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AGUSTINA BESSA‐LUIS: BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Maria do Carmo Cardoso
MENDES *
Autobiography and biography have a prominent place in Agustina Bessa‐Luís’ work. Both, in
conjunction with fiction, the writer believes that the so‐called objectivity of autobiographical and
biographical data cannot apprehend the deep essential meaning of her own life.
This paper aims: (a) to show the role and significance of autobiography and biographies in
Agustina’s work, the former through a reading of O Livro and the later through an hermeneutics
of her own understanding of the lives and works of Florbela Espanca and Paula Rego; (b) to put
in comparison the two genres worked out by the author in her writings.
Autobiography
In the essay “Conditions and Limits of the Autobiography” 1 , Georges Gusdorf says that
Autobiography properly speaking assumes the task of reconstructing the unity of a
life across time. (…) it is one of the means to self‐knowledge thanks to the fact that it
recomposes and interprets a life in its totality. (…) This recapitulation of ages of
existence, of landscapes and encounters, obliges me to situate what I am in the
perspective of I have been.
We can find the same vindication, I think, in Agustina Bessa‐Luís autobiography. In fact,
Agustina’s O Livro (2007) is a description of the writer’s life since childhood. Along the
presentation of key
moments and noteworthy places of her early years, Agustina evokes exemplary characters, mostly
women: an aunt who became “the model for Sibila (the protagonist of the novel with the same
title) and “opened my door to literature” 2 , and grandfather Teixeira, a brave man and a tenacious
lover of several women: “He was respectful and gracious. They loved him.” 3
The “matriarchal force of Agustina’s novels” 4 is consistent with this autobiography. Her father
and her grandfather are, in a certain sense, as weak as many fictional male characters: at twelve
years old, the second went to Brazil because he destroyed the family’s farmhouse and was defeated
in a court case. And her father enjoyed adventure, gambling and having dangerous loving affairs. On
the contrary, grandmother Justina was “The strong, serious and long‐suffering woman of the Bible”
(ibidem).
Agustina’s mother is depicted as a reserved woman, incapable of showing her feelings, even to
her daughter.
Family has then a special place in Agustina’s work, as several literary texts and brief observations
make us clearly know. Last year the writer insisted on this topic averring that “Family in my books
has a very detached place. Not as much as an institution, but as a protection against loneliness.
Men, with their propensity for selfishness, are mostly friendly and melancholic.” 5
The writer’s childhood is closely linked to the Portuguese region of Douro – “a tough place to
live” 6 – and to literature: “From early age, I discovered my mates in the books” 7 . During school time,
she lived in a monastery, in Póvoa de Varzim, where she developed her interest about literature:
“I‘ve liked Póvoa. I lived there my promising early life. I read a lot, learn French and Spanish, and
the home language.” 8
Agustina’s readings throughout her years of youth reveal she had some lack of interest in texts
where women had “little involvement” – Salgari or Jules Verne are two good examples. In turn, she
focused her attention on those novels where female characters had strong personalities.
*
School of Arts and Humanities, University of Minho - Braga, Portugal.