COUSIN BAZILIO

The first unbowlderized American edition of a Portuguese 19th century master-piece. At this late date, one questions whether it can stand up against the competition of the more familiar French realists, Zola, Flaubert and others. The style seems more French than ispanic; only the setting establishes it as uniquely Portuguese. It is the story of an innocent, respectable flirt in cotton stockings, who became mistress of her mundane and cynical Cousin Bazilio while her engineer husband was on a trip to the provinces. Her servant, Juliana, discovers one of her letters to her lover and threatens her with blackmail. Events lead- not too convincingly- to Luiza's undoing and death. The plot reflects the overwrought atmosphere of Lisbon in the 1860's,- the many people who comprise its bourgeois society, the simmering Negro populace, the devout, gossiping tradespeople which combine to give the book texture and richness. PL's-beware.