NOTES ON AN OCCASIONALLY NETTLESOME SHORT STORY OF MIGUÉIS

“Dezesseis Horas em Missao Secreta”, por um dos mais importantes prosadores portugueses dos nossos dias, tem causado certas dificuldades de interpretacao critica, devido principalmente ao seu grande valor como exemplo da ficcao criminalista, o que tem levado determinados criticos a menosprezar o conto. Por isso, examino aspectos da sua situacao critica, do seu enfoque a proposito do “tempo” e do “lugar” em que se situa a obra, do conteudo socio-psicologico dela, etc. Como resultado, pode-se afirmar que “Dezesseis Horas em Missao Secreta” e, alem de um magnifico divertimento, uma obra muito seria que continua a tradicao miguesiana de critico social e humanistica no seculo vinte.

In the meantime, however, he must find food and shelter. Unfortunately, he is a bit disoriented in the huge industrial city, and once or twice he is tempted to discard his pistol and forget the whole matter. His keen sense of duty will not allow this, however and he eventually encounters a friendly plumber who tells him where the nearest lodgingã re to be found and who even puts him onto the proper bus. The bus driver, in turn, very kindly detours from his normal route in order to help the stranger arrive at his destination, which turns out to be a Baptist hoste!.
He finds it clean, modern and inexpensive, but the young American pastor from lhe Middle West is most condescending and the other boarders seem to be interested mainly in the cheap room and board, so lhe nameless protagonist feels compelle d to escape lhe peculiar atmosphere of the place by going out to a movie after dinner. This he does, even though he must first obtain a key to lhe front door and special permission frorn the pastor to stay out until midnight. He is warned, moreover, that this is a special favor conceded him only because he is a foreigner and an educated man, and that he must return by twelve o'clock on the dot, or else.
Nevertheless, the narrator-protagonist is a little late in getting back. He discovers that the front door has been locked and boi ted from the inside, rendering his key useless. Neither, he finds, can he rouse anyone inside the hostel, even though he can see frorn a shadow cast on a lighted window that the pastor is still awake. Furiously, he stamps off into the night, ali thoughts of his deadly mission forgotten.
The prospective political assassin then takes to wandering aimlessly about the great European capital, entranced by his new surroundings. He is lonely, but with a sense of conscious virtue he rebuffs the advances of the prostitutes he encounters. Eventually, when it is well past one o'clock in the morning, he enters a dingy café-hotel in order to get a drink and inquire about a room for the night. As he opens the door; an alarm-bell rings and the three people inside look at hirn in consternation: the bartender, his wife, and a barmaid. Realizing that he is the only customer, he invites the others to drink with him and one thing leads to another. Soon the pretty, well-proportioned barmaid , Crete, is sitting invitingly close. Encouraged by this and rerninding hirnself that it may be his Iast night ever, he asks about a room. Scductively, Crete shows him to a shabby cubicle upstairs, kisses him ardently and leaves with a promise to return after her employers nave gone to bed.
She does return a few minutes later, but in a state of alarmo Another guest has had a seizure of some sort and must be gotten to his suburban home in secret, for he has been using the place as a convenient spot at which to meet his paramour. Would the protagonist help? Lured by Crete's comely figure and sensual promise, he assents.
The sick man, swathed from head to toe in a sheet, seems suspiciously inert and heavy to the Central American but he, Crete and the bartender's wife manage to get hírn bundled into a taxi. They set off for the suburbs with a well-muffled man doing the driving. Crete asks that the windows be closed and curls up against the prospective assassino The route is long and tortuous, and the protagonist estimates that they must be very far from the center of the city before they stop. Curiously, they are not in a residential suburb but next to an enormous railway yard. The driver of the car explains, however: the best way to arrive at the bon-vívant's house is to cut across the rai! yard. There is nothing for it but to carry the man across the tracks.
When they get about half-way across, however, the driver suddenly stops and curses. He has forgotten the house keys they had found in the man's pocket back in the g10ve compartment of the car. Grete is sent to retrieve them. The two men rest after having first deposited their cargo carefully on the gravei of the roadbed.
A minute ar two later, the Centralian hears the unmistakable click of a knife being snapped open. He whirls, gun in hand, just in time to save his !ife: an instant's hesitation and the driver would have stabbed him in the back. Clearly, however, the latter was unprepared for the Centralian's lightning reaction and superior weapon. The knife clatters to the gravei of the roadbed.
