Por uma estética da conciliação: O Crime do Padre Amaro e a dinâmica político-social portuguesa oitocentista.

The novel O Crime do Padre Amaro is analyzed with special reference to the relationships between its creation and the process of aesthetic and political sensitiveness that underscored Eça de Queiroz's literary productions. The novel is discussed as to its configurations and meanings, as a product and a producer of contradictions inherent to the debate on liberalism and Catholicism in Portugal in the second half of the 19th century. The adaptations made throughout the several issues of the novel, the plot and its reception by critics in the 19th century are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]