In 1942 he published his first book of poems
Tourism, with illustrations by
Fernando Namora, as part of the
Novo Cancioneiro collection and in 1943 published his first novel
Casa na Duna. In 1944, the novel
Alcateia is seized by the
censorship of the
Estado Novo regime, and the same year is released the second edition of
Casa na Duna. In 1945 he publishes a new book of poems,
Mãe Pobre. 1945 and the subsequent years will be very fruitful for Carlos de Oliveira, with his participation in the
Seara Nova and
Vértice magazines and collaboration on the book by
Fernando Lopes Graça Marchas, Danças e Canções - a collection of poems by various poets, with compositions by Lopes Graça, songs that came to be known as "heroic". In 1953 publishes
Uma Abelha na Chuva, his fourth novel, and universally acknowledged as one of the most important works of Portuguese literature, being integrated into the syllabus of the course of Portuguese in secondary schools. In 1957 he organized, with
José Gomes Ferreira, an approach to the Portuguese popular imagination with the two volumes of
Contos Tradicionais Portugueses, some of which were later adapted to film by
João César Monteiro. In 1968 he published two new books of poetry,
Sobre o Lado Esquerdo and
Micropaisagem and collaborates with
Fernando Lopes in the film adaptation of
Uma Abelha na Chuva, completed in 1971. He published in 1971
O Aprendiz de Feiticeiro, a collection of articles and chronicles, and
Entre Duas Memórias, a poetry book. In 1976 he gathers all his poetry in
Trabalho Poético, two volumes, which presents his previous books, reviewed, and unpublished poems of
Pastoral, book to be published separately the following year. Publishes in 1978 his last novel,
Finisterra. He is counted amongst the
neorealist poets. He is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century combining social intervention (Neorealism) with reflection about the creative process of writing. His writing is dense and accurate (
Mãe Pobre, 1945,
Entre Duas Memórias, 1971). Regarding the novels, he goes from pure neo realism (
Casa na Duna, 1943) to the sobriety of the sentiment and the protest (
Uma Abelha na Chuva, 1953), ending with the complex (
Finisterra, 1978). He died in
Lisbon, aged 59. ==Published works==