Dr. Horácio Bento de Gouveia one of the greatest main figures of Madeiran literature, (b. Ponta Delgada, São Vicente, September 5th, 1901 - d. Funchal, May 23rd, 1983). With a degree in Historical and Geographic Sciences from the Lisbon Faculty of Arts, he was a journalist, essayist, lecturer, chronicler and high school teacher. He published “Páginas de Jornalismo” (1933); "Não foi o mar que o matou!” (948); “Ilhéus” (1949), a work that was republished in 1976, recovering the original title “Canga”, which had been censored, as well as certain chapters; “Lágrimas Correndo Mundo” (1959), “Águas Mansas” (1963), which was the first Madeiran novel to have international expression, having been translated into German in 1976 (Stille Wasser von Madeira); Canhenhos da Ilha (1966); “Alma Negra e outras almas” (1972); “Ana Maria” (1972); “Torna-viagem” (1979), also translated into English in 2016 (Round Trip: The Emigrant’s Journey) and “Margareta” (1980). The works “Luísa Marta” (1986); “Crónicas do Norte” (1994); “O Natal na cidade, a Festa no campo” (2001); “Escritos da Juventude: 1919-1930” (2001); “Escritos 2”: 1930-1939”(2007); “Escritos 3: 1940-1949” (2008); “Escritos 4: 1950-1959” (2011); “Tabita: fragmento para uma novela” (2013) and “Escritos 5: 1960-1969” (2014) were published posthumously. Among these works, Bento de Gouveia highlighted “Canga”, for being “the work that I lived the most, that is inside me” and “Margareta”, for being his “best novel, in form and content”.
He was recognized at national level by his peers and literary critics of the time, such as Hernâni Cidade, Artur Portela, Guedes de Amorim and M. Sousa Lobo. Particular emphasis to Agustina Bessa Luís and the Portuguese fiction writer, dramatic author, chronicler and essayist, Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro (1885-1963), who was an unfailing admirer of Bento de Gouveia, having even prefaced “Ilhéus” (1949).
Horácio Bento de Gouveia was honored in life by several entities, having received the "Gold Medal" from the municipal councils of S. Vicente and Funchal, and the Regional Government of Madeira also attributing his name to an elementary school in Funchal.
His name is also linked to a literary prize, established by the Municipality of São Vicente in 2002, in a protocol with the Madeira Writers Association, at the time chaired by José António Gonçalves. The residence where Horácio Bento de Gouveia was born, at Sítio dos Terços, Ponta Delgada, is a House-Museum today, open to the public since 1986.
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Credit to: Madeira Photography Museum - Atelier Vicente's.
PHOTOGRAPHIA VICENTE | Horácio Bento de Gouveia's picture
1923-05-14 | VIC / 569
14.3 x 9.9 cm | Simple glass negative | Gelatin-silver print