The skepticism in The Maias (1888), by Eça de Queirós

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the presence and importance of philosophical skepticism in the novel The Maias (1888) and, more broadly, in the Queirosian worldview, using a comparative approach to explore the correlation between literature and philosophy. Thusly, we intend to consolidate a less rigid and dogmatic interpretation of Eça’s works, in an effort to remedy the devaluation of Queirosian skepticism, to which Helder Garmes draws attention in the communication “Leituras marxistas da obra de Eça de Queirós” (2003), and also to present an alternative reading to the “return thesis”, put forward by Orlando Grossegesse, in the article “Não há regresso. Do sentido evolutivo do ‘primeiro Eça’” (2006/7). Therefore, we intend to demonstrate the hypothesis that the novel The Maias anticipates characteristics of the period that Gustavo Bernardo Krause, in A ficção cética, called “the century of uncertainty” (2004). Due to the richness and complexity of this novel, resultant of a long gestation and writing process, it is possible to observe, through the choices made by the implicit author, the presence of an organizing intelligence structured in a similar manner to that of the philosophical skepticism’s way of thinking, which manifests itself in different ways and spreads throughout all layers of the narrative, always highlighting dualities, doubts, uncertainties and paradoxes inherent to human nature and its social developments.