Epitácio Pais was born in 1926, and is now 83 years old. He started writing in the late 40s, published his short stories in the O Heraldo in the 50s, and, in the 60s, transmitted them over the All India Radio. The high point of his career came in the early 70s, when 13 of his short stories were compiled in a book and published under the title Os Javalis de Codval (Lisbon: Editorial Futura 1973). Goan short story writing in Portuguese, never prolific, was initiated by Júlio Gonçalves (1846-1896) in the late 19th century. Inspired by the matchless style of the great Portuguese novelist Eça de Queirós (1846-1900), it attained maturity in the satirical short stories of José da Silva Coelho (1889-1944) in the early 20th century. Finally, it can be said to have climaxed in the late 20th century in the work of Epitácio Pais.
Manuel de Seabra, the acute historian of Goan writing in Portuguese, compares Epitácio to the great 19th century Russians like Turgenev (1818-1883) and even to Dostoievski (1821-1881) himself!
But Epitácio lives, and knows about his own life better than any one else. Break your silence and speak Epitácio, we are all ears!
(From Professor Jose Pereira, Fordham, NY)
Scribbling 