With this, the protagonist's latent suspicions about the nature of their burden are quickly confirmed by the driver, who turns out to be the bartender in disguise. They have been attempting to dispose of the body of a dead mano Not only that, but the bartender and his wife have planned to fix the blame on the Central American, whom they have suspected of being a secret agent. Laughing inwardly at this and thanking his lucky stars for the month of pistol practice that he had undergone in his homeland, the protagonist retreats to a safe distance and then flees, racing across the tracks to safety.
The next morning, after having slept for a few hours in a cheap hotel of the sort that asks no questions and requires no documents, the counter-revolutionary buys a paper and glances idly through it as he munches on his breakfast of black bread and scalding synthetic coffee. A late bulletin happens to catch his eye. Scarcely believing what he is reading, he learns that the Ambassador of the Centralian Federal Republic has been found strangled in a rail yard. The Centralian Embassy has already charged that the murder was the work of Centralian terrorists, but the local police and secret service feel that lhe Ambassador, well-known for his wining, wenching and gambling, was simply ambushed and murdered for his money.
His pulse pounding, the frustrated assassin races back to the Baptist hostel to retrieve his documents, which he had had to leave with the pastor the night before. He is received with glacial disapproval, pays his bill and departs, but not before cheerfully telling the minister that he has had an admirably productive evening of it. Only after he is safely in the air aboard an international flight does he recover enough composure to re-read the article and congratulate himself for having set a record, for" . .. sem manchar as mãos de sangue ... eu conseguira desempenhar em dezasseis horas apenas a minha difícil missão secreta."? But, he wonders, could Grete's kisses possíbly have been sincere?
* * * * * Perhaps only when we examine the reviews and criticism on Miguéis' Páscoa Feliz do we encounter the variety of opinion that exists on this short story. Armando Ferreira, for example, noted that it sweeps the reader into the realm of the suspense story, ••. '. dentro de pormenores preciosos de vida vivida nos fundos misteriosos de uma Estudos Ibero-Americanos, /lI (1977) cidade estrangeira.":' Another reviewer liked the richness of local color and compared it to the way Miguéis had captured elsewhere the atmosphere of New York and Lisbons João Pedro de Andrade agreed with Armando Ferreira in that he considered it to be a good suspense story, but flawed by its " . .. desenlace folhetinesco.:" This view however, tended to ignore the com pie x novelty of an idealistic prospective politicã ssassin who in the end does not have to comrnit murder because he hirnself is nearly killed in an attempt by others to make it appear that he is responsible for the murder of his own intended victim.
The other side of the coin, however, is totally different. An anonymous reviewer for the Diário de Notícias called this story a work " . .. de segunda escolha, onde o acaso ou um sentimentalismo destoante da sua ironia jovem e irreverente assume papel de excessiva importância.:" He went on to say that he considered it and "Uma Carreira Cortada" to be mere " . .. contos de magazine '" "7 leaving unclear whether he meant literary magazines or popular ones. Far more acerbic, however, were the comments of the well-known Lisbonese novelist, critic and reviewer, João Gaspar Simões. He stated that he thought that "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta" was a story " . .. que podia ter sido louvado pelo público do Reader's Digest, mas que literàriamente é o tipo de novela que um escritor de raça não escreve ... "8 After noting that elsewhere the author " . " é irresistivelmente levado a lidar com um ambiente social e um material humano que por serem no fim de contas os mesmos que o autor de Os Maias viu com os seus olhos de civilizado ... ,"9 Caspar Simões returned to his attack on "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta" and repeated his conviction that the story was " ... bem pouco digna de um verdadeiro escritor ... "10 Finally, after making a few positive remarks about "Pouca Sorte com Barbeiros" and "O Morgado de Pedra-Má,"1 1 this critic carne to his general, and exceedingly deprecatory, conclusion that Miguéis was " . .. um prosador que ainda não teve tempo de se chegar a conhecer completamente."! 2 In view of these rernarks, it is ironic that at the time, João Gaspar Simões was a mernber of the five-man panel which would award to José Rodrigues Miguéis the highest Portuguese literary prize for prose fiction less than three weeks after these words were published, and for the collection which contained "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta."! 3 Be that as it may, even if one leaves aside Gaspar Simões' remarks about the Reader's Digest, which rather obviously refer to Miguéis' position as associate editor of that extremely well-known but popular American magazine, his cuttingly perso nal conclusion and his invidious comparison of Miguéis with Eça de Queiroz, which rather oddly implies that social conditions have remained static for the last hundred years, one is compelled to refute Gaspar Simões' contention that a good writer does not write mystery or suspense stories. If a good writer, even a great writer, is moved to write and publish fiction of this type, who can fairly say that he must not do so, in order to preserve the supposed sanctity of literature which is "good" because it is "serious? " Surely not a person who writes in the guise of a critic, even if he has himself produced original works. Last, this splenetic reviewer's comments obscure the important fact that "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta" represents an example of Miguéis' extreme versatility in the treatmen! of his subject material in the general medium of prose fiction.
