The Nap Time

Compilation of loose notes that tell the story of Delmira Maçãs, benefactor of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, vivid accounts written in the first person. In this fifth volume of the collection titled Biographical Notes – Steps to Death, Delmira Maçãs narrates her personal experiences that occurred between early 1958 and late 1959, when she was 35 years old. “Time for sleep, time for the nap. Fatigue from the morning's labors. Break for the afternoon's toils. Time of almost indifference, even when the wind and storms arise,” summarizes the author. In this narrative path, the author shares with the reader her unique perspective on Portugal of the time, in an unmistakably shrewd and ironic register. These writings unveil Delmira Maçãs, a complex and contradictory personality who found in the white of the pages her most stimulating confidant. It was on paper that she meticulously deposited the daily record of life, just as the anguishes felt from dawn to dusk of existence, a profound reflection scattered in numerous texts that she methodically preserved throughout her life. The books of Delmira Maçãs were published by Santa Casa in 2009, in fulfillment of the testamentary charge stipulated by the benefactor to the Misericórdia de Lisboa, the institution she chose as her heir: the publication of her personal writings, of an autobiographical nature, but also of a religious and literary character. This is a set of 16 volumes, organized into three collections: Biographical Notes – Steps to Death, Dialogue with the Gospels, and Miscellany.

Author: Delmira Maçãs
Year of publication: 2013

Publisher: SCML
ISBN: 9789728761530