Culture

Literature

Literary development in Brazil roughly follows the country’s main historical periods – the Colonial period, from 1500 until independence in 1822, characterized mostly by writings in the Baroque and Arcadian styles, and the National Period since 1822. Important literary movements during the National Period can be linked to the country’s political and social development: the Romantic Movement in literature coincided roughly with the 57 years of the Empire; the Parnassians and the Realists flourished during the early decades of the Republic, followed, around the turn of the century, by the Symbolists. In the 20th century, the ascendance of the Vanguardist or Modernist Movement, with ideas of an avant-garde aestheticism, was celebrated during the famous São Paulo Week of Modern Art in 1922. This movement profoundly influenced not only Brazil’s literature, but also its painting, sculpture, music, and architecture.

Many of the notable writers of the Colonial Period were Jesuits who were mesmerized by the new land and its native inhabitants. Among the luminaries of this period were Father José de Anchieta (1534-1597), a poet dedicated to the evangelization of the Indians, Gregório de Matos (1623-1696), who composed poetry layered on lyricism and mysticism but is best known for his satirical vein, and the famous preacher Father Antônio Vieira (1608-1697). The Arcadians, Cláudio Manoel da Costa (1729-1789), Basílio da Gama (1740-1795), and Tomás Antônio Gonzaga (1744-1810), wrote lyric and epic poems and were also known for their involvement in the liberation movement known as Inconfidência Mineira (Minas Conspiracy).

The transfer, in 1808, of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil brought with it the spirit of the incipient European Romantic Movement. Brazilian writers began to emphasize individual freedom, subjectivism, and a concern for social issues. Following Brazil’s independence from Portugal, Romantic literature expanded to exalt the uniqueness of Brazil’s tropics and its Indians, concern for the African slaves, and to descriptions of urban activities. Some of the best known literary figures of the Romantic Period were poets, such as Castro Alves (1847-1871) who wrote about African slaves and Gonçalves Dias (1823-1864) who wrote about Indians. Manuel Antônio de Almeida (1831-1861) is credited with initiating picaresque literature in Brazil. José de Alencar (1829-1877) wrote a number of popular novels including Iracema about Indians, O Guarani, a historical novel, and novels on regional, social, and urban affairs. Among the novelists of the Romantic Period two are still widely read in Brazil today: Joaquim Manuel de Macedo (1820-1882), who wrote A Moreninha, a popular story, and Alfredo d’Escragnolle Taunay (1843-1899), the author of Inocência.

The Parnassian school of poetry was, in Brazil as in France, a reaction to the excesses of the Romantics. The so-called “Parnassian Triad” of Brazilian poets – Olavo Billac (1865-1918), Raimundo Correa (1860-1911), and Alberto de Oliveira (1859-1937) – wrote refined poetry in which the poet’s personality and interest in social issues were obliterated.

Machado de Assis (1839-1908), widely acclaimed as the greatest Brazilian writer of the 19th century and beyond, was unique because of the universality of his novels and essays. Today, Machado de Assis remains one of the most important and influential writers of fiction in Brazil. His works encompassed both the Romantic style and Realism as exemplified in Europe by Emile Zola and the Portuguese novelist, Eça de Queiroz. The prose of Euclides da Cunha (1866-1908), was committed to a Brazilian literature portraying social realities. His famous works, Os Sertões (Rebellion in the Backlands), about a revolt in the northeast led by a religious fanatic, was published in 1902. Lima Barreto (1881-1922), the author of O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, also exemplifies the literary turn towards a critique of the most pressing social issues of the time.

Machado de Assis (1839-1908)

At the turn of the century the Brazilian literary imagination was drawn to Symbolism, represented by poets Cruz e Souza (1861-1893) and Alphonsus de Guimaraens (1870-1893). The Symbolists were interested in mysticism and used metaphor and allegory to express their ideas. Beginning in the 20th century, an innovative state of mind imbued Brazilian artists, culminating in the celebration of the 1922 Week of Modern Art held in São Paulo. This new way of thinking propelled an artistic revolution that appealed to feelings of pride for national folklore, history, and ancestry. Participants in the Week of Modern Art resorted to experiments in writing and in fine arts known elsewhere as Futurism, Cubism, and Dadaism. Poet Menotti del Pichia summarized the aims of the new artistic movement with these words: “We want light, air, ventilators, airplanes, worker’s demands, idealism, motors, factory smokestacks, blood, speed, dream in our Art.” The most important leader of the literary phase of this movement was Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) who wrote poetry, essays on literature, art, music, and Brazilian folklore, and published Macunaíma, which he characterized as “a rapsody, not a novel”. Oswald de Andrade (1890-1953) wrote a collection of poems entitled Pau-Brasil (Brazilwood) which evaluated Brazilian culture, superstitions, and, for the first time in Brazilian poetry, did so with humor.

The transition to a more spontaneous literary approach is represented by poets Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987), who used irony to dissect the customs of the time, and Manuel Bandeira (1886-1968), who built language associations around proverbs and popular expressions. Bandeira wanted his last poem “to be eternal, saying the simplest and least intentional things”.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987)

The modern Brazilian novel took on a new shape and social content after José Américo de Almeida (1887-1969) wrote A Bagaceira, a pioneer story about the harsh conditions of life in the backward northeast. He was followed by Jorge Amado (1902-2001), Graciliano Ramos (1892-1953), José Lins do Rego (1901-1957), and Rachel de Queiroz (1910-2003), all noted for the power of their images in evoking the problems and hardships of life in the northeast region where they were born.

Jorge Amado’s first novels, translated into 33 languages, were heavily influenced by his belief in Marxist ideas and concentrated on the sufferings of workers on the cocoa plantations of his home state of Bahia, producing a succession of books which have received worldwide acclaim. Gabriela, Cravo e Canela (Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon) is perhaps the best known of Amado’s books. Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) has provided the scripts for movies and plays.

Arguably the most innovative Brazilian writer of his century was João Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967). A career diplomat, he first captured the attention of the public and critics alike with a volume of short stories, Sagarana, soon followed by his best known work Grande Sertão: Veredas, translated as “The Devil to Pay in the Backlands”. Delving deep into speech mannerisms from the hinterland region of the eastern seaboard, Guimarães Rosa started something of a semantic revolution. He dared to present his readers with coined word combinations and syntax so unrestrained as to constitute almost a new language.

There are many other noteworthy Brazilian writers. Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), a master of style and a pioneer of the new school of Brazilian sociologists, is the author of Casa Grande e Senzala (The Masters and The Slaves) a perceptive study of Brazilian society. One of the best known Brazilian poets is João Cabral de Melo Neto (1918-1999). His poetry is sober and he uses words with the accuracy with which an engineer would use his building materials. Special mention must also be made of Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980). His poetry became part and parcel of the bossa nova musical movement which produced a new style of samba, that typically Brazilian rhythm. Vinicius (as he is known worldwide) also wrote a play, Orfeu da Conceição, which became internationally famous as the film “Black Orpheus”.

Among the living or recently deceased novelists, mention should be made of: Orígenes Lessa, Adonias Filho, Érico Veríssimo, Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Herberto Sales, Rubem Fonseca, Clarice Lispector, Dalton Trevisan, Nélida Piñon, Osman Lins, Paulo Coelho, Moacir Scliar and Milton Hatoum; and among the poets: Raul Bopp, Murilo Mendes, Augusto Frederico Schmidt, Mário Quintana, Cassiano Ricardo, Jorge de Lima, Ferreira Gullar, Cecília Meireles, Augusto de Campos and Haroldo de Campos.