-However, when all is said and done, these nettles in the critical picture on the work at hand must simply be taken firmly in hand and uprooted, no matter how great the discomfort. Or so it would seem to this student of Miguéis' works.
Passing on to the matter of the temporal and locational referents of this story, we find that, except for the information that everything takes place in sixteen hours one night and early morning during the month of October,' 4 the setting of this work in terms of time is quite imprecise. Because of the fact that it was first published separately (and under a pseudonym), in 1948/ 5 the terminal date for this temporal aspect is apparent1y established. However, since it seems most probable that the country in which these events rake place is Germany (as we shall see immediately below), this concrete date does not in fact help us, for there is absolutely no mention of darnage resulting from World War 11. The rail yards are described as being full of endless lines of cars and everything appears to be in perfect working order.' 6 Therefore, since it is highly unlikely that such could have been the case in 1948, it seems rnost probable that the period with which the author is dealing antedates World War lI.
Similarly, the most that one can deduce as to the earliest temporallimit is that it falls after World War I because of the mention of regular airline service (pp.39·1S7). Furthermore, none of the effects or aftereffects of the Great War appear, which would tend to place the dating of the action closer to the decade of the 1930's, after Gerrnany's industrial recovery was in full swing. In addition to this, there is the fact that the author visited Germany during the period in which he was pursuing advanced studies at the University of Brussels between 1929 and 1932. Therefore , alI things considered, it seems best to conc1ude that the action of this story takes place over the short space of sixteen hours one October day during the early 1930's, although the matter does indeed rernain problematical.
The locational aspect of the setting of "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta" is also indicated by a handful of hints scattered throughout the story. They could apply to many a large industrial city, but there are signs that it is located in Gerrnany. First of all, we are told that it is in Europe (p.137 and p.14S) and that it lies at a high latitude (p.137). Then, there is the matter of the barmaid's German name, Grete (p.148 ff.). Later, towards the end of the story, there is a description of the Centralian's breakfasting on black bread and " ... café sintético ... "(p.IS7), í.e., ersatz coffee. Last, the rail yard is located in "X-haven" (p.IS7 and lS9), which could represent many a German toponym. Thus, while no single indication of the action's geographical location is at alI conclusive, the weight of the slim evidence that does exist leads one to entertain the strong suspicion that this story is set in Germany, a country which lies within the are a of the author's personal acquaintance. Note, however, that such a resolution of the matter is far frorn being a certain one, and that here again one is faced with another nettlesome qUestiono Not so on the matter of its thematic content, howevcr, for even though this story is a humorously exciting one, "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta" does contain a backdrop of serious social problems. First of ali, there are the root causes of the protagonist's being sent to Europe on a mission of assassination: a military revolution in the "Centralian Federal Republic" (pp.137-138) and the oppressive measures taken by the new government (p.138). While the name of the country is fictitious, these social phenomena have been ali toa frequent in real life since the beginning of the nineteenth Estudos Ibero-Americanos, 111( 1977) century and before. They often unleash a reaction by more liberal elements, such as the ones alluded to here, often with the result that there is created an atmosphere of intrigue and violence. And this, of course, hardly tends to promote orderly social progresso It is interesting to note, however, that even to the Ambassador's opprobrious soaís in lífe, the problem of the revolution is treated on a personallevel for the most part. The Ambassador himself loses his !ife because of his hedonistic inc1inations, and the protagonist's !ife is changed as well. One gathers that he is not a killer in the ordinary sense, but that he hasprepared himself to become one for ídeological reasons. He is alone in a foreign land (p.139, p.141 and pp.147-148), although in contrast to the principal characters in other works of the author's, he naturally wishes to remain alone and incognito, for the most part. He is soon involved with the dernimonde and its prostitutes (p.146), cheap hotels and venal characters such as the bar tender , his wife and Grete (pp.l49 ff.). These contacts also involve him in the comp!ications of an illicit affair (pp. 150-159). He nearly loses his !ife (p.l54) in an attempt by others to make it appear that he was responsible for a murder that had already been comrnitted (p.155). Last of alI, of course, he is faced with the prospect of leading the !ife of an exile, at least temporarily (p.157).
