Dear Antonio,
You are asking me to write on one of my favourite topics that of the author Gip.
He was the most unusual writer Goa has ever produced, not celebrated as much as
her other authors perhaps because what he wrote was so hurtful to Goan society
at the turn of 19th century. I am trying to collect as much information about
him as possible and thanks to some family contacts and other helpful people
have been able to compile some information, which I am keeping under wraps for
now:-)
He was a lawyer, much like many other Costa sons in the family. He then wrote a
column in his uncle's newspaper O Ultramar, under the pen-name Gip. The column,
Notas a lapis, was compiled into a book Jacob e Dulce, which I think might
still be in print. It should be available either in English or Portuguese, as
it was translated into English by his grand-nephew.
If you haven't already read the book, please do read it. I am sure you will
thoroughly enjoy it. It parodies Margao elite society, and I believe when he
wrote it, it was rumoured that he based the book on some elite families of
Margao. This charge was never proven, he himself simply alluded to them being
based on universal Goan characters. These characters as as alive today in Goa,
as they were in 1890 when he wrote of them and in that sense, one realises how
glacial the evolution of our society has been.
Take care,
selma
