Hello again. I haven't updated before since I want to finish the book before make a general overview of it. But since I couldn't finish it out yet, I will give you just a glimpse of some of the things I have found out.
Today I want to tell you about Filomela Xabregas Caldeira, FXC for short.
Before we start I would like to say that I will not avoid any spoilers, so if you didn't read the book I strongly advise you stop reading this and read the book first. From now on, even if we are working with possibilities, I would not avoid any spoilers as sometimes I will have to refer to the book passages.
Also bare in mind that I didn't finish the book yet (it's close now) but I believe what I have to say can stand by itself. Also it is my own interpretation and you are free to comment it or have your own.
Let's start with the first name, Filomela, as you probably know it is a Greek name and she was a figure of Greek mythology. Filomela was raped by Tereus who cut out her tongue so that she couldn't tell about it to anyone. Later he tried to kill her and the gods transformed her into a nightingale in order to save her.
The name itself can be translated as "lover of fruits" or "lover of songs". It depends on your interpretation of the last word. I go for the second, specially in our context.
I don't know if you have noticed by now but as far as I see it the writers presented in the book as well as their representations are associated with birds. Birds have not only the possibility to fly, which can be associated with liberty (and liberty is often a writing theme) but they have also the possibility to sing, thus transforming the mere communication in a form of art. It is what literature is all about, after all.
So, Filomela is a special woman impeded to talk about her suffering to whom the gods favor with the possibility to fly (to flee her persecutors) and to sing her songs, like a bird.
If you can see here some relations with FXC or VMS themselves I think you are correct.
Let's jump to the next name: Xabregas.
Xabregas is a area in the city of Lisbon, in it's oriental side. It became famous during the industrial age (about beginning of XIX century in Portugal) because of it's many factories, specially the most famous of them were the tobacco factory and the textile factory.
We will take a closer look at the textile factory in a minute.
Let's just say that this area of Lisbon were important also because it was/is an important joint for railroads in their travelings to and fro from Lisbon Port with their merchandises.
Maybe you noticed that Vevodas agents use to travel by train, as S. members use to travel by ship, at least our S. does, as you know.
This can be seen as an image of progress versus old ways (tradition) since the ship is associated with tradition but the train is usually associated with progress. By the way, it was railroads that brought the possibilities of industrialization as much as industrialization itself. It was like a symbioses between steam machine which permitted most of the industrial revolution and the train itself with its possibilities of travel.
Industrial revolution changed the manufacturing process and as you know VMS was not so happy about it, since it permitted capitalism and human exploitation.
It permitted also progress which mean a better living for some people with goods they didn't have before, but also very poor working conditions that were refused by men like VMS.
Transportation and travel also changed a good deal, and it is important for our interpretation. Especially the train were a big advancement in this regard. Just to give you an idea, carriages traveled about 12 km/h and the horses got tired often and needed to be changed. As for the train it traveled about 45 km/h and non stop as long as there was energy. It was permitted specially by the steam machine (more about it later).
So the industrial revolution brought progress and the world became faster. It was so faster for some people in fact, that they started getting confused about it, and they invented names for this new condition they didn't know nothing about like spleen. Nowadays we call it stress! Could we say that S. is a stressed man!? In a way, yes, so as VMS, FXC, Eric, Jen and on and on. We are all stressed nowadays anyway!
There would be many more things to say about labor and labor conditions at this epoch and about the new movements that began to appear to "fight" those conditions. But I leave that investigation for you since there's plenty of information about it.
Let's continue our analyse of FXC name.
Let's talk about the Xabregas Textile Fabric for a minute.
It was called Fábrica de Fiação e Tecidos Oriental and it was founded in 1888. It was also called Fábrica das Varandas which can be translated as "balcony factory" and you will understand why when you see it's picture. It lasted from 1888 to 1983 (about 100 years).
It is associated with strikes, labor movements, syndicates and so on. Many people were dismissed as a result of this movements.
By the way, why is it that the current english verb for dismiss someone from work is to fire!?
Some addicional notes:
It got a steam engine of high and low pressure. Maybe the first to appear in Portugal.
The noise inside the factory was so high that people have to communicate by mimic gestures. Does it remind you of the sailors whistles which also could remind you of the bird twits!? Me too!
source: http://aps-ruasdelisboacomhistria.blogspot.pt/2010/04/rua-de-xabregas-xvii.html
There is another factory that I am not sure if it is the same, but it is interesting to talk about it.
It was called Fábrica da Fiação de Xabregas and was founded in 1854.
Why I say it is interesting to note, because the conditions of labor in it were not so different from the other one (assuming they are two different factories and not the same).
But what is more interesting is that it was destroyed by fire two times. The first at 1877 and a second time at 1948.
This makes you wonder a great deal of possibilities. For example: a workman got fired and he decided to retribute his employers by putting their factory to fire! Just a thought.
Most certainly the fire started by some electric malfunction, but there are no references to the causes of fire.
Also there are some big windows and balconies there, It would give a great place for a fenestration, but none occurred that we could know of. I'm glad it didn't!
source: https://toponimialisboa.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/largo-da-fiacao-de-xabregas/
I found no images of this one, and I belive it was destroyed already. You guess, by a fire probably!
I want to do some research about the proprietaries of both fabrics as they were both english men. Didn't had the time yet...
This brings us to the last name Caldeira, which is in fact a common surname in Portugal and Brasil.
I saw it translated before as a hot bath! I don't think this is correct. I searched in the dictionary and it is not translated that way anywhere,
The common name, not the family name, mean what I must call for lack of a better word a boiler. I don't know if this is the correct term in english, anyway, a boiler (caldeira) is some kind of device used to boil water with the intention of producing vapor and henceforth energy.
At first I thought it was a thing of the past, but make a search and you will see that it is very present in our daily lives. It is used for example to make hot water (maybe that was the confusion with the hot bath), to make food, to power up engines and so on.
This device evolved over time and today it is a high performance device.
It was also used to power up trains and you bet, ships! In fact the changing from the old methods of power up like the charcoal to the boiler increased the velocity and power of the machinery considerably. Adding the efficiency of it!
By the way, look at the inserted photo of FXC inside the book, take a close look behind her! Yup, there it is hidden in plain sight! It was quite funny to find it!
To finish for now I will leave you with the only other use of this word that I found and it is interesting to our study.
In the book it is mentioned the Azores archipelago. Well, it happens that in Azores islands there are some big lakes that the locals call "caldeiras". And they are quite special!
I am sorry I didn't had the time to investigate it further yet, but I will and I will tell you about it in the near future.
Also there are so many topics to discuss that I don't know where to start. I just want to finish the book first to give a correct and acknowledge review.
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