A Relíquia (1887)

Teodorico wants the freedom to enjoy himself and the inheritance promised by a pious aunt. A pilgrimage to the Holy Land turns his performance of devotion into a gloriously unstable enterprise. Choose Margaret Jull Costa's Dedalus translation of this 1887 novel. Eça's satire has room for farce, fantasy and embarrassing self-exposure; its pleasure comes from watching a narrator advertise the very contradictions he hopes to conceal.