Reassessing José Rodrigues Miguéis, Léah e Outras Histórias: telling stories of tradition during a life in exile

Abstract

In Léah e Outras Histórias, José Rodrigues Miguéis, makes a harsh analysis and critic of the social and political problems latent in Portugal during the 20th century. It is evident that his exile to the United States in 1935, during Salazar’s dictatorship, did not separate him from the Portuguese problematic but, on the contrary, made social concerns more vivid in his writing, as he compared American democracy to the Portuguese political situation. In the stories of the collection Léah e Outras Histórias, Miguéis examines the differences between the customs of the Portuguese exiled protagonists and the characters that surround them, and these are reflected in everyday experiences, like falling in love; going to the barber; strolling along an avenue in New York, or attempting conversations with neighbors and other foreigners. This study will start with a short introduction to the evolution of short narrative in Portuguese literary history. We will proceed by making a close examination of the narratives in Leah e Outras Histórias, as being mirrors of the complicated circumstances which are caused by cultural differences during emigration or exile. Analyzing the social or linguistic clashes which the exiled individual is confronted with when far away from home, and which literary mechanisms are used by Miguéis in order to report the different traumas. The study will also analyze how the character’s physical exile sometimes gives place to internal exile due to their psychological nature and difficultly in adapting to new and unknown environments. We will study how Portuguese cultural tradition is contrasted with new social realities and how problems of cultural interaction are treated throughout the narratives. Through the complex characters in these narratives, José Rodrigues Miguéis is able to portray the true and realistic inner conflicts caused by exile, and how these individual conflicts are at the same time universal.