Literature
Brazilian Literature is written in the Portuguese language.
One of the first extant documents that might be considered Brazilian Literature is the Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha (Pero Vaz de Caminha's letter), which contains a description of what Brazil looked like in 1500. Journals of voyagers and descriptive treatises on "Portuguese America" dominated the literary production for the next two centuries.
It was only on 1836 that Romanticism began influencing Brazilian poetry on a large scale. The key features of the literature of the new born country are exaggerated affect, nationalism, celebration of nature and the initial introduction of colloquial language. At the same time outstanding poets began writing works with a specific progressive social agenda. The two trends coincided in one of the most important accomplishments of the Romantic era: the establishment of a Brazilian national identity based on ancestry and the rich nature of the country.
The decline of Romanticism, along with a series of transformations, occurred in the middle of the 19th century. A new form of prose writing emerged, including analysis of indigenous people and description fo the environment.
Modernism began in Brazil with the Week of Art, in 1922. The 1922 generation was a group of writers that combined nationalist tendencies with an interest in European modernism. Some new movements such as surrealism were already important in Europe, and began to take hold in Brazil during this period. What defined Brazilian modernism were two main traits: experiments in language and an enhanced social consciousness, or a mix between the two.
Contemporary literature is, on the whole, very much focused on the city and all its aspects: loneliness, violence, political issues and media control.
Reference
Wikipedia. (2016, May 23). Brazilian Literature retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_literature
About Brazil
This enormous nation, unquestionably the largest in Latin America, is also, in many significant ways, very different from all its neighbors. For one thing it is not Hispanic. Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral in 1500, and became the gem of the Portuguese empire.
Nominally a federal Republic made up of states, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches, Brazil has experienced a succession of shaky governments and questionable elections since the military coups of the early to mid-twentieth century.
The fruits of of this legacy of Portuguese rule, slavery, colonial exploitation, hope, and promise, and military dictatorship live on today as Brazil, and the rest of he region, continue to struggle with the difficult problems of poverty, concentrated wealth, powerful oligarchies, and unstable unrepresentative governments in its quest to fulfill its promise.
Brazil is the only country in the world that lies on the equator while having contiguous territory outside the tropics. Brazilian topography is also diverse and includes hills, mountains, plains, and highlands. Its territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world., the rich wildlife of Brazil reflects the variety of natural habitats.
Reference
Foster, D. (2002). The Global Etiquette Guide to Mexico and Latin America. (pp. 136-161). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wikipedia. (2016, May 28). Brazil retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil
Websites
- The Culture Trip (Brazil)The Culture Trip: the best art, food, culture and travel.
- Paulo CoelhoPaulo Coehlo writer official site.
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro in August 1947. early on he dreamed of an artistic career, something frowned upon in his middle-class household. Coelho parent's, however, had different plans for him. When their attempts to suppress his devotion to literature failed, they took it as a sign of mental illness, and was committed to a mental institution, where he endured sessions of electro convulsive "therapy." In 1973, he joined the Alternative Society, an organization that defended individual's right to free of expression, and began publishing a series of comics strips, calling for more freedom. Members of the organization were detained and imprisoned, Coelho was kidnapped and tortured by a group of paramilitaries.
This experience affected him profoundly, he decided that he had had enough of living on the edge and wanted to be "normal". He returned to Catholicism, completed a pilgrimage and started writing his experiences and his discovery that the extraordinary occurs in the lives of ordinary people.
Adultery by Call Number: PQ9698.13.O3546 A3813 2014ISBN: 9781101874080Publication Date: 2012I want to change. I need to change... I'm gradually losing touch with myself.
Adultery, the provocative novel by internationally best-selling author Paulo Coelho, explores the question of what it really means to live fully and happily. How do we balance life's routine with the desire for something new?
Brida by Call Number: PQ9698.13.O3546 B7513 2008ISBN: 9780061578953Publication Date: 2008Brida, a young Irish girl, has long been interested in various aspects if magic but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, who teaches her to trust in the good of the world, and a woman who teaches her how to dance top the music of the world. As Brida seeks her destiny, she struggles to find a balance between her relationships and her desire to become a witch.
The Alchemist by Call Number: PQ9698.13.O3546 A4513 2006ISBN: 9780061122415Publication Date: 1988Paulo Coehlo's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turn into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
Reference
Coelho, P. (2008). Brida. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
Image retrieved from Google Images http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54cc2e02e4b0e07fb83d4146/54d2d471e4b02ed3eba0f307/54d6dd60e4b0ed3e6944dee3/1423367520731/Paulo_Coelho.jpg?format=750w
Outstanding Authors
Perhaps the best-loved author in Brazil is Jorge Amado (1912-2001), who is his life time, was able to straddle both critical acclaim and wide popular appeal. His novels are classics of contemporary Brazilian literature, noted for evoking the people and customs of Amado's native state.
Image retrieved from Google Images http://imguol.com/2012/08/09/o-escritor-jorge-amado-no-rio-de-janeiro-1984-1344510792942_615x300.jpg
Valente, S. (n.d). The 10 Best Brazilian Writers | A Literature of Diversity. The Culture Trip. Retrieved from http://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/the-10-best-brazilian-writers-a-literature-of-diversity/
Rubem Fonseca lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he has enjoyed a long career as a policeman and state prosecutor. On the side, he started publishing short stories and novels that document the violence and crime of his city's underbelly. From the 1970's onwards, his work established him as a master of literary crime fiction, counter weighting the rural settings that had hitherto provided the backdrop to Brazilian novels with the urban landscapes that characterize modern Brazil.
