A portuguese urban fantasy in mosaic: “O deus das moscas tem fome”, by Luís Corte Real

Abstract

This paper aims to present critically O Deus das Moscas tem fome [The God of Flies Hungers], a fix up novel by the Portuguese author Luís Corte Real, known for having founded Saída de Emergência press, one of the largest and most renowned Portuguese publishing houses, especially dedicated to publishing fantasy, Science fiction and horror, both by national and foreign writers. O Deus das Moscas tem Fome is composed by six narratives of varied sizes, one of them by the guest author Anabela Natário. Taken together, these stories recount the daily life of Benjamin Tormenta, “detective of the occult”, whose past, present and future, the reader is led to unveil gradually, as the protagonist solves his cases like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, in an alternative 19^th-century Lisbon, marked by the supernatural. It is evident, then, how the novel draws upon different genres, such as fantasy (its multiple facets, namely both urban and historical fantasy), thriller, horror, among other categories, which point to the wellspring of references that explore, all at once, erudite, pop and popular cultures, a rare feat in the very traditional Portuguese market. At the same time, I point to the linguistic experimentation and the reconstitution of the historical environment of the Portuguese 19^th century, which pays homage to Eça de Queiroz.