and Latin, Camilo was a distracted student and grew up to be undisciplined and proud. From the age of 17 to his early 20s, he intermittently studied medicine and theology in Oporto and Coimbra and eventually chose to become a writer. After a spell of journalistic work in Oporto and Lisbon he proceeded to the episcopal seminary in Oporto in order to study for the priesthood. During this period Camilo wrote a number of religious works and translated the work of François-René de Chateaubriand. Camilo actually took minor holy orders, but his restless nature drew him away from the priesthood and he devoted himself to literature for the rest of his life. He was arrested twice; the first time for having unearthed the remains of his first wife (whom he had married at the age of 16, and who had died at 24) and the second due to his adulterous affair with Ana Plácido, who was married at the time. His first period of incarceration was short, apparently thanks to the intervention of Teixeira de Queiroz, an influential judge and, coincidentally, father of the renowned José Maria de Eça de Queiroz. During his second and longer incarceration he wrote what most consider to be his best and most characteristic work Amor de Perdição. Later this phase of his life would also inspire him to write his Memórias do Cárcere (literally "Memories of Prison"), in which he describes the meanders of the then miserable and overcrowded prison of Relação, at the centre of Oporto, intertwined with intimate ramblings of the imagination and biographical fragments. Camilo was made a viscount (Visconde de Correia Botelho) in 1885 in recognition of his contributions to literature, and when his health deteriorated and he could no longer write, parliament gave him a pension for life. In 1886, he wrote "Esboço de crítica: Otelo, o Mouro de Veneza". Going blind (because of syphilis) and suffering from chronic nervous disease, Castelo Branco committed suicide with a revolver in 1890, while sitting in his now-famous wooden rocking chair. Works Camilo Castelo Branco is probably the most prolific of all Portuguese writers, his work including novels, plays, verse, and essays. In addition, Camilo was the first Portuguese writer able to support himself financially from his writing alone. In all, his publications number about five hundred and sixty, but he is best known for his novels. Even though Camilo churned out