Between decadence and affirmation. An postmortem of the Lisbon eighteenth century in “Patologia Social” by Abel Botelho

Abstract

Abel Botelho wrote a set of five naturalistic novels, among them Patologia Social. In his works, the city of Lisbon is represented through its social, historical, and political aspects. In that sense, this article analyses the descriptions of the city of Lisbon by emphasizing its decadent aspects revealed through the nocturnal walks of Elvira, Mário, and Isabel, who are characters from O barão de Lavos, O Livro de Alda, Fatal dilema. Then, he will focus on the innovative aspects of the affirmative forms of the characters taken in a boulevard called Avenida.