Migratory Birds

José Valentim Fialho de AlmeidaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 327K words
Chapters: 33

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.Aves Migradoras by José Valentim Fialho de AlmeidaAuthor: Almeida, José Valentim Fialho de, 1857-1911,Language: Portuguese, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 16, 2007

Editor's review

This work is a short-story collection by the Portuguese writer José Valentim Fialho de Almeida, a literary text situated at the intersection of late nineteenth-century Portuguese realism and impressionist style. With a delicate and subtly ironic touch, the author depicts the urban underclass, society's marginalized figures, and the absurd moments of everyday life; the language is rich in sensory color and rhythm. As a public-domain e-book, it preserves the linguistic character of the original and is suited to readers of Portuguese literature, comparative literature, or Portuguese-language study as a primary text. When reading, one need not seek narrative continuity but should attend to the atmosphere and character sketches of each self-contained piece. Because the text is early, some social contexts and vocabulary require notes or background materials for understanding. Overall, this is a collection of literary sketches suited to slow reading and repeated savoring rather than a work of popular narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University students and scholars studying Portuguese realist literature
Language learners with some Portuguese reading ability
Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century European short sketches and urban vignettes
Collector-type readers interested in public-domain literary e-books

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking tightly plotted long novels
Beginners with no Portuguese who need bilingual annotated editions
Readers who prefer contemporary subjects and fast-paced narrative

Reading tips

Read one piece first to feel the rhythm of the language, then read closely paragraph by paragraph with a Portuguese dictionary
Use reference materials on late nineteenth-century Portuguese social history to understand the characters' circumstances
Read in thematic groups and compare how different pieces portray the urban underclass
After each piece, write a few lines of notes recording the most striking image or point of irony

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

Is this book a novel or a short-story collection?

From the public-domain bibliographic information, it belongs to Fialho de Almeida's prose narratives, usually presented as short stories or sketches that are relatively independent of one another rather than a novel with a continuous plot. When reading, one may enter each piece separately and need not expect a unified main storyline.

Can I read this book without knowing Portuguese?

The original is in Portuguese; without a foundation in the language, direct reading is quite difficult. It is advisable first to have intermediate or higher Portuguese reading ability, or to use a dictionary and a translation alongside. The book is better suited as a primary text for language learning and literary study than as an introductory reader.

What are the features of this e-book edition?

It comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain e-book whose text has been proofread by volunteers and preserves the linguistic character of the original. Its advantages are free access and easy searching; its limitations are that it usually lacks modern notes and an introduction, so readers must supply historical and linguistic background themselves.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

José Valentim Fialho de Almeida Author · Portuguese · 1857–1911

José Valentim Fialho de Almeida (1857–1911) was a Portuguese writer and journalist known for his short stories and essays. His representative work is Aves Migradoras. Public information about his life is limited, and the details currently available center mainly on his literary and journalistic activities. His short stories often draw on everyday Portuguese society, with a delicate touch and a keen eye for individual circumstances and the atmosphere of the times; his essays combine the roles of observer and commentator, balancing discussion with description. As a journalist he kept close attention to social realities, and this concern runs through his literary writing, giving it both narrative quality and a sense of actuality. His style is distinctive within the Portuguese literary context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, offering readable texts through which later readers can glimpse the social landscape and literary tastes of the period.