Preia-Mar (‘High Tide’): From a privileged yet impoverished family, Leo tries to strike it rich by any means possible in the Goa of the 1970s. Moving through various strata representative of the society of his times – new ascendant classes linked to smuggling, mining and politics, hippies tired of the West in search of drugs and spirituality, the fishermen of the coast and repatriates from Idi Amin’s Uganda, the novel reaches a climax that defies local tradition even as it calls into question the principles of the new order.
Though Epitácio Pais was considered by José Pereira to be “one of the finest writers in the long tradition of Goan literature in Portuguese” and by Vimala Devi and Manuel de Seabra as an author who felt “the world around him in all its tragedy and poetry”, his terse, caustic writing still awaits its due recognition in today’s Goa.
The Panel Discussion will focus on the work of Epitácio Pais and its representation of the 1960s and 1970s, the history of Goan literature and how the novel relates to the historical development of Indian literature. There will also be two short readings from the novel.
The Panellists: Paul Castro e Melo (University of Leeds, UK), Helder Garmes (University of São Paolo, Brazil), Cielo Festino (University of São Paolo, Brazil/Argentina)
P.C. www.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW_pdfuWQpsQ
