Jorge de Faria by Isabel Vidal

The tenth volume of the Portuguese Theatre Biographies Collection is dedicated to Jorge de Faria (1888-1960), a leading name in the world of theatre criticism in Portugal. Between the 1920s and the end of the 1950s, he was a contributor to several newspapers, publishing chronicles and reviews that prove to be of the utmost importance for our knowledge of the theatre past. His analytical perspective is based on methodical observation and solid argumentation, grounded in a profound culture, which has contributed to the prominent place he is recognised for.
A compulsive collector, especially of everything related to the theatre, Jorge de Faria had thousands of documents and an immense library by the end of his life. Part of this collection was donated to the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra. Isabel Vidal, the author of this volume, gives a detailed account of this process, which ended with the inauguration ceremony in 1965 of the Dr Jorge de Faria Room, now the Institute of Theatre Studies/Dr Jorge de Faria Room, and underlines the richness and importance of this collection, "considered by some to be the best in Portugal in its subject and unique in Europe".