I- Author:
Erico Verissimo was born in Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul, in 1905. He completed his secondary education in Porto Alegre. Unable to continue his studies due to lack of resources, he returned to his hometown, starting life with great difficulty. In 1931, he held the position of secretary of "Revista do Globo," of which he became director. He taught literature at the University of Berkeley, in the United States, from 1941 to 1945. After his doctorate in Literature at Mills College, he wrote Brazilian Literature. He then traveled to Europe, receiving the "Prêmio Machado de Assis" from the Brazilian Academy of Letters in '54. He passed away in 1975.
Erico Verissimo began his literary career by releasing a collection of short stories titled Fantoches in 1932. The following year, he began publishing novels, which are divided into three phases: the first, focused on urban subjects, deals with the local aristocracy in decline and the moral conflicts brought about by European immigration to the region, and it is in this phase that the work "Olhai os lírios do campo" is found; the second, developing historical themes, contains a study on the main elements that form the tradition of the gaucho people; and the third is of a political tendency [censorship and military dictatorship, the 60s and 70s].
II- Characters:
Eugênio Fontes: a deeply pessimistic, unhappy, and complex man. Profession: doctor.
Olívia: Eugênio's great love and work colleague.
Eunice: Eugênio's wife. Rich, vain, and empty.
Dr. Seixas: Eugênio's friend and a doctor for the poor.
III- Summary:
The novel narrates the continuous metamorphosis of feelings and emotions experienced and lived by Eugênio.
Eugênio is a profoundly unhappy person, marked by a poor childhood and humiliating experiences. Haunted by the specter of poverty, he develops a phantasmal inferiority complex that torments him for much of his life. Eugênio graduates in Medicine with great financial and spiritual difficulties, feeling incapable of practicing his profession. On his graduation day, he recognizes in a classmate, Olívia, the woman, friend, and lover she becomes. Olívia was endowed with great sensitivity, serenity, and a sense of spirit, and she was a kind of sedative for Eugênio, as she softened his suffering. Nevertheless, Eugênio, who hated poverty, marries Eunice to gain "status" and abandons his medical profession. Living a comfortable rich life, he feels out of place and useless, becoming the lover of one of Eunice's friends, as if to prove his usefulness.
Meanwhile, Olívia goes to the interior, where she gives birth to a daughter, Eugênio's child. Three years later, Olívia and Eugênio meet again and live together once more.
When Eugênio decides to separate from Eunice, Olívia dies of a hemorrhage, leaving those who remained with a great lesson and life.
Eugênio separates from Eunice and moves in with his daughter into the home of the Falks, old friends of Olívia, and resumes his profession with the help of his old friend, Dr. Seixas.
Filled with great spirit, Eugênio dedicates himself, with a hitherto unknown soul and courage, to medicine.
The growing happiness opens his mind to new ideals, not simply to earn a living, but to be sure of existing, for Olívia always said: "Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
