Tribute to most renowned Macanese writer, new novel launched

HENRIQUE de Senna Fernandes’ work is being republished by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC). Yesterday, to mark the 89th anniversary of the birth of the late Macanese writer, IC and the Rui Cunha Foundation co-organized a tribute. The session was a pretext to launch the book “Os Dores” and re-publish “Amor e Dedinhos de Pé” (“Love and Tiny Toes”), as part of the public presentation of the collection “The Complete Works of Henrique de Senna Fernandes”.
Besides the Portuguese language version in which the original texts were written, IC will republish the novel “The Bewitching Braid” in both English and Chinese. “With these books, the ‘soul’ of Henrique de Senna Fernandes’ Macau is revealed to us again. Through them, we hear what the writer is telling, we share the ups and downs of the characters’ lives and we walk through memorable moments of Macau’s history,” IC president Ung Vai Meng told during the tribute.
The author’s son, Miguel de Senna Fernandes, presented the unpublished manuscript “Os Dores”. The author did not revise the book, and the editor’s criteria were “to respect to full extent the peculiar writing of Henrique de Senna Fernandes”. The lawyer and president of the Macanese Association explained that the novel takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. “Macau was a very simple and calm place. It was a city that doesn’t exist any longer. (…) The community was Catholic and ultra-conservative and many people lived for the sake of keeping a certain image,” described the younger Senna Fernandes.  
The lawyer stressed that his father “had the ability to create nostalgia,” even “for people who did not live the episodes that he describes”. He said that the richer characters in his praised novels and short stories “are the ones that suffer”, especially the women, who are the “heroes” of his plots.
Miguel de Senna Fernandes added that new originals are still yet to be published and that he recently found what seems to be a sequel to “Os Dores” in his father’s notebooks. IC states in a editor’s note included in the novel that new original Henrique de Senna Fernandes works will be published, including “the long awaited ‘O Pai das Orquídeas’”. After the presentation by the author’s son, several personalities who were closely acquainted with the writer said a few words about his life and work.
(in MDT)