His writing, which is centred in the local and the picturesque and is in a general sense affiliated with the Romantic tradition, is often regarded in contrast to that of Eça de Queiroz – a cosmopolitan dandy and a fervorous proponent of Realism, who was Camilo's literary contemporary in spite of being 20 years younger.

This tension between Camilo and Eça – often dubbed by critics the literary guerrilla – has been interpreted as a synthesis of the two great tendencies present in the Portuguese literature of the 19th century.

Camilo was born out of wedlock and orphaned in infancy,[4] although his origins lay ultimately in Northern Portugal's provincial aristocracy (his father, Manuel Joaquim Botelho Castelo Branco, was the son of an illustrious household in the environs of Vila Real, but lived in near-poverty due to the strict law of primogeniture which then largely excluded younger sons from inheritance).

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.

[6][7] Going blind (because of syphilis) and suffering from chronic nervous disease, Castelo Branco committed suicide[8] with a revolver in 1890, while sitting in his now-famous wooden rocking chair.

[citation needed] Camilo Castelo Branco is probably the most prolific of all Portuguese writers, his work including novels, plays, verse, and essays.

Among these may be cited Noites de Lamego, Cousas leves e pesadas, Cavar em ruínas, Memórias do Bispo do Grão Pará and Boémia do Espírito.

Though nature had endowed Camilo with a poetic temperament, his verses are considered to be mediocre, while his best plays are cast in bold lines and contain powerfully dramatic situations, and his comedies are a triumph of the grotesque, with a mordant tone reminiscent of the work of Gil Vicente.