These are the main !ines of the author's social criticism in this short story, but we do find another target for his sharp pen in the person of the uncharitable Baptist minister, who will not let the protagonist into the hostel after the curfew hour imposed upon him (pp.145-146), and who apparently seeks to trade inexpensive room and board for souls: in the author's telling phrase, he is a " ... moço pastor de estômagos." (p.143). He is also pompous (pp.143-144) and overly strict (p.143). And alI of this has the inevitable result that the other residents of the hotel give the impression of false piety. Here again, then, we have an example of the author's criticism of certain aberrations in organized re!igion. Here, however, the humorous nature of the mediurn allows Miguéis to criticise these faults more heavily: a fact that João Gaspar Simões and others have evidently failed to note.
Perhaps because of the story's tone, few problems of a psychological nature are evident in it. Basically, these consist of the protagonist's strong doubts as to his ability to carry out his mission (p.139), his fear of losing his self-control (p.139) and his initial fear of being alone (p.140) as he faces the unforeseeable events the immediate future will bring (p.140). However, they are not treated from the point of view of a person who is mentally ill, as was the case in Páscoa Feliz or "A Mancha não se Apaga,"!" but rather from that of one who is quite sane. Here they merely add elements of desirable tension to the action and help to characterize the protagonist. They are interesting subsidiary features of the story , therefore, but are not of central importance to it.
Regarding the correlations between this work and others of the author's, these are relatively few. However, two of them have been given an interesting twist. First, though, attention should be called to the figures of the friendly plumber and bus driver, who appear but fleetíngly.' 8 Both of thern would seem to belong to the lower c1ass, and as elsewhere in Miguéis' corpus, we have a sympathetic view of it. In addition, there ís another example of the role that premonition plays in Miguéis' prose fiction, in that the protagonist has a sudden feeling that the sick man might really be a corpse, as he is indeed (p.152).
An interesting thing happens when we note the familiar syrnbol of the bloody hands (p.159) and the theme of seduction and abandonment (pp.148-154): both are treated in a manner different from that which is observable in other works. Thus, whereas ín "Morte de Homem" the bloody hands were real and were imaginary in "A Mancha não se Apaga,"! 9 in this story they turn out not to exist at alI, for in the end the progatonist has not had to assassinate the Ambassador. Similarly, the sensually-promising episode with Grete leads to no great success on the part of the protagonist: sornething quite different from the situation that obtains in "Léah," for example. Furthermore, the roles are the reverse of what one observes in the latter work: it is Grete who takes the lead, first ín the seduction and then in the abandonment phases. One is enjoying, in sum, an interesting variety in the author's treatment of similar aspects of dissimilar works.

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In general, therefore, it would appear from the foregoing that: critcs must be even-handed and intellectually resilient if they are to avoid clichés and serve their public -which pays for their services, after all; Miguéis has merely hinted -strongly -that the setting of this work is the pre-World-War II Germany that he himself vísíted," ' and is therefore one of his "Cerman" stories; the social thematic content of the short story is both serious and centered on the main lines of Miguéis social criticism in other works of his; its psychological thematic content, on the other hand, is not of central importance to "Dezasseis Horas em Missão Secreta," although it does add to other aspects of the work; and finally, the links between this story and others that have come from Miguéis pen are few but interesting, in that they, too, tend to refIect Miguéis' artistic and social concerns, as exemplified elsewhere in his works. If one but keeps these things in mind, I submit, the reading of this delightful work should occasion very few nettlesome afterthoughts. This is the edition to which reference is made in this paper.