 josÃ© cardoso pires, coml, gcm was a portuguese author of short stories, novels, plays, and political satire. ==origins and formative influences== born in the village of sÃ£o joÃ£o do peso, municipality of vila de rei, castelo branco district. many of the memories cardoso pires recounts are interesting in regard of the themes of his writing and his style as a novelist. although he was born in the interior, cardoso pires was very much a man of lisbon, the speech patterns and urban spaces of which can be felt in both his novels and short stories. his father was in the merchant navy and his mother was a homemaker. some of his paternal family had emigrated to massachusetts, and this vague american connection seems to have been one of the early reasons for cardoso pires' receptiveness to american literary styles at a time when portugal looked to france (and to extent brazilian regionalism of the north east) for its narrative models. in a documentary produced for portuguese television, cardoso pires describes seeking refuge in cinemas as a youth, and the effect that had on his notion of story-telling. he explains how, after seeing a film, he would have to recount it to his peers at school - a common practice at the time. he also mentions the formative role of cinceclubes, or film societies. the generally left-leaning associations, in cardoso pires's words, "contributed to the political and social education of many people"josÃ© cardoso pires cardoso pires studied mathematics at the university of lisbon, where he published his first short narratives, but left school to join the merchant marine, from which he was discharged for disciplinary problems. ==the writing years== after his short stint in the portuguese navy, cardoso pires started working as a journalist and devoted himself to writing. as an author, he has been perceived as being able to reconcile popularity with critical acclaim. this can be partly explained by his adoption of some of the narrative formulae of detective fiction and his controlled use of the portuguese language, which cardoso pires described as "pared down to the bone, wri
1925_births 1998_deaths Pessoa_Prize_winners Portuguese_writers