The Maias - The great geniuses of universal literature 2

The Maias contains a chronicle of customs, portraying, with photographic precision and great humour, Lisbon society in the second half of the 19th century.
It is the masterpiece of Eça de Queirós, published in 1888, and one of the most important works in all Portuguese literature.
Its value lies mainly in the language in which it is written and the subtle irony with which the author defines characters and presents situations. It is a realistic (and naturalistic) novel, featuring the fatalism, social analysis, adventures, and catastrophe characteristic of a passionate plot.
The work deals with the history of a family (Maia) over three generations, then focusing on the last generation and highlighting the incestuous love of Carlos da Maia and Maria Eduarda.
But the story is also a pretext for the author to criticise the country's decadent situation (politically and culturally) and the 19th-century Lisbon upper bourgeoisie, permeated by humour (sometimes subtle, sometimes satirical) that shapes the defeat and disillusionment of all the characters.