Constant political unrest has been prejudicial to letters in a small country without a numerous leisured class, and no distin guished literary figure arose during the years 1910-25, but even before 1910 a reaction had begun against revolutionary methods in politics and laxity or agnosticism in religion, which may lead to a healthier national life. This movement showed itself in the later works of Eca de Queiroz, and in the return to the church of the prose writer Ramalho Ortigao and of the poet Guerra Junqueiro. It is not only found in the writers of the Integralist school (a Portuguese counterpart to the Action francaise), most of the leading poets and prose writers are once more declared Catholics, and they have gone back to the people for inspiration, with happy results. Nationalism and regionalism have taken the place of naturalism and symbolism, which were copied from France and never commended themselves to Portuguese feeling as a whole. The inability of 6o% of the country-dwellers to read, saved many of them from losing their ideals and character during the period when a Liberal, destructive and anti-religious atmosphere per meated newspapers and books.
The new manner is seen especially in the novel, though it did touch the austere Republican and conscientious analyst of middle class society Teixeira de Queiroz (d. 1919). Following in the steps of Oliveira Martins, Anthero de Figueiredo has sought to combine history and art in D. Pedro e D. Ines (1913), Leonor Teles (1916), and D. Sebastido (1924), where he revives the figure of the last crusading king, and paints a picture of the times with abundant imagination. His Espanha (1923), .1 ornadas em Portugal (1918) and Senhora do Amparo (192o) are regional works, in a glowing style, which in the second suffers from over-elaboration.
The lack of a sound classical education is too evident in modern Portuguese prose, and few dare to attempt the straightforward narrative, sparing of adjectives and uncommon words, which is the chief attraction of the classics. Raul Brandao is an exception; his Pescadores (1924) tells of fisher folk and the tragedy of the ocean with poignant realism, and contains magnificent descriptions of the coast scenery. The book is worthy of the author of Os Pobres (1921). The trilogy of Manoel Ribeiro, A Catedral, probably sug gested by Huysmans, 0 Desert() and A Resurreiceio, constitute a remarkable performance in subject and atmosphere, without pre cedent in modern Portuguese, and its popularity is not less re markable. No better proof could be adduced of the changed times than these "clerical" books by a man of far from clerical ideas. At the close of this period he initiated a new trilogy with A Colina Sagrada (1926) and A Planicie Heroica (1927). The naturalism of Eca de Queiroz found a fresh interpreter in Aquilino Ribeiro, a novelist highly considered throughout the Peninsula. He is possessed of a rich vocabulary, and no one can create char acters or picture one side of country life so faithfully as he has done in A Via Sinuosa (1918). In 1925 he produced Filhas de
Babilonia, an unpleasant book, and Estrada de Santiago. The vol uminous Joao Grave added Gente Pobre (1912), Parsifal and A vida e Paixdo da Infanta to his list of romances. A brilliant satire on contemporary political events is to be found in Saude e Fra ternidade by Campos Monteiro.