Goan origin lawyer and journalist Edgar Valles talks about his new book, ‘Shadows and Lights of the Portuguese Empire’ and the memories and experiences behind it
CHRISTINE MACHADO
Born in Angola in 1953, Edgar Valles, brother of revolutionary Sita Valles, was involved in the student movement of the 1970s in Portugal, including the 1974 protests that led to the collapse of the dictatorship.
He recently released ‘Sombres e Luzes do Imperio’, published by Gardiva. The book recounts his childhood in Angola and his experiences as a student activist in Portugal. The English translation, ‘Shadows and Lights of the Portuguese Empire’, will be released at Fundacao Oriente, Panaji, on August 27. The book has been translated by Aren Noronha and published by Goa 1556.
Valles, is also the former president of Casa de Goa in Lisbon
Excerpts from the interview:
How did you come up with the idea of writing this book?
I have written close to 17 books, mostly on legal topics. Besides this, I have been writing monthly articles for a Portuguese magazine about episodes from my life, including growing up in Angola, moving to Portugal to study and joining the student movement against the dictatorship when I was around 17.
This book has about 33 short stories selected from those articles. Often, when a writer writes about himself, he is usually the hero of the story. But in this book, I am just a person who saw these situations and tries to tell them as they were.
I felt these accounts needed to be told because nowadays, young people in Portugal don’t know what the dictatorship was like. Some of them even think that dictatorship was better than democracy. And extreme right-wing parties are growing stronger every day. So, it was my duty as a citizen to try to give values to young people.
How difficult was it to select the stories for the book?
It was not easy. I had to select stories from different categories. For example, there is one funny story about the supposed landing of Nehru via submarine on a beach in Benguela on the Angolan coast. Other stories are political, while some are simply social.
Why did you choose this title?
The colonial empire, in general, was bad. It oppressed people. Hence, the shadows. But there were also some positive aspects. Bonds were formed and culture and development flourished. That is where the light comes in.
While writing your recollections of your younger days, you were no doubt looking at things from new perspectives.
Yes. For example, when I was 17, I became a member of the Communist Party. If you wanted to fight against injustice, joining the party was a good way to do so back then. I believed in communism at the time. Nowadays, we see that communism is a failure. So, writing these stories also made me rethink those beliefs.
How has Angola, where you grew up, changed?
I have never gone back. I had to cut my ties with Angola after my siblings were killed and I chose the land of my parents, which is Goa. I divide my time between Portugal and Goa now. I do, of course, sometimes miss the place because it was very beautiful.
Your book makes very little mention of your sister. Was that a strategic decision?
Yes. There are already books and films about my sister and it is nice to know that there is interest in her life. But I didn’t want to mix this with the stories I wanted to tell. People who have read it so far have said that I could have given more details. But this is not a book about history. I am not an academic. I just wanted to tell short stories.
How has the book been received?
People have been very enthusiastic about the book. I didn’t know how it would be appreciated. My wife told me not to publish it and to stick to legal topics, which I am an expert in. She thought the book would be a failure. But I disagreed.
People have told me that I should write more. The book ends in 1974, after the revolution takes place. They want me to write about what happened afterwards. I am now planning to write more in greater detail and with more research.
