The Divorced Woman

Vieira, José AugustoProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 311K words
Chapters: 32

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Divorciada by José Augusto VieiraAuthor: Vieira, José Augusto,Language: Portuguese, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Apr 7, 2010

Editor's review

A Divorciada is a work by the Portuguese writer José Augusto Vieira, belonging to Portuguese-language literature and included in the public-domain ebook project. Judging from the title and genre, it centers on the social identity of the divorced woman, focusing not on sensational plot but on the tension between women's circumstances, family ethics, and social judgment after a marriage breaks down. Such themes were not uncommon in Portuguese-language literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, where personal fate was often set against moral opinion, giving the work the weight of social observation. As a public-domain text, its value lies in preserving the language and narrative conventions of its time, making it suitable as reading material for Portuguese-language literature or as a supplementary text on related social issues. Readers should note that the ideas in the book bear clear marks of their era and are best viewed historically, rather than equated with the author's or present-day positions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers learning Portuguese who wish to engage with literary works in the original
Literary readers interested in marriage, family, and women's circumstances
Students and enthusiasts studying the history of Portuguese-language literature and social attitudes
Editors compiling or selecting public-domain texts in less-common languages for translation

Not a good fit for

Readers unfamiliar with Portuguese and without a translation to consult
Readers of popular fiction expecting strong plot and fast pacing
Readers sensitive to outdated gender attitudes who prefer not to read historical texts

Reading tips

First learn about the social attitudes toward divorce in the work's era, then begin the text.
Note the narrator's tone and stance when evaluating the heroine.
Portuguese learners can read a chapter through first, then look up unfamiliar words and sentence patterns.
Read it alongside female figures in Portuguese-language literature of the same period for comparison.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this book mainly about?

Judging from the title and genre, the work centers on the circumstances of a divorced woman, involving family relations, public opinion, and personal choices after a marriage breaks down. It is closer to a narrative work of social ethics than to a sensational popular novel, with its focus on characters' circumstances and conflicts of values.

Can I read it without knowing Portuguese?

The original is in Portuguese, and available information shows no Chinese translation. Readers without Portuguese will find it difficult; it is advisable to first use bilingual tools or an introduction to grasp the outline. If the goal is learning Portuguese, it can serve as original-language material beyond graded readers.

Are the ideas in the book outdated?

The work carries the moral attitudes and social prejudices of its time, and its views on divorce and women are clearly distant from those of today. It is best read as a historical text, observing the social mentality of the period, rather than taking its views as the author's position or today's consensus.

Comments

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About the author

Vieira, José Augusto Author

José Augusto Vieira is an author about whom publicly available information is currently limited; his life, nationality, and dates of birth and death are not clearly recorded. According to the existing bibliographic data, he has one work to his name, A Divorciada (meaning "The Divorced Woman"). Judging from the title alone, the work may deal with marriage, divorce, and the situation of women, suggesting narrative writing on family relations or social ethics. Owing to limited sources, however, its specific plot, writing style, and literary influence cannot be confirmed. Since only one of his works is held in the collection and information on common categories and the author's background is lacking, it is difficult at present to determine his place in literary history, and further inferences about his career should not be made. Readers seeking a deeper understanding would need more complete bibliographic and research materials.