TORGA, MIGUEL

born Aug. 12, 1907, So Martinho de Anta, Port. died Jan. 17, 1995, Coimbra pseudonym of Adolfo Correia Da Rocha poet and diarist whose forceful and highly individual literary style and treatment of universal themes earned him an important position in 20th century Portuguese literature. Torga embarked on his literary career while a medical student at the University of Coimbra. After graduation he continued to write and publish while maintaining an active medical practice. In 1927 he was one of the founders of the literary magazine Presena (Presence); the next year his first volume of poetry, Ansiedade (Anxiety), was published. Much of Torga's workwhich includes novels, plays, and short stories as well as the poems and his Dirio, 12 vol. (194177; Diary), for which he is best knownhas as its subject the search for certainties in a changing world. His diary reveals a deeply religious man with a robust faith in the primitive virtues of humanity. Notable among his fiction are the autobiographical novel A Criaco do Mundo (1935; The Creation of the World) and the short stories in Montanha (1941; The Highlands) and Novos Contos do montanha (1944; New Tales of the Highlands).