O SILÊNCIO (The Silence)

O SILÊNCIO (The Silence) - A milestone of post 1974 Portuguese fiction.
EDUARDO PRADO COELHO,JORNAL DE LETRAS

One of the best debuts in Portuguese fiction in recent time. Her first novel has been praised, sold out,a warded prizes. Her words are never squandered.Her writing is dense,never too much or too little,flawlessly measured.
CLARA FERREIRA ALVES,JORNAL DE LETRAS

(Seascape with Woman)

Die lange Zeit der Resignation,das allmaehliche Erwachen und der Akt der politischen Befreiung mit den jeweiligen subjektiven und persoenlichen Folgeerscheinungen,all dies spiegelt sich in den Romanen von T.G. wider,und zwar in einer Art und Weise,die sich deutlich ueber die konkrete politische Lage Portugals zu erheben vermag. Die Autorin beschreibt, wie in einem zaehen Entwicklungsprozess die ueber lange Zeit verinnerlichten beharrenden Kraefte und diejenigen des Aufbruchs und der Revolte immer wieder hart aufeinanderprallen, und sie zeichnet die beschwerlichen Wege der Befreiung und Oeffnung in allen erdenklichen Bereichen von Gesellschaft,Kunst und Kultur in ihrer ganzen Vielfalt nach.
GESA HASEBRINK,DIE SCHWESTERN DER MARIANNE ALCOFORADO

Der neue literarische Diskurs versteht sich (bei T.G.) als Suche,welche die gewohnten Verbindungen der Sprache zur Realitaet aufbrechen soll. Auf diese Weise koennen soziale Konventionen, Autoritaeten, Marginalisierungen und Entfremdungen hinterfragt und Wege zur Ueberwindung aufgewiesen werden.Die Romanen stehen zugleich in der Tradition des Subjektivismus und der Sozialkritik.Die Annaeherung an die Aussenrealitaet dient der Verhinderung von Herrschaftsstrukturen,die nun von einer klaren,individuell gefestigten Position angegriffen werden koennen,deren Erforschung sich das subjektivische Interesse widmet. HELMUT SIEPMANN, PORTUGIESISCHE LITERATUR DES 19.U.20.JAHRHUNDERS

OS GUARDA-CHUVAS CINTILANTES (Shimmering Umbrellas)

Le désir manque de sujet fixe,as Deleuze righly said.The subject here is the problem of identity in relation to different universes,different everyday experiences.
CASIMIRO DE BRITO,COLÓQUIO/ LETRAS

The relationship between writing and time is very particular and central to the text; the writer plays with references on a variety of levels : social, fantastic, dreamlike, playfyll, ideological, and conceptual.
MARIA ALZIRA SEIXO,A PALAVRA DO ROMANCE

Eine Parodie auf das Genre des Tagebuchs.
GESA HASEBRINK, WEGE DER ERNEUERUNG –PORTUGIESISCHE ROMANE NACH DER ‘NELKENREVOLUTION’

Die Heterodoxie erweist sich als Heterogenitaet,als bewusste und spielerische Abweichung von der traditionellen Gattung des Tagebuchs.
RAINER HESS, DER PORTUGIESISCHE ROMAN DER GEGENWART

O CAVALO DE SOL

An exercise of precision,in which nothing is left to chance.A luminous novel,intense in its concise style, vivid in its tight construction, and playful,as life and emotions intersect in the writing.
ANA TERESA DIOGO,COLÓQUIO/LETRAS

An extraordinary novel.The best Teolinda Gersão has written so far,which is no small thing to say.One of those books to be kept close at hand, in order to take it up when prompted by memory and the dictates of the heart.As I begin to write this review I am aware of a sensation,or sentiment,which I rarely feel with such intensity.
MARIA LÚCIA LEPECKI,DIÁRIO DE NOTÍCIAS

LE CHEVAL DE SOLEIL - Du haut de son cheval,Vitoria rêve de son cousin,Jeronimo,qu´elle va épouser dans quelques mois. Vitória est fascinante,imprévisible,et tandis qu´elle galope dans le vent,défiant de plus en plus son entourage,Jerónimo se réfugie dans la pratique de la chasse,lieu où il domine ses proies.La fête approche.Vitória saute le dernier obstacle et abandone Jerónimo.La fête s´enfuit devant le drame.Étrange roman,bâti au rhytme des allures cavallières et du martellement des battements du coeur.Tout en décrivant l´atmosphère passéiste d´une famille portugaise,l´auteur joue,avec talent,des difficultés relationnelles en amour,dans un monde “où rien ne coincide avec rien,où les choses ne sont jamais égales à l´idée qu´on s´en faisait”. Très vite le lecteur est emporté par la cadence de ce récit,à l´ecriture brillante,où s´entremêlent,avec virtuosité,l´irréalité du rêve,la violence des passions et le combat éffréné pour la vérité des choses.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES

L´auteur manie le lyrisme au galop.
L´HUMANITÉ.