Image retrieved from Google Images http://acervo.oglobo.globo.com/incoming/10273271-55d-557/materia/RubemFonseca.jpg
Valente, S. (n.d). The 10 Best Brazilian Writers | A Literature of Diversity. The Culture Trip. Retrieved from http://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/the-10-best-brazilian-writers-a-literature-of-diversity/
One of the most remarkable new voices in Brazil literature, Adriana Lisboa was born in Rio de Janeiro, lived in France and currently resides in Colorado. Her novels, are centered on Brazilian characters moving in cultures and languages others than Brazil and Portuguese. She documents the experiences of travel and interacting with other cultures, often as a means to explore the attachment to her home country and understand its history and politics.
Image retrieved from Google Images http://www.noteverticali.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/NoteVerticali.it_Adriana-Lisboa_1-e1414837612864.jpg
Valente, S. (n.d). The 10 Best Brazilian Writers | A Literature of Diversity. The Culture Trip. Retrieved from http://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/the-10-best-brazilian-writers-a-literature-of-diversity/
Books
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Call Number: PQ9697.A647 G313 2006ISBN: 9780307276650Publication Date: 1958Ilheus in 1925 is a booming town with a record cacao crop and aspirations for progress, but the traditional ways prevail. When Colonel Mendonca discovers his wife in bed with a lover, he shoots and kills them both. Political contests, too, can be settled by gunshot. No one imagines—least of all Gabriela herself—that a bedraggled migrant worker who turns up in town will be the agent of change. Nacid Saad has just lost the cook at his popular café and in desperation hire Gabriela. To his surprise she turns out to be a great beauty as well as a wonderful cook and an enchanting boon to his business. But what would people say if Nacid were to marry her? Lusty, satirical, and full of intrigue, Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon is a vastly entertaining panorama of small town in Brazilian life.
Captains of the Sands by Call Number: PQ9697.A647 C373 2013ISBN: 9780143106357Publication Date: 1988In the squalid shantytowns and seedy back alleys of Bahia on the coast of Brazil, the Captains of the sands are kings. The boys—including the leader, fifteen-year-old "Bullet"; the crafty liar, "Legless"; the intellectual "Professor"; and the sexually precocious "Cat"—dodge and dupe the rich and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands their capture, this vivid portrait of a divided culture becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom.
The Taker and Other Stories by ISBN: 9781934824023Publication Date: 2008The stories in Taker range across Fonseca's career, all exploring the modern landscape of Rio de Janeiro, a city whose vast disparities—in wealth, social standing, and prestige—are untenable. In these, rich and poor live in and uneasy equilibrium, where only overwhelming force can maintain order, and violence and deception are essential tools of survival.
Crow Blue by ISBN: 9781620403365Publication Date: 2014When her mother dies, thirteen-year-old Vanja is left with no family and no sense of who she is, where she belongs, and what she should do. Determined to find her biological father in order to fill the void that has so suddenly appeared in her life, Vanja decides to leave Rio de Janeiro to live in Colorado with her stepfather, a former guerrilla notorious for his former past. From there she goes in search of her biological father, tracing her mother's footsteps and gradually discovering the truth about herself.
Rendered in lyrical and passionate prose, Crow Blue is a literary road trip through Brazil and America, and through dark decades of familial and political history.
States of Grace by ISBN: 9781438469232Publication Date: 2018-04-01Provides in-depth analyses of key moments in Brazilian utopianism, including theologico-political, matriarchal, environmental, and work-free utopias.
Anti-Literature by ISBN: 9780822964476Publication Date: 2017-05-19Anti-Literature articulates a rethinking of what is meant today by "literature." Examining key Latin American forms of experimental writing from the 1920s to the present, Adam Joseph Shellhorse reveals literature's power as a site for radical reflection and reaction to contemporary political and cultural conditions. His analysis engages the work of writers such as Clarice Lispector, Oswald de Andrade, the Brazilian concrete poets, Osman Lins, and David Viñas, to develop a theory of anti-literature that posits the feminine, multimedial, and subaltern as central to the undoing of what is meant by "literature." By placing Brazilian and Argentine anti-literature at the crux of a new way of thinking about the field, Shellhorse challenges prevailing discussions about the historical projection and critical force of Latin American literature. Examining a diverse array of texts and media that include the visual arts, concrete poetry, film scripts, pop culture, neo-baroque narrative, and others that defy genre, Shellhorse delineates the subversive potential of anti-literary modes of writing while also engaging current debates in Latin American studies on subalternity, feminine writing, posthegemony, concretism, affect, marranismo, and the politics of aesthetics.
Cultural Exchanges Between Brazil and France by ISBN: 9781557537461Publication Date: 2016-07-15Brazil and France have explored each other's geographical and cultural landscapes for more than five hundred years. The Brazilian je ne sais quoi has captivated the French from their first encounter, and the ingenuity à francesa of French artistic and scholarly movements has intrigued Brazilians in kind. Ongoing Brazil-France interactions have resulted in some of the richest cultural exchanges between Europe and Latin America.In Cultural Exchanges between Brazil and France, leading international scholars evaluate these reciprocal transnational explorations, from the earliest French interventions in Brazil in the sixteenth century to the growing mutual influence that the nations have exerted on one another in the twenty-first century. Original interdisciplinary essays examine cross-cultural interactions and collaborations in the social sciences, intellectual history, the press, literature, cinema, plastic arts, architecture, cartography, and sport. The comparative cultural method used in these analyses deepens the collective treatment of crucial junctures in the long history of often harmonious, but also sometimes ambivalent and occasionally contentious, encounters between Brazil and France.
