbon, Portugal. He received his me ...

and Manuel da Fonseca, Gomes is one of the fathers of the movement known as Portuguese Neo-Realism.

Works

* '' Esteiros'' (1941) * '' Engrenagem'' (1951) * Contos Vermelhos * Refúgio Perdido * Última Carta

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Soeiro Pereira 1909 births 1949 deaths People from Baião, Portugal Portuguese male writers Portuguese Communist Party politicians Portuguese anti-fascists 20th-century Portuguese writers