Michel Leiris avait apparenté la littérature à la tauromachie. Teolinda Gersão la lie à l´équitation dans cette insolite cavalcade romanesque. Au rythme du temps équestre – pas,trop,galop et saut – s´engage une lutte pour la passion et le pouvoir,magnifiquement servie par une écriture qui évoque à merveille l´inertie sensuelle du Portugal des années 20.
CONTEMPORAINE.

A CASA DA CABEÇA DE CAVALO

A magnificent novel,in which History is a pretext for the pleasure of writing.
RUI ROCHA,EXPRESSO

This is fiction,”the fiction of truth”.The game to which we surrender,led by the free and steady hand of a tireless and magnificent storyteller.
FERNANDO J.B. MARTINHO, JORNAL DE LETRAS

A ÁRVORE DAS PALAVRAS (The Word Tree)


A  return to Lourenço Marques of the colonial era. The novel is
not only a record of this bygone period,of the city,the countryside,
the people, but Teolinda Gersão´s crystalline,flowing writing
emanates understanding without any touch of sentimentality or
colonial nostalgia,the empathy of someone who has known and
lived those times.Teolinda knows how to write about the war and
the consequent gradual physical and psychological transformation of
a land and its people.It is a pleasure to read: lucid, truthful, deeply
felt and thoughtful.

PEDRO TEIXEIRA NEVES, SEMANÁRIO

A masterly narrative,the supreme art of simplicity.Lourenço Marques emerges magically intact and untouched,as in the past.

LINDA SANTOS COSTA, PÚBLICO

In our literature,Africa has seemed a relatively vacant place. A Árvore das Palavras has appeared to fill this gap. A Árvore das Palavras is a novel to remember.

CARLOS REIS, JORNAL DE LETRAS

OS TECLADOS (The Keyboards)

A “Bildungsroman”,in which the author surpasses herself. A philosophical reflection on the relationship between art and life,the ironies of one and the tricks played by the other.Read it slowly because it ends quickly.

HELENA BARBAS, EXPRESSO

In a brief narrative,the author manages to give her protagonist immense psychological depth.
The metaphor of the trapeze (“it was not the public eye that held the acrobat,everything took
place between her and the swing on which she  balanced”) does not appear by chance in this
sublimely musical book. It reads as a fable, in which  creation is meant for its own sake and 
the only legitimate struggle of the creator is with himself.

RODRIGUES DA SILVA, JORNAL DE LETRAS

Using music as a measure of all things,Os Teclados by Teolinda Gersão explores destinies through metaphors of musical harmony.Rarely in the history of fiction have the two kinds of artistic expression _ words and music_ been so united.

FÁBIO LUCAS,JORNAL DA TARDE,SÃO  PAULO

OS ANJOS (The Angels)

With this dream-like,novella-fable, Teolinda Gersão has managed to create new and suprising effects through elements as archaic as human instincts,and their integration in culture.

LINDA SANTOS COSTA, PÚBLICO. 

A perfect novella.

JOSÉ EMÍLIO NELSON, JORNAL DE NOTÍCIAS 

I would call this  story, above all ,the descent into a double memory. A descent that rises up within us until we hear the unorthodox angels singing.Os Anjos  against the flow? So be it.

JORGE LISTOPAD, JORNAL DE LETRAS

Ce livre est si bref que,si on le résume,tout sera dit.Tout,sauf l´incroyable poésie,l´incroyable langue de Teolinda Gersão.On y entend la voix d´une petite fille,Ilda,don't la mère glisse dans une espèce de folie non identifiée.Don le père boit trop.Dont le grand-père,malade,raconte l´histoire de son village englouti par les eaux.Ilda entend des voix qui la hantent.Ce petit livre est un grand roman.Longtemps après l´avoir refermé,on entend la voix d´Ilda,on aimerait la prendre dans ses bras et l´écouter encore.C´est la marque des chefs-d´oeuvre.

CHRISTOPHE TISON, COSMOPOLITAN