Writing the Nation: Re-thinking the Masculinist Project in Eça de Queirós’s Ilustre casa de Ramires

Abstract

This article examines José Maria de Eça de Queirós’s novel A ilustre casa de Ramires (1900) through a focus on the writing process of the main protagonist, Gonçalo Mendes Ramires, who attempts to produce a historical novella of his ancestry. Drawing on Hélène Cixous’s concept of écriture féminine and the visceral experience of writing through the body, I analyze the protagonist’s quest for political advancement and social acceptance. If Ramires yearns for enhanced virility in male-dominated political and literary circles, Eça’s ironic textual subtleties, humor, and multifaceted narrative all serve to question established norms of gender, power, and sexuality. In the end, both historiography and political glory emerge as ambivalent phenomena.

Keywords

• Historiography
• novel
• Portugal
• l’écriture féminine
• Hélène Cixous