Literature

The Brazilian Literature is widely varied in styles and tendencies.  Different approaches to the country's reality consolidated with the Modernist Movement that occurred in 1922 in the State of Sao Paulo.  A Brazilian Week in Modern Art transpired there with the purpose of "swallowing whole" the imported culture that had previously saturated all of the artistic manifestations in the country.

This devouring quality characterized the modernist writers and the work of their main forerunners - Oswald de Andrade (1890-1954) and Mario de Andrade (1893-1945), and the poets Manuel Bandeira (1886-1968) and Cassiano Ricardo (1895-1979).

Their approach to the themes of Brazilian life abolished centuries of European influence, beginning with the first literary record in Brazil - a letter from the writing desk of Pero Vaz de Caminha sent in the 16th century to the King of Portugal with a description of the New World discovered in 1500.  The Indians and the Conquerers of the country would be the protagonists of many Brazilian authors.

The refined language of romanticism would musically describe Brazil in the prose of Jose de Alencar (1829-1877), in the epic novel  O Guarani, and in the verse of Goncalves Dias (1823-1864), author of the beautiful poem  Canção do Exílio, among other great authors of the time.

Brazil's political and social history is registered in the works of its authors.  Examples include Castro Alves (1847-1871), who narrated the horrors of the slave trade for Brazil in the epic poem  O Navio Negreiro.  Lima Barreto (1881-1922) registered the language of the common man in his masterpieces such as O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma.  Alusio Azavedo (1857-1913) addresses poverty and human vice in the naturalistic novels O Mulato and O Cortiço.  Euclides da Cunha (1866-1909) describes the saga of the War of the Canudos in the Northeastern Plains.

Machado de Assis (1839-1908), includes day to day life and national customs in his classic novels.  Machado, one of the internationally best known Brazilian writers, wrote, among other works Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas and Don Casmurro.

Brazilian contemporary literature leaves a solid body of work that is concerned with the course and direction of national life, but remains faithful to the temperment and culture of the people.  Cecilia Meireles (1901-1964) explores themes of love and death.  She wrote one of the most important works of social literature in Brazil Romanceiro da Inconfidência, about Tiradentes, a Brazilian revolutionary.

In the 70's, Brazilian Literature lived through the impact of the linguistic revolution of Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967), author of the Grande Sertão: Veredas, and of Clarice Lispector (1920-1977).  Lispector, considered the Brazilian Virginia Woolf, was the author of the classics A Maçã no Escuro and A Paixão Segundo G.H..  Literary criticism reached refinement with Otto Maria Carpeaux, Antonio Candido and Antonio Houaiss.

The regional novel picked up speed in the Northeast with Jorge Amado, assuredly the most translated Brazilian author (don't forget Paulo Coelho), since the books from his social phase such as Capitães da Areia, to the novels of manners such as Gabriela, Cravo e Canela and Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos.  In the South, Erico Verissimo (1905-1975), tells of the saga of Rio Grande do Sul in his novel O Tempo e o Vento.

In the 70's the political situation of a country governed by military leaders, stimulated the production of "Mimeograph Literature" by young and rebellious authors.  This phase stimulated literature in tune with this moment in Brazilian history, highlighted by Quarup, by Antonio Callado (1917-1997) and Zero, by Inácio de Loyola Brandão.

In the 80's, with the return of a democratic government, the urban novel predominated, along with a variety of creative styles.  Rubem Fonseca shows a portrait of urban violence in A Grande Arte.  The country reads the works of Caio Fernando Abreu, Joao Gilberto Noll, Hilda Hilst, Nelida Pinon, Haroldo de Campos, Paulo Leminski, Ana Miranda, Dalton Trevisan and Adelia Prado, among many others.  The epic explosion of Viva o Povo Brasileiro, a sketch of the Brazilian identity by João Ubaldo Ribeiro, has enchanted readers from countries the world over.

Brazilian Literature launched new names in the 90's.  Chico Buarque de Hollanda, one of the most creative songwriters in the country, wrote Estorvo.  Francisco Dantas revisits regional themes.  Themes that describe the end of the millenium and the memoir novel guarantee editorial space.  Fernando Morais consolidates the journalistic novel with Chatô, the portrait of a powerful media magnate.  Carlos Heitor Cony wrote Quase Memória, a mild eye witness account of a life.  Ferreira Gullar wrote a book of poetry called Muitas Vozes.

For its collection, content, and editorial quality, Brazilian Literature is guaranteed a place among the best in the world.