 josÃ© maria de eÃ§a de queiroz or eÃ§a de queirÃ³saccording with the new portuguese orthography; see http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/e%c3%a7a_de_queiroz#cite_note-0. (; november 25, 1845 &ndash; august 16, 1900) is generally considered to be the greatest portuguese writer in the realist style.pick of the week - consul yourself, nicholas lezard, the guardian, 23 december 2000 zola considered him to be far greater than flaubert.backcover of the crime of father amaro: scenes of the religious life the london observer critics rank him with dickens, balzac and tolstoy.the maias, by eca de queiros, new directions publishing corp eÃ§a never officially rejected catholicism, and in many of his private letters he even invokes jesus and uses expressions typical of catholics, but was very critical of the catholic church of his time, and of christianity in general (also protestant churches) as is evident in some of his novels. during his lifetime, the spelling was "eÃ§a de queiroz" and this is the form that appears on many editions of his works; the modern standard portuguese spelling is "eÃ§a de queirÃ³s". ==biography== eÃ§a de queirÃ³s was born in pÃ³voa de varzim, portugal, in 1845. an illegitimate child, he was officially recorded as the son of josÃ© maria de almeida teixeira de queirÃ³s and carolina augusta pereira d'eÃ§a. at age 16, he went to coimbra to study law at the university of coimbra; there he met the poet antero de quental. eÃ§a's first work was a series of prose poems, published in the gazeta de portugal magazine, which eventually appeared in book form in a posthumous collection edited by batalha reis entitled prosas bÃ¡rbaras ("barbarous texts"). he work
1845_births 1900_deaths 19th-century_Portuguese_writers 19th-century_journalists 19th-century_novelists Ambassadors_of_Portugal_to_France People_from_PA3voa_de_Varzim Portuguese_diplomats Portuguese_journalists Portuguese_male_novelists Portuguese_writers University_of_Coimbra